Renewed Habitats for Farmland Birds
The intensification of agriculture has been reported as the most significant reason for bird declines in Europe over the last 40 years (1). However, we have recorded some encouraging results whist undertaking wintering bird surveys within an intensively managed cattle farm in Gloucestershire, on the banks of the River Severn. The farm is dominated by heavily grazed and heavily improved pasture, with few hedges, trees or areas of vegetation, creating an exposed and windswept habitat. Typically, these areas of pasture experience high levels of disturbance through cattle grazing throughout much of the year. Predictably, the surveys have recorded very little of interest during the first half of the winter between October and December. However, at around mid-December the cattle were taken from the grazing pasture and confined to barns.
Almost immediately, when this disturbance was removed, large flocks of golden plover Pluvialis apricaria and lapwing Vanellus vanellus began congregating within the areas of pasture. By mid-January up to 800 golden plover and up to 100 lapwing were recorded feeding across large parts of the site. Lapwings are one of our fastest declining farmland birds and a Red Listed species of Conservation Concern. The UK population of lapwing increases during the winter to up to around 600,000 birds. Lapwings have declined continually in lowland farm environments since the 1980s, with the UK wintering population declining by approximately 47% from between 1996 to 2021. There is good evidence that declines in lapwing numbers have resulted from habitat loss and degradation due to changes in agricultural practice, in particular change from spring to autumn sowing, drainage of grasslands and loss of mixed farmland, which have led to breeding productivity dropping below a sustainable level (2).
Golden plovers are an upland species during the summer months, moving to lowland farmland and coastal environments during the winter months to feed. The winter population increases to around 410,000 and the species is listed on Annex 1 of the Birds Directive due to conservation concern. The UK wintering population is increased through individuals from Fennoscandian or Russian origin, however the UK wintering population has suffered a 14% decline between 1996 and 20213. The causes of declines of this species are poorly understood, however it is thought that nest disturbance through higher stocking densities of upland sheep farming could be to blame (3).
The occurrence of two declining farmland bird species within this site, that is a largely degraded landscape through industrialised farming, shows that just the removal of a single impact such as disturbance can be enough for a species to exploit a marginal habitat, abet temporarily. Unsustainable, intensive farming has contributed to the UK becoming one of the most nature depleted countries on earth (4). If we are to protect iconic farmland bird species such as turtle dove Streptopelia turtur and cuckoo Cuculus canorus from extinction in the UK sustainable, nature friendly farming practices need to be adopted rapidly and at scale across the UK.
This article has been written by Ryan Walker
The images have been taken by Owen Crawshaw
1 Rigal et al., (2023) Farmland practices are driving bird population decline across Europe. Journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 120 (21) e22165731. https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2216573120
2 https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/lapwing
3 https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/golden-plover
4 Burns et al., (2023). State of Nature 2023, the State of Nature partnership, Available at: www.stateofnature.org.uk