Countryside stewardship delivers cirl buntings (Emberiza cirlus) in Devon, UK

Enhancement of farmland biodiversity is a key objective of agri-environment schemes in Europe, and conservation of the rare and threatened cirl bunting (Emberiza cirlus) has been a key objective for the Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) in south Devon, UK. Cirl bunting numbers increased by 83% on land entering CSS management agreements between 1992 and 1998, compared with an increase of just 2% on adjacent countryside not managed under CSS. The increase in cirl buntings on stewardship land was part of a wider regional increase in abundance rather than a redistribution of birds away from land not under stewardship. In 1998, 22% of all UK cirl buntings were breeding on land under CSS agreements and a further 16% of birds were within 0.5 km of land under stewardship. All but one of the 27 agreements that gained cirl buntings were within 2 km of cirl bunting breeding sites in 1992, with more distant agreements failing to be colonised even if they offered a range of potentially beneficial prescriptions. Agreements providing grass margins around arable fields, weedy winter stubbles and open patches of grassland next to scrub tended to gain additional cirl buntings. Grass margins and weedy winter stubbles constitute important food-rich habitats for cirl buntings and other farmland birds, and should be encouraged in future agri-environment agreements and schemes.

[1]  C. Stoate,et al.  Breeding ecology of farmland Yellowhammers Emberiza citrinella , 1998 .

[2]  A. D. Evans,et al.  Seasonal variation in breeding performance and nestling diet of Cirl Buntings Emberiza cirlus in England , 1997 .

[3]  N. Aebischer,et al.  Breeding skylarks Alauda arvensis on Environmentally Sensitive Area arable reversion grass in southern England: survey-based and experimental determination of density , 1998 .

[4]  R.G.M. Kwak,et al.  Bird numbers 1992 , 1994 .

[5]  M. Thomas,et al.  Structural Features of Field Boundaries Which Influence the Overwintering Densities of Beneficial Arthropod Predators , 1994 .

[6]  Ken W. Smith,et al.  Habitat selection of Cirl Buntings Emberiza cirlus wintering in Britain , 1994 .

[7]  Michael J. Crawley,et al.  GLIM for Ecologists , 1994 .

[8]  David R. Cox.  The analysis of binary data , 1970 .

[9]  The status of the Cirl Bunting Emberiza cirlus in the UK and the Channel Islands in 1998 , 2000 .

[10]  M. Morris.  The effects of structure and its dynamics on the ecology and conservation of arthropods in British grasslands , 2000 .

[11]  Charles E. McCulloch,et al.  MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS IN ECOLOGY AND SYSTEMATICS: PANACEA OR PANDORA'S BOX? , 1990 .

[12]  S. Langton,et al.  Design of grassland feeding areas for waders during winter : The relative importance of sward, landscape factors and human disturbance , 1998 .

[13]  D. Macdonald,et al.  The effects on butterfly abundance of the management of uncropped edges of arable fields , 1996 .

[14]  M. Kendall,et al.  The advanced theory of statistics , 1945 .

[15]  Deborah J. Pain,et al.  Farming and birds in Europe: the common agricultural policy and its implications for bird conservation , 1997 .

[16]  A. J. Morris,et al.  Use of set-aside land in winter by declining farmland bird species in the UK , 1999 .

[17]  N. Hanley,et al.  Assessing the success of agri-environmental policy in the UK , 1999 .

[18]  E. Marshall,et al.  Arthropod abundance and diversity in differently vegetated margins of arable fields , 1999 .

[19]  Richard B. Bradbury,et al.  Habitat associations and breeding success of yellowhammers on lowland farmland , 2000 .