NEST PREDATION AND NUMBERS OF GOLDEN PLOVERS PLUVIALIS APRICARIA AND OTHER MOORLAND WADERS

The recovery of a declining population of Golden Plovers may have been prevented by high nest predation from Carrion Crows Corvus corone and Common Gulls Larus canus. In order to test this hypothesis predators were experimentally removed from Kerloch moor in NE Scotland during 19 86-89. Although the numbers of crows and gulls were significantly redu ced, no young Golden Plover hatched at Kerloch and breeding numbers co ntinued to decline. Numbers also declined on a less intensive study ar ea 50 km further away where predators were not removed and where hatch ing success was poor (except in 1986). Hatching success of other moorl and waders was generally higher during the experiment than before it, but breeding numbers did not increase. The removal of crows and gulls did not lead to increases in the breeding populations of Golden Plover s and other waders, although the outcome of the experiment was complic ated by rising nest predation from foxes Vulpes vulpes which may have masked any benefits from the removal of other predators.