Temperature drives inter-annual variation in badger (Meles meles) predation of lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) on Scottish hill-edge farmland

Wading birds have declined globally with particularly in western Europe. Multiple species are now on the IUCN Red list, with northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) near-threatened and declining. Historically, habitat degradation, including from wetland drainage and agricultural intensification, has contributed to population declines. More recently, declines have been attributed to poor breeding success due to unsustainably high rates of predation on eggs and chicks, by avian and mammalian predators. In the UK, the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is a major mammalian predator of waders, but the Eurasian badger (Meles meles) has increased in range and abundance, and can occur at high densities, with potential for acute local predation impacts on vulnerable wader populations. However, factors affecting rates of badger predation on wader nests remain unexplored. We investigate what these factors might be using data from six years of lapwing nest monitoring at a breeding site in northeast Scotland. Th..., Lapwing nest direct observation
To monitor lapwing nests, potential wader habitat was surveyed on foot, during the wader breeding season (March to July; earliest start date = 30 March; latest end date = 3 July) over six years, between 2018 and 2023. Routine vehicular farm surveys were used initially to locate nests at the start of the breeding season every year by observing adult activity, including nest concealment and protection behaviours commonly indicative of nesting (Królikowska et al., 2016). Survey start points were additionally selected from previous observations of activity and nests, as lapwing are highly nest-site faithful and philopatric (Thompson et al. 1994; Jarrett et al., 2017). Once a lapwing nest was discovered, the date, time, location, number of eggs, field number, nest number, nest stage/outcome (still nesting, hatched, failed), and reason for failure where applicable, were recorded on Epicollect, version 4.2.0 (Epicollect5, 2022). A rough estimate of likely hatch ..., , # Temperature drives inter-annual variation in badger (Meles meles) predation of lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) on Scottish hill-edge farmland

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.hx3ffbgpw](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.hx3ffbgpw)

## Description of the data and file structure

### Files and variables

#### File: LapwingNestFate\_JAB\_DataAvailability.csv

**Description:** 

| Field | Descriptors |
| :------------ | :-----------------------------------...,