A more strategic approach to wildlife-friendly agricultural programs is needed to restore farmland bird populations in England, according to new research led by the RSPB.
published this week in Journal of Applied Ecology Monitoring how farmland bird populations respond to different levels of agroenvironmental programs in cultivated-pastoral and mixed agricultural landscapes.
The UK government recently introduced a legally binding target to halt species abundance declines in England by 2030, and a similar time-bound EU target is currently under discussion.
intervention
With the dramatic decline in numbers of many formerly common farmland birds such as starlings and skylarks, there is an urgent need to quickly implement effective conservation interventions across the farming landscape, including through new environmental land management schemes currently being developed and piloted in England.
The ten-year study measured changes in farmland bird abundance on land managed under bird-focused low- and high-level agro-environmental programs, as well as land without bird-friendly agricultural programs.
An average of 11 percent of farms were devoted to bird-friendly measures under higher-level schemes, compared with 4 percent managed under lower-level schemes.
The authors looked specifically at bird-friendly practices that provide seed-rich habitat for winter foraging, insect-rich habitat for feeding chicks, and nesting habitat for ground-nesting species such as lapwings. Higher level farms also receive bespoke one-on-one management advice before the agreement begins.
important
The results showed that when approximately 10 percent of a farm is devoted to bird-friendly farming practices under higher-level schemes, this benefits more than half of farmland birds in two of the three study areas.
While lower-level supplies generally fail to boost bird populations, it helps maintain populations of some species that continue to decline in the absence of environmental support for agriculture elsewhere.
The second part of the study asked what percentage of farmed landscapes would need to be brought under higher-level protocols to restore 10 percent of farmland birds within a decade.
The answers were similar in both regions – 26% in the pastoral West Midlands and 31% in arable East Anglia.
However, by targeting higher-level agreements to farms that already had more priority field birds, this requirement dropped to 17% and 21%, respectively, representing significant cost savings.
This is the first study to illuminate the amount of nature-friendly agriculture that may be required to restore farmland birds at a landscape scale.
Critical
