Supporting Wader Recovery Through Capital Actions

The Breeding Waders EIP delivers targeted capital actions designed to support the long‑term recovery of Ireland’s declining wader populations. These wader species depend on open, well‑managed landscapes, and our work focuses on creating the conditions they need to breed successfully.

Waders thrive in habitats with unobstructed, 360‑degree visibility, allowing them to detect predators easily. They avoid areas with scrub, tall vegetation, or nearby trees, all of which reduce sightlines and increase predation risk. To support nesting success, participating lands are managed to maintain open ground and minimise encroaching scrub.

Chicks require immediate access to wet, nutrient‑rich soils where invertebrates are abundant. To improve this feeding habitat, drains are sometimes reprofiled to create gentle slopes, ensuring chicks can enter and exit safely while accessing shallow, food‑rich margins.

Through these capital actions, the Breeding Waders EIP works with farmers and landowners to restore landscapes that allow waders to breed, feed, and get their chicks to fledgling stage.

Temporary Predator Exclusion Fences

Predator‑exclusion fences are built to keep predators out of important breeding areas. The electric, predator‑proof design stops mammals from entering, which protects nests from being disturbed, trampled, or eaten by wild predators or domestic animals. As a result, more chicks survive and successfully reach the fledgling stage.

Some of the fences constructed in collaboration with other project organisations include:

Wader Scrapes

Wading birds rely on shallow, wet habitats during the breeding season, where soft ground and abundant invertebrates support nesting adults and growing chicks. Wader scrapes—shallow depressions created in damp, lowland grassland—hold water for longer, maintaining muddy edges rich in invertebrate life. Allowing livestock to access the centre of the scrape helps keep vegetation grazed around the margins, leaving bare, food‑rich feeding areas. Their hoofprints also create micro‑pools that boost invertebrate habitat. Together, these features provide reliable shallow water, exposed mud, and plentiful foraging opportunities essential for chick survival and breeding success.

Scrub Clearance

Waders favour open landscapes where predators are easier to spot, so scrub encroachment can quickly reduce nesting suitability. Dense vegetation offers perches for aerial predators, restricts movement, and can also damage biodiversity and archaeological features. Removing scrub restores the open conditions waders need and can enhance the overall health of grassland and machair habitats. The Breeding Waders EIP team assesses each site and tailors the level of removal to the extent of encroachment: light work with hand or power tools for sparse young growth, and machinery for medium to heavy scrub where more substantial clearance is required.

See example of extensive scrub clearance which took place on Clawinch island pre 2026 breeding season:

Rush Management

Wading birds nest in open landscapes where predators are easier to detect. Agricultural intensification has reduced plant diversity, allowing rushes to dominate, especially in wetter areas, creating dense vegetation that lowers habitat quality. After hatching, precocial chicks need open but sheltered ground to move and feed. Managing rushes through mulching or topping helps restore a varied plant structure for the breeding season, improving conditions for chick survival.

See example of rush mulching which took place on Inch island in collaboration with NPWS, RSPB NI and the local landowner:

No Fence Collars

Consistent, well‑distributed grazing is vital for maintaining suitable nesting habitat for waders, yet managing herds in remote areas can be difficult. This often leads to some fields being overgrazed while others are left under‑grazed, reducing habitat quality, especially in areas recently restored through actions like scrub removal. These challenges traditionally require extensive fencing, which increases fragmentation and labour. Virtual fencing offers an effective alternative for uplands and offshore islands, using GPS collars and app‑based geo‑boundaries to guide livestock and maintain balanced grazing without physical barriers.

See below footage of conservation grazing on Clawinch Island, where landowner Mike Connell uses “No Fence” collars to manage livestock: