End result - Curlew habitat lost and potential flooding increased!

I moved to Endon nearly eleven years ago. Every spring since then I have heard Curlews calling as they fly over nearby fields or a single male has proclaimed his territory with the species' characteristic bubbling. I have heard them this year too; they arrived in our area, from wherever they have been wintering, around the 12th March. In previous years it appeared that a pair of Curlews attempted to breed in a damp hollow in a nearby field. I don't know how successful they were as the field is on private lad (a  farm) and is not visible from a public place. Anyway it seems that this year the Curlews will be excluded as the farmer is now installing drainage in that small rushy patch (see photo). This year Curlews (though I can't be sure it is the same pair) are occupying a field near Endon Sewage Works (see photo). This field does not seem to offer as good quality habitat as did the damp hollow. It provides less cover and is more likely to dry out during a dry spell, thereby reducing feeding opportunities for this ground feeding insectiverous species.

Of course this agricultural "improvement" not only destroys the habitat of a declining upland bird species it will also increase the rate of runoff of precipitation from this piece of land. Before the drains were installed the rushy hollow would have soaked up some of the water which would then have been delayed on its route to the brook and subsequently to the the River Churnet. So next time we have heavy rain the water will percolate through the soil just that bit quicker than before - and then that water will proceed more quickly into Endon Brook and on down ultimately to the Trent. Thus, in a minor way, this action has increased the chance of the river overtopping its channel and flooding adjacent fields and homes.

On its own this single small drainage scheme is fairly insignificant, but isolated actions such as this all combine to add to nationwide flooding problems that many if us are expected to suffer from over the coming decades. End result - Curlew habitat lost and potential flooding increased!