Displacement of dunlin Calidris alpina schinzii by forestry in the Flow Country and an estimate of the value of moorland adjacent to plantations

Abstract

The dunlin Calidris alpina schinzii is a bird of conservation concern in Britain as its breeding habitat in upland areas has been affected by conifer afforestation this century. The region where forestry has been of most concern is the Flow Country of northern Scotland. This paper estimates (1) how the displacement of dunlin by forestry in the Flow Country has changed through time and (2) how habitat quality for dunlin varies with distance from plantation edges. We show that advances in forestry technology allowed less fertile areas of peatland to be planted as afforestation of the region progressed, allowing a shift in the location of plantations in the 1980s into areas supporting the most dense concentrations of dunlin. The number of dunlin displaced by forestry, therefore, is likely to have increased markedly at this time. It is estimated that recent plantations have been established adjacent to some of the best moorland in the region for dunlin. We thus conclude that edge-effects may represent a serious threat to the remaining dunlin population of the region.