Farmers play part in bird protection
Farmers play part in bird protection
ONE of Europes rarest birds – the corncrake – has successfully bred in Yorks for the first time in decades.
A farmer in the Pennine Dales Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) alerted DEFRA of the birds presence. Ministry staff and the Yorkshire Dales National Park then developed a management plan allowing farming to continue while the birds were protected.
Meanwhile, farmers are helping to boost grey partridge populations in Scotland by taking part in a scheme that helps them grow bird-friendly crops on their land.
Results from a pilot project carried out on 40 East Lothian farms show that, in the first count since crops were sown in spring this year, 136 pairs of birds were recorded.
And a Co Durham farming couple benefited after 15,000 birdwatchers descended on the village of Bishop Middleham to see a pair of southern European bee-eaters.
The bee-eaters – the first to be seen in Britain for nearly 50 years – nested in a quarry next to Stuart and Daphne Andersons Farnless Farm.
To ease congestion, Mr and Mrs Anderson charged visitors to park in one of their fields. *
Bee-eater here now… After a
50-year absence from UK skies.