Five-year evaluation of the impact of the Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme on birds

Published source details Bradbury R.B., Browne S.J., Stevens D.K. & Aebischer N.J. (2004) Five-year evaluation of the impact of the Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme on birds. Ibis, 146, 171-180.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Pay farmers to cover the costs of bird conservation measures Action Link
	Pay farmers to cover the cost of conservation measures (as in agri-environment schemes) Action Link

Pay farmers to cover the costs of bird conservation measures

A 2004 replicated site comparison study of 74 farms in East Anglia and the West Midlands (Bradbury et al. 2004) found few differences in the density of farmland birds on farms participating in the Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme and non-Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme and, five years after the introduction of the scheme. In the West Midlands, although seed-eating songbirds, wagtails and pipits, insectivores, and raptors were found at higher densities on Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme land than non-Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme land, these higher densities were already present when measured within one year of the introduction of the scheme. Moreover, in East Anglia there were no differences the bird densities found on Arable Stewardship Pilot Schemes and non-Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme fields. Surveys of grey partridge populations on 76 farms in 1998 and 2002 found that adult densities decreased uniformly on both Arable Stewardship Pilot Schemes and non- Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme farms over the five-year period. Bird surveys were carried out twice each during the winters of 1998/1999 and 2002/1903 on 18 Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme and 19 non-Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme farms in East Anglia and 19 Arable Stewardship Pilot Schemes and 18 non-Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme farms in the West Midlands.
Pay farmers to cover the cost of conservation measures (as in agri-environment schemes)

A replicated site comparison study of 74 farms in East Anglia and the West Midlands, UK (Bradbury et al. 2004) found few differences in the density of farmland birds on farms participating in the Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme and non-Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme land, five years after the introduction of the scheme. In the West Midlands, although seed-eating songbirds, wagtails and pipits (Motacillidae), insectivores, and raptors were found at higher densities on Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme land than non-Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme land, these higher densities were already present when measured within one year of the introduction of the scheme. Moreover, in East Anglia there were no differences in the bird densities found on Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme and non-Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme fields. Surveys of grey partridge Perdix perdix populations on 76 farms in 1998 and 2002 found that adult densities decreased uniformly on both Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme and non-Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme farms over the five-year period. Bird surveys were carried out twice each winter, during the winters of 1998-1999 and 2002-2003 on 18 Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme and 19 non-Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme farms in East Anglia and 19 Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme and 18 non-Arable Stewardship Pilot Scheme farms in the West Midlands. This study was part of the same monitoring project as (Bradbury & Allen 2003, Browne & Aebischer 2003, Stevens & Bradbury 2006).