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Let's start controlling crows and magpies and see if songbird populations increase
Blame for the reduction in song birds is laid squarely on farmers and farming methods, particularly the use of chemicals. The RSPB says it is sprays and fertiliser that causes the trouble, and the problem will get worse now that set-aside has been cut. Yet set-aside and organic farming are both recent farming developments, and each has contributed thousands of acres to being free of chemicals. Farm chemicals themselves have become far more benign over the past 20 years or more and are also used in smaller quantities. Practical Farm IDEAS calls regular culling of corvids (magpies, rooks and crows) by farmers. There's nothing to stop farmers, or those with their permission, shooting them - and traps such as Larsen are also legal, but need to be checked daily. See here
Ending compulsory set-aside will have a negative effect on wild-life as the area of uncultivated land is decreased, and the voluntary NFU and CLA plan to reduce the effects is a welcome way to reduce the impact. They look at three central themes, farmland birds, resource protection and botanical diversity and say that a voluntary scheme would be far more creative and effective than the regulatory approach suggested by Defra, which looks for a new cross compliance requirement for arable farmers to leave a percentage of their land out of production.
The 'stakeholders' at the meeting* further radical thinking regarding the protection of vulnerable song birds, with the introduction of some plan to control predators. It's amazing that numbers of these species have been in decline during a time when their habitat, through set-aside, has been greater than for many decades. Ag chemical use has also been been in decline, with the move towards organic farming.
Ask any countryman, as opposed to the highly qualified and desk-bound ecologist, what causes the decline in song birds, sparrows and so on, and you'll generally get the answer "other birds and predators", which include the burgeoning population of magpies and crows. Farmers would be only to happy to involve themselves in a partial cull of these destroyers of hedgerow nests and chicks.
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The RSPB web site tells us: "Most British members of the crow family (including magpies) will take eggs and nestlings. This can be upsetting to witness but it is completely natural. However, some people are concerned that there may be a long-term effect on songbird populations.
Many of the UKs commonest songbirds have declined during the last 25 years, at a time when populations of magpies increased. To find out why songbirds are in trouble, the RSPB has undertaken intensive research on species such as the skylark and song thrush. To discover whether magpies (or sparrowhawks) could be to blame for the decline, the RSPB commissioned the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) to analyse its 35 years of bird monitoring records. The study found that songbird numbers were no different in places where there were many magpies or sparrowhawks from where there are few. It found no evidence that increased numbers of magpies have caused declines in songbirds and confirms that populations of prey species are not determined by the numbers of their predators. It is the availability of food and suitable places in which to nest that decide the population."
So they recognise the blatant fact that magpies go birdnesting, kill chicks and damage eggs, but this doesn't effect song bird population. It's a crassly stupid statement, and the farming industry needs to dis-prove it. We need to say "yes, we can agree that chemicals and cropping of cereals and grass has an adverse effect on wildlife, but crows and magpies have an equal, or even greater effect, and their numbers need controlling." Research that moves the argument on from the decade long 'farming is the main cause of bird song decline' which is so damaging to farming, and a threat to its future.
* Organisations represented at the meeting, held on Friday March 27, included: RSPB, LEAF, FWAG, GWCT, AIC, AICC, BASIS, BIAC, RICS, CAAV, CPA, Defra, Environment Agency, Natural England and the RPA.
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