A localised study of farmland birds and breeding wader populations in the south Fylde. A practical approach towards applying for Environmental Stewardship.

Abstract

Populations of waders breeding on lowland wet grassland in England and Wales have
declined markedly in recent decades; the loss of once widespread species such as Lapwing
Vanellus vanellus, Snipe Gallinago gallinago and Redshank Tringa totanus from many areas is
of particular conservation concern (Wilson et al 2004). These declines are due to loss of
grassland to other land uses, and to significant changes in grassland management. The same
can be applied to many bird species of lowland farmland that have declined substantially in
the United Kingdom over the past 30 years (Gregory et al 2004). Declines among farmland
‘specialists’ are steeper than for ‘generalists’ and were most rapid for these specialists in the
1970s and 1980s. These changes have also been linked to increased agricultural
intensification and are reflected in Red or Amber conservation concern status for many
common farmland species, as well as for rarer ones.
In March 2005, DEFRA (now Natural England) launched Environmental Stewardship , an agrienvironment
scheme that could herald big changes in the farmed countryside in England.
Environmental Stewardship has a number of primary objectives, one of which is wildlife
conservation. An index of long-term trends in farmland bird populations has been adopted by
the UK government as one of the 15 headline ‘Quality of Life Indicators’ - the ‘indicator’ in this
case being declines in biodiversity in the wider countryside (Vickery 2005).
This research is focused on a practical approach to Environmental Stewardship at a local
level, guiding the landowner of a small dairy farm on the south Fylde towards the management
and conservation of breeding waders and farmland birds and aims to give a recommended
prescription to successful application.