Birds flourish on countryside trust land
Farmland birds are flourishing on land managed by a charitable trust set up to show that productive agriculture work can go hand-in-hand with looking after the environment.
Key species such as corn bunting, grey partridge, linnet, skylark, whitethroat and yellowhammer are thriving on farmland managed by the Countryside Restoration Trust.
The results run counter to the national trend revealed in a recent government report, which highlighted big declines in farmland bird numbers.
Some 19 indicator species nationally were found to be at less than half the levels of the 1970s.
In 2010, breeding farmland bird populations in the UK were at their lowest level ever recorded at half of what they were in 1970.
In contrast, the CRT has boosted numbers of farmland bird species and numbers on two blocks of farmland it has managed for the past decade.
Skylark and whitethroat numbers have almost doubled on the farm.
At the same time, linnets have doubled in numbers – despite a 75% decline nationally over the past 40 years.
CRT founder and chairman Robin Page sad: “Populations of once common, much-loved birds of the farmed countryside have crashed over the past four decades as recorded in Defra’s study.
“Yet that depressing decline could be reversed, as demonstrated by the heartening and healthy increases in key farmland birds found on CRT land.
By making some relatively simple alterations to farming practice, benefits could be delivered for both birds and business, said Mr Page.
“In simple terms, government needs to help more farmers deliver commercial farming with conservation in mind.”
Defra has identified the main causes of the crash in farmland bird numbers as “land management changes and intensification of farming”.
Among the reasons, it highlights a decline in mixed farming, a shift from spring to winter-sown crops, the change from hay-making to silage, and increased use of pesticides.
The CRT avoids or ameliorates all those practices, said Tim Scott, CRT tenant farmer and manager of Lark Rise farm.
“When I took up the tenancy with the CRT, the land had been farmed for years intensively for wheat and little else – crop yields as well as wildlife were suffering.
“I am as keen as any farmer to make a profit, but both from personal interest and because I work with the CRT, I am committed to deliver a living countryside that works for wildlife too.”
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