Three French Hens, Two Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Despite being mentioned in the Christmas song, the Twelve Days Of Christmas, Turtle doves are absent from the UK at this time of year as they overwinter in sub-saharan Africa. Their presence in this famous Christmas song reflects their association with literature and folklore which stretches back to the bible.

The Song of Solomon (2:12) in the Old Testament includes the lines
The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the song of the birds is come
And the voice of the turtle is heard in in our land.

Turtle doves pair bond can extend beyond one breeding season and this classic emblem of marital devotion has appeared in English poetry since Chaucer. They have been described as the 'smallest and loveliest of the British pigeons' - I'm sure you would agree if you see the pictures below, I think the far more common collared dove pales in compaison, but maybe I'm biased!
(Thank you to Birds Britannica by Mark Cocker and Richard Mabey for the fascinating Turtle dove facts).
Most news concerning this beautiful and iconic species is gloomy with the bird being labelled one of our fastest declining bird species.  Not only has it suufered from agricultural intensification like many of our farmland bird species but every spring and autumn it has to run the gauntlet of  European hunters and in Malta alone tens of thousands of birds are shot annually. Despite being outlawed by EU legislation, Malta somehow receives an exemption on the grounds that  the tradition is deeply embedded in its rural culture. Added to that miles of fine 'mist' nets on the North Arican coast trap this and many other migatory species on their long journeys, often to  be used as food.

In Wiltshire we are lucky enough to still have some Turtle doves and it one of the species targeted by the South Wiltshire Farmland Bird Project

http://www.ccwwdaonb.org.uk/projects/farmland.htm

 

Martin Down National Nature Reserve in Hampshire (but on the borders of Wiltshire and Dorset) is a local stronghold for this bird and a small project has been running here for the last year to try and find out more about why the birds here are faring better than their neighbours. Additional foraging areas were also created by neighbouring farmers as lack of seed food is one of the reasons the birds are declining. With help from the South Wiltshire Farmland Bird Project, Natural England (NE) and volunteers, a pilot study carried out a survey of breeding birds across the reserve last summer.

 

Volunteer Andy Davis gave an update, ‘The pilot study at Martin Down estimated that there were seven breeding pairs in 2014 and we know at least some breeding attempts were successful as the team ringed two fledglings. It was a very protracted breeding season and birds were still on site well into September. The data we collected currently suggests that the birds had selected the largest, most impenetrable plots of scrub for nesting and that they were distributed across the whole reserve. We can also say that we did not observe any birds feeding within the reserve and that they must forage elsewhere - hopefully the next stage of the project will establish where.”

European Turtle Dove

Collared Dove

Thanks to Robert Lloyd of NE, participating farmers and all the volunteers including Andy Davis, Danny Alder and Dr Simon Lane.

A Future for Farmland Birds?

Defra has just released its “Annual statistical release  - WILD BIRD POPULATIONS IN ENGLAND, 1970 to 2013” and yet again its bad news for farmland birds.

"By 2013, the England breeding farmland bird index had fallen by 56 per cent to a level less than half that of 1970. The largest declines in farmland bird populations occurred between the late seventies and the early nineties, but there has been a statistically significant decline of 7% between 2007 and 2012.”
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/wild-bird-populations-in-england

 

Of the 19 species in the farmland bird index there are large differences in populations over time depending on whether the bird is a ‘generalist’, (7 species not 9 as the graph states - Greenfinch, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Reed bunting, Rook, Wood pigeon, Yellow wagtail);
or a ‘specialist’, (12 species - Corn bunting, Goldfinch, Grey partridge, Lapwing, Linnet, Skylark, Starling, Stock dove, Tree sparrow, Turtle dove, Whitethroat, Yellowhammer).

 

Why have farmland bird species continued to decline when agri-environment schemes have been around in the UK since the late eighties?

Although schemes to benefit wildlife and the environment have been around since the late eighties, ‘farmland bird options’ were much slower to evolve.

Environmental Stewardship introduced in 2004, had over 60 arable prescriptions likely to benefit farmland birds but still no significant improvement was seen in the index over the next 10 years. However uptake was very low, particularly via Entry Level Stewardship, which was open to all farmers as long as they achieved the requisite number of points. Naturally most farmers chose easy options such as grass buffer strips and managing hedgerows; those involving changing management of arable land or growing specialist seed crops for birds to eat were not popular; consequently farmland birds did not benefit significantly.

Launched in 2008, SWFBI was a partnership project between Natural England, RSPB, FWAG and several AONBs, aimed to reverse declines in the 6 species which had suffered most;Turtle dove, Grey partridge, Tree sparrow, Corn bunting, Yellow wagtail and Lapwing. These birds need cultivated land to complete their life cycle. Using 10 year Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreements or independently, farmers were encouraged to adopt measures that provided nesting habitat, summer and winter food (the ‘Big 3’) for farmland birds. Research suggested that to reverse declines, birds need appropriate habitat on 7% of arable land.

 

For more information http://www.ccwwdaonb.org.uk/projects/farmland.htm

For example on a 100ha arable farm, there should be a 2ha fallow nesting plot for ground nesting birds like lapwing; 2-3ha or flower rich areas to provide insects for chick food and 2ha seed rich crops for winter food. Unlike previous approaches this initiative was highly focused and targeted to farms which had records for 3 or more of the 6 species. Free tailored advice was available to all participants which continues today although there is no more HLS funding for new farms to take part. Monitoring is in place across the project area which aims to produce its own ‘farmland bird index’ over a ten year period. Baseline surveys took place in 2010/2011 so we have a while to wait until we know if this approach has been successful. Anecdotal evidence from participating farms suggests that that farmland bird numbers have increased and other wildlife has benefited too; including Brown hares, Harvest mice and rare arable plants such as Pheasants eye.

Cornbunting - one of the arable six

 

SWFBI ran from 2008/9 to 2014 in Wiltshire, Dorset and the Cotswolds and has resulted in the creation of over 10,000 ha farmland bird habitat across 3 counties (over 24,710 acres) and 2800 skylark plots.

In the county I worked in, Wiltshire, over 4000 ha farmland bird habitat was created, (nearly 10,000 acres) & 753 skylark plots.

 

 It is clear that if you tell farmers exactly what you want, provide adequate funding for habitat and tailored expert advice to help them best manage that habitat, many will respond with amazing results; this has been seen across the country with various projects. These include cirl buntings in Devon, Choughs in Cornwall, Stone curlews in Wiltshire and various other farmland bird projects. Whether the 'farmland bird package' approach is enough to reverse farmland bird declines nationally remains to be seen, until final monitoring takes place in 2020.

 A mix of seed bearing crops grown to feed birds over the winter

 The concern for the future is that under the New Environmental Land Management Scheme (NELMS) there will less money available for farm based schemes and crucially farmland birds will not attract any free Government funded advice through this scheme; this begs the question what does the future hold for our farmland birds?