To most people, beaches are either a holiday destination or to those living coastally, an extension of their backyard where they can walk, swim, surf or just relax. Our beaches however are also complex ecosystems where birds and turtles nest, invertebrates have evolved to fill every possible niche, and some birds even fly from the other end of the globe just to access them! Recreation as it currently stands, largely unmanaged in respect to biodiversity impacts, leaves little room for wildlife to persist. The pressures of a growing population and shrinking public open space are taking their toll on a special group of birds - the beach-nesting birds. This is the motivation for BirdLife Australia’s Beach-nesting Birds (BNB) project, now in its eleventh year.

When I first started working on the BNB project, the enormity of the problems facing these birds was quite overwhelming; how on earth can you begin to bring about social change when nearly every Australian uses the beach and has little to no idea about the impacts they are having. ‘Baby steps’ (think Bill Murray, ‘What about Bob?’) was the key and by tackling an issue at a time, and bringing along the community and local land managers in the process, anything becomes possible. There are now 740 volunteers across Australia regularly monitoring these birds and carrying out projects to help minimise threats to their breeding. Together we:

• Raise awareness among beach users about these birds so they can give the birds the space they need on the beach to breed.
• Engage and train community volunteers to monitor beach-nesting birds – this helps us know what the main threats are and how we can adapt management to improve breeding success.
• Protect nesting sites through temporary fencing and signage, and provide artificial shelters for chicks - this helps beach users know which areas need to be avoided.
• Research new ways of protecting the birds and improving chick survival.
  
• Work to ensure coastal planning and policy are in line with biodiversity needs.
  

The Hooded Plover is one of the few species where we can directly relate investment in our protective efforts to improved breeding success. As awareness amongst beach users has grown, the chances of the birds having at least one chick survive on a beach with hundreds to thousands of beach users has grown tenfold, and is the equivalent to that experienced by birds on remote beaches. Over eight consecutive breeding seasons, at around 120 sites, we have added 244 fledglings to the population through active management, and monitored 112 fledglings produced from remote areas that act as our control sites. We’ve seen population declines halted and have even seen birds returning to beaches where they have been absent for more than a decade. The massive grass-roots effort takes much coordination and volunteers, scientists, land managers, policy makers and beach users all play a role in this conservation project. The Hooded Plover is a charismatic little shorebird that has won people’s hearts and opened their eyes to the massive impacts we are having on coastal habitats. It is a true flagship for coasts and as we get tackle recovery of this species, we also help many other wildlife dependent on our shores.

The 2017/2018 breeding season is just beginning and we brace ourselves for the hard work to come. I’m ever hopeful though for success as I know each season we improve and refine our approach, we gain more momentum and the birds endear themselves to more and more people.

The Hooded Plover became the 'Shorebird of the Year' in 2017 and for appreciation of the strong commitment of BirdLife Australia's Beach-nesting Birds project, World Shorebirds Day is raising funds for this Hooded Plover. Donations will go directly to BirdLife Australia's Beach-nesting Bird project!