Seasonal benefits of farmland pond management for birds

Capsule: There is seasonal variation in the benefits that birds can take from restored farmland ponds. Aims: To evaluate season-specific benefits of farmland pond restoration for local bird communities. Methods: Bird communities were recorded at unmanaged overgrown and managed open-canopy farmland ponds over the breeding, post-breeding and winter seasons. Results were compared and related to seasonal variation in environmental conditions of within-pond and marginal habitats to identify predictors of local bird communities. Results: Bird communities at managed open-canopy ponds showed a higher abundance and species richness over all seasons and displayed pronounced seasonal shifts in composition. Warblers and other specialised bird species were frequently observed at open-canopy sites over the breeding and post-breeding seasons but were generally absent from overgrown ponds. While pond management and landscape connectivity had a consistent positive influence on bird communities over all seasons, the importance of other predictors such as bramble area varied seasonally. Conclusions: Our study highlights a key role of pond management for farmland bird conservation. In addition, the identified seasonal predictors of bird assemblages provide valuable lessons for the design of agri-environment prescriptions for farmland ponds, highlighting the importance of bramble-dominated patches and pond marginal habitat over the breeding season and of a strong connectivity between pond margins and surrounding semi-natural habitats throughout the year

Predicting the response of farmland birds to agricultural change

Includes bibliographical referencesAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:2354. 730(no 289) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

The grey partridge and AESs in Sweden: Setting up an experimental restoration of the grey partridge and associated farmland biodiversity in Sweden

The grey partridge Perdix perdix has suffered a severe decline in numbers and contraction in range during the last half century. The loss of landscape heterogeneity through agricultural intensification has often been indicated as a cause. By preserving and managing small biotopes and creating uncropped border zones, some ecological heterogeneity is maintained and recreated with the aid of agri-environmental subsidies in Sweden. However, the Swedish range of options is poor in comparison with the British one, thus making it difficult to integrate conservation efforts with regular land use by farming. This project aims to show how relatively simple methods can be used to increase the biodiversity of the agricultural landscape by focusing on the grey partridge. In a large-scale experiment we investigate the effect of newly created wildlife strips on the grey partridge and other species. We will use the results to influence future AESs in Sweden and make them more user-friendly

Winter availability of cereal stubbles attracts declining farmland birds and positively influences breeding population trends

Many studies have demonstrated the selection of stubble fields by farmland birds in winter, but none have shown whether provisioning of this key habitat positively influences national population trends for widespread farmland birds. We use two complementary extensive bird surveys undertaken at the same localities in summer and winter and show that the area of stubble in winter attracts increased numbers of several bird species of conservation concern. Moreover, for several farmland specialists, the availability of stubble fields in winter positively influenced the 10 year breeding population trend (1994–2003) whereas hedgerow bird species were less affected. For skylarks and yellowhammers, initially negative trends showed recovery with 10–20 ha of stubble per 1 km square. Thus, agri-environment schemes that promote retention of over-winter stubbles will attract birds locally and are capable of reversing current population declines if stubbles are available in sufficient quantity