Defra has announced that farmers will be able to apply for payment through agri- environment schemes to feed farmland birds during the leanest months of winter. Beginning in January 2013, new schemes will enable farmers to access rural development funding to provide supplementary food to farmland birds.

The evidence supporting the decision, made by Defra ministers last week, was compiled during two decades of research carried out on the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Allerton Project Farm at Loddington, Leicestershire, where farmland bird numbers doubled in years when additional grain seeds were provided through feed hoppers compared to years without.

Dr Alastair Leake, Head of the Allerton Project, welcomed the decision. He said, “We are delighted with Defra’s decision.  It will be welcomed by farmers who plant wildlife strips for birds but know that this source of food runs out late in the winter. This new measure will help to keep their birds alive and on their farms until the breeding season.  Farmers are already doing a great deal for wildlife and this is another important way that they can help their birds during lean times.”

The latest government figures show that some farmland bird populations such as grey partridge, tree sparrow, yellowhammer, reed bunting, and corn bunting have declined by over 40 per cent on average, though some species have been hit by declines of up to 90 per cent since the 1970s. However, research by groups including the RSPB at its own farms in Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire is enabling farmers to develop more wildlife friendly ways of farming.

 
Dr Leake added, “Supplementary feeding, a very targeted intervention will get us over this one limitation and will be enormously helpful in reversing the long-term declines of these vulnerable farmland birds.

“While we know which plant seeds birds like to eat, we also know that many of these become depleted towards the end of winter.  Unfortunately, we have not yet discovered plants that will hold onto their seeds during the leanest months. Until we have developed these long-lasting seed bearing crops, which may involve breeding known bird feeding species specifically for the purpose, supplementary feeding provides the ideal stop-gap to ensure that birds survive and thrive until the breeding season.”

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