Thermal cameras used to map bird nests in efforts to boost numbers on Somerset Levels

Thermal cameras are being used to map where birds are nesting on the Somerset Levels, as part of a project to protect declining species like snipe and curlew.

The RSPB hopes the new technology will help them better understand where the nests are, and in turn keep them safe.

Traditional methods of locating curlew and snipe nests just by observation from vantage points has been very time-consuming and difficult, so conservationists hope the new technology could be the answer.

Once the location of the nests are known, they can be better protected and temporary fences can even be installed to deter predators.

Harry Paget-Wilkes, from RSPB Sedgemoor Reserves, said: "We're really concerned about curlew populations across the whole of the the UK. They're declining quite dramatically and they have been for a few decades.

"The Somerset Levels and Moors is one of the few places where there are populations remaining in lowland England.

"The work we're doing is trying to protect those curlew remaining as best we can."

If the trial is successful, the team can also work with local farmers and landowners.

Simon Phelps, from Natural England which funded the project, said: "It is about helping us build better partnerships.

"When we know where there's a breeding wader, we can work with that farmer to make sure that they modify what they're doing, to give it the time and space to complete its breeding, allow the chicks to hatch, and when they're old enough and safe enough, then the farmer can go back into that field and do what they need to do, like make the hay or put the livestock in.

"And that relationship we have with local farmers is something that's really important to us."