The importance of the peatlands of the Upper Volga area as habitats for breeding waders

In the Tver region 31 wader species were recorded and of these, 19 species breed there, 11 species are considered rare and ten of these rare species breed in different peatlands. Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria and Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus breed only on raised bogs, Marsh Sandpiper Tringa stagnatilis and Great Snipe Gallinago media breed only on fens. Ruff Philomachus pugnax, Redshank Tringa totanus, Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa nd Curlew Numenius arquata re widely distributed on peat-bogs and have their maximum density on fens. Single breeding records of Jack Snipe Lymnocryptes minima re known for eutrophic and mesotrophic bogs. In the last decade Terek Sandpipers Xenus cinereus have started to breed on transformed peatlands. Wader species composition and abundance vary considerably among peatlands of different ypes due to differences in their size, forest-cover and the presence of open water areas. The large raised bogs, with complex habitats from marginal eutrophic parts to central areas with peat-ridges and open water areas, have the highest number of rare breeding wader species (up to seven), although their density is rather low (2.1+0.3 pairs kin-2). The most marked fluctuations in numbers are found on small bogs and in dry years some species do not breed there at all. Egg and chick predation is higher on long narrow bogs than on rounded ones of the same area. In recent decades the increase in Hooded Crow Corvus cornix numbers at the bogs has negatively influenced the breeding success of wader species. Overall, 160 bogs in the region were excluded from drainage and peat-industry plans in the 1980s and all forest-cutting is planned to stop by 1993. With the development of anthropogenic a tivities in the region, the relative value of peatlands as a habitat for rare wader species will probably increase in the near future.