High nest survival and productivity of Northern Lapwings Vanellus vanellus breeding on urban brownfield sites

Abstract

The breeding ecology of Northern Lapwings is well understood, but little attention has been paid to industrial habitat in urban conglomerations. We compared nest survival and productivity in a large urban Northern Lapwing population breeding on brownfield sites on an industrial estate to estimates from colonies in intensively used arable habitats and those from pastures managed for conservation. Overall nest survival was significantly higher at the industrial site (0.78) compared to arable habitats (0.45) and pastures (0.32). Daily nest survival rate was positively correlated with colony density at the industrial site, but not in the agricultural habitats. Productivity was high at the industrial site (0.74–1.03 chicks per female), but much lower at the arable (0.15 chicks per female) and pasture (0.40 chicks per female) sites. Agricultural operations and predation accounted for similar proportions of clutch losses at the arable sites, while predation was the main cause of clutch losses at the pasture sites. We suggest that the population at the industrial site benefitted from a lack of nest losses to agricultural operations and low predation levels. In Central Europe, brownfield sites can hold significant Northern Lapwing populations. With recent strong Europe-wide population declines attributed to management changes in agriculture and high predation levels in the open landscape, urban brownfield sites might support declining populations in arable habitats and buffer extinction risk locally. As agri-environment schemes have been unsuccessful in slowing down the declines in farmland birds, including Northern Lapwings, we suggest including “marginal” habitat when developing management options outside protected areas, where higher breeding success could lead to higher impact at a comparatively low cost.