That was the opening salvo from Defra Minister of State, the Right Honourable James Paice MP at a Farmland Birds and Sustainable Intensification seminar staged by the Royal Agricultural Society of England in London recently. Farmers, conservationists, scientists and policy makers were invited to debate the issue of how to increase the numbers of birds on British farms.
'Why are farmland birds still declining when 61% of land in England is in ELS and 9.3% of land is in HLS? The Farmland Bird Index (FBI) is one of the key measures of effectiveness of ELS and HLS and it is recording falling bird numbers. Stewardship needs to be made more effective which we are working on, along with more collaborative working, so areas of land are more joined up as in Defra's new Nature Improvement Areas. How long does it take to arrest the decline in farmland birds? Five years? Environmental Stewardship has been going since 2010 so positive changes should just be around the corner.
Another challenge to overcome is sustainability in the face of population density; we are approaching 70 million people in the UK. Man has had an impact on nature since he started cutting down the wild wood 12,000years ago; we need to take our role in managing nature very seriously and this may mean controlling some species.'
Jim Paice finished with a request for suggestions as to how the current agri-environmental regime could be improved. So if you have any thoughts maybe you should pass them on to Mr Paice.
Some of Mr Paice's questions on why farmland bird numbers have failed to recover were answered by Professor Ken Norris, Director of the Centre of Agri-Environmental Research at Reading University. Unfortunately Mr Paice had a more pressing engagement and failed to stay long enough to hear it.
There is good evidence that farmland bird populations can increase in individual case study situations.
Ken Norris's team has produced a risk assessment system which can be used for the 60 odd species of birds which use farmland. It enables bird species to be characterised according to their ecological needs – the food they eat, the habitats they live in and the nest sites they occupy. The model does the same for agricultural changes – which of those factors does changing agriculture impact on? Then it looks for points of coincidence between the two. Ken Norris believes we could have broadly identified winners and losers years ago using this technique.
The models show that the ELS is not having the impact that we want it to have. The reasons are that not all the right options are being taken up in the right places and we don’t know if this can be achieved without changing the stewardship schemes themselves. Secondly, options in schemes do not have the same impact everywhere so they need to be targeted more effectively. Thirdly some options have the opposite effect to that intended – likely to be due to competition and predation.
Case Studies - Light at the end of the Tunnel?
There was a degree of opimism from the case studies that followed. In particualr they highlichetd what could be achived with targeted use of the most approrpiate habitat for farmland birds. Farmer Peter Richards from the Cotsowlds, a sister project to mine, under the umbrella of the South West Farmland Bird Initiative impressed the audience with the range of biodivserity on his farm and the success they have had following their entry into the Higher Level Stewardship Scheme. The scheme fits well with his business and there are now over 60 species of bird on the farm including birds that have not been seen for many years.
Alistair Leake, Director of Research at the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Allerton Project on a Leicestershire farm echoed the results on Peter Richard's farm. At Allerton, trials have demonstrated that a high level of arable output is possible whilst increasing farmland bird numbers.
The trials show that for farmland bird numbers to increase, the following elements are important:-
’ Provision of suitable nesting habitat;
’ Plenty of insects, particularly at chick hatching;
’ Feed through the winter, early and late spring;
’ Targeted and limited control of predators.
Some of these are covered under HLS - although feeding through the spring is difficult through just growing wild bird seed mixes; supplementary feeding through hoppers and along farm tracks is currently not funded through any schemes despite spring aka the 'hungry gap'often being the most challenging time for all birds. Predator control is also not covered though HLS.
Conclusions
The case studies show that success is possible but requires a number of elements -
1.The Big 3 for birds - safe nesting; summer insect food and winter seed food. Many of the options the birds need most such as unsprayed conservation headlands in cereal crops and sown crops of wild bird seed targeted advice are complicated and unpopular with farmers - thus take up is low through the Government's schemes - hence no improvement in bird numbers.
2.Targeted expert advice is essential to match birds requirements with farmer's businesses. The right options for the birds also need to be in the right place and managed appropriately otherwise the birds will not use them.Phillips Merrick's case study of lapwing productivity highlighted this.
3.Predator control is also important in many circumstances, particualry with ground nesting birds but predator increases should not be blamed for the decline in bird numbers; this is far too simplistic and ignores complex issues of ecology.
4.Payments to reduce production need to reflect cost of providing the habitat and loss of production.
5.Breeding success and productivity should be the focus of schemes - not simply presence or absence of a species in a particular habitat.This is the only way bird numbers will increase.
In the light of Natural England staff and HLS budget cuts and impending CAP reform some of these points could be a challenge for this Government but Jim Paice asked what suggestions we have, well those are mine.
Finally as Philip Merricks farmer and manager of Elmley National Nature Reserve said – “conservation relies on the hands and minds of farmers”.
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