Wading birds are being encouraged to return and breed in the flood plains and wet grasslands of six Oxfordshire rivers thanks to a 10-year project.

Now about midway through the decade-long Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) scheme, volunteers will be checking during May and June the numbers of lapwings, curlews, redshanks and snipe in the Upper Thames Tributaries region covering the Thames, Cherwell, Ray, Evenlode, Windrush and Glyme rivers.

In 2005, the RSPB set up its Lapwing Landscapes Project with the aim of increasing the number of breeding pairs of the four species of waders that are all ground-nesting birds.

The area chosen was the Upper Thames Tributaries region, covering some 27,000 hectares of river flood plain in the Oxfordshire countryside.

Mike Shurmer, RSPB Lapwing Landscapes manager, said: “In 2005 we carried out a big survey with volunteers to try to establish the base line of how many waders there were in the region.”

Monitoring concentrated on the four species and 218 pairs were recorded. Of these, 116 pairs were lapwings, eight pairs were snipe, 29 were redshank and 65 were curlews.

Of the four, lapwings are on the red list of endagered species and the other three are on the amber list of the ‘traffic light’ statistics drawn up by the RSPB, the British Trust for Ornithology and Natural England.

“Historically there used to be more wading birds in the region and part of the aim of the project has been to increase the numbers of breeding pairs to more sustainable levels,” said Mike, who is part of the team based at the RSPB's regional office in Banbury.

Funding for the project came from Natural England, the Environment Agency, Cherwell District Council and the Biffa waste services management company through its Biffawards scheme, which makes grants from the landfill tax credits system.

Although they are the most at risk species, lapwings are the most adaptable as they nest in a wider variety of habitats than the other three.

“Lapwings will nest in spring-sown arable fields and also on ploughed fields while the other three have a heavy reliance on wet grasslands,” said Mike.

In the following year, 2006, the next stage was to identify good areas where waders had been recorded in the earlier survey.

“We started talking to farmers and other landowners who know what birds there are on their land. Many farmers were enthusiastic and we also formed partnerships with the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT). Two of the trust’s reserves on the Upper Ray at Gallow’s Bridge, near Grendon Underwood, and at Chimney Meadows, on the Thames near Bampton, are particularly important to the project,” added Mike.

As well as identifying suitable locations for waders, farmers were helped to obtain funding for work to be undertaken through the Government’s agri-environmental grants, which have different levels of entry depending on the individual land management schemes.

“For example, we have been able to advise farmers on the best times to cut grassland for hay. Late cuts in the season enable chicks of these ground nesting birds to fledge and leave their nests,” said Mike.

Another aspect of the project has been to install sluices to control the flow on rivers and water courses.

In addition “scrapes” have been created at the edges of rivers, ditches and ponds to enable the birds to use their beaks to probe for invertebrates in the muddy ground.

For this, the RSPB obtained a rotary ditcher or digger and also a spoil spreader, which are operated by agricultural contractors R C Baker of Barford St Michael in north Oxfordshire. These two pieces of equipment are also used on other conservation work across the UK.

The rotary ditcher and the spoil spreader save a lot of back-breaking manual hours in creating or improving habitats.

Since 2006, farmers and landowners across Oxfordshire and parts of neighbouring Buckinghamshire have allowed enough wet meadows and shallow ditches to be created to cover an area equivalent to 600 football pitches. A football pitch is estimated to be about a hectare in size.

Already, the project has shown signs of success, particularly in the Cherwell Valley where, with the co-operation of farmers, some 160 hectares of water meadow have been created.

Despite the recent wet summers making life tricky for breeding, a number of redshank breeding pairs have returned to the Cherwell Valley and also to the Upper Ray for the first time in a generation.

To check on progress, volunteers will be making three visits in May and June to the locations to find out what has happened to waders since the survey of 2005.

It is hoped that, subject to funding, the project will run until about 2016.

Snipe, for example, might come back in more numbers to the Otmoor basin where the RSPB has a reserve and also to surrounding farmland. The River Ray feeds into the reserve.

After over-wintering on Otmoor, snipe often migrate to northern parts of Britain and northern Europe to breed.

Results of the survey will be known later on this year.

“The survey will give the RSPB and farmers the vital data needed to keep improving the countryside for wading birds, wildlife and people,” said Mike.

Cath Hare, Biffawards assistant programme manager, said: “Biffawards is keen to support projects which improve our natural environment. This project will ensure that the habitat and wildlife living within it will continue to flourish, providing benefits for both the landscape and local community.”

And Sue Marchand, biodiversity and countryside officer for Cherwell District Council, added: “The council has supported this project since it began, recognising the importance of the rivers Cherwell and Ray for their wildlife. RSPB’s work with farmers and landowners is vital to the recovery of breeding waders across the Upper Thames Tributaries and for the protection and improvement of some of the district's most important habitats and species.”