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Declines in habitat quality through the breeding season within a bird’s home‐range can limit overall productivity. In environments where multiple breeding opportunities arise during the course of a season, these effects can be buffered by a shift to different breeding sites or habitats. We studied the distribution and habitat associations of a crop‐nesting farmland bird, the Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava...
There is currently little evidence that wider countryside agri‐environment scheme (AES) management has led to population‐level benefits for farmland birds and it is timely to consider why this might be the case, so that AES options can be improved if necessary. Two reasons why particular options might not deliver landscape‐scale population benefits are that they do not take account of the full temporal...
Agri‐environment schemes (AES) are central to the conservation of Europe’s farmland biodiversity. The UK Government’s Public Service Agreement target seeks to reverse the decline of farmland birds in England by 2020 through the use of AES. The Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) scheme, introduced in 2005, is the first non‐competitive, broad‐uptake stewardship scheme designed to deliver simple but effective...
The Little Bustard is suffering a widespread population decline mainly due to agricultural intensification. This study evaluates the effects of intensification level, habitat availability and rainfall on the population dynamics of this species. The population density of males was monitored for 7 years (2002–2008) at 184 points located within three sites with contrasting levels of agricultural intensification...
Many farmland bird species have declined markedly in Europe in recent decades because of changes in agricultural practice. The specific causes vary and are poorly known for many species. The Little Owl, which feeds extensively on large invertebrates and is strongly associated with the agricultural landscape, has declined over most of northwestern Europe, including Denmark. We investigated the likely...
Between 1988 and 2007, set‐aside, a European Commission production control measure, took an average of 10% of arable farmland in the EU out of production each year. In 2007, the set‐aside rate was set to 0% and the scheme was later abandoned altogether. By assessing associations of farmland birds with set‐aside and quantifying the extent of set‐aside loss, this study aims to assess the implications...
The Little Bustard has undergone a steep reduction of its Western Palaearctic range over the last century. In the west of France, breeding populations declined by 96% from 1978 to 2008 in cultivated areas where grasslands have been converted into intensively managed annual crops. Little Bustard abundance and nest productivity have been monitored since 1995 in a 450‐km2 site in western France. We assessed...
Environmental Stewardship (ES) is the main mechanism for reversing the decline in farmland birds in England, and includes a range of options designed to provide winter foraging for seed‐eating species. We estimated granivorous songbird densities on ES options designed to provide winter food, on farms within the Entry Level (ELS) or Higher Level (HLS) strata of ES. ES Wild Bird Mixtures (WBMs) hosted...
Studying a species under a range of conditions is essential for fully understanding its ecology and for predicting its response to human impacts on the environment. We investigated the spatial behaviour and the habitat characteristics of foraging areas of Eurasian Stone‐curlews breeding in an important but poorly investigated habitat, gravel riverbed, throughout the full 24‐h cycle. The data collected...
Associations between habitat and animal distributions are widely used to make conservation recommendations. However, short‐term studies do not allow investigation of temporal variation in associations as habitats change or populations decline. Here we quantify changes in the habitat attributes and distribution of breeding territories in a multiple‐brooded, crop‐nesting farmland bird, the Corn Bunting...
Species’ distribution models are widely used in landscape ecology but usually lack explicit information about species’ responses to ecosystem dynamics, leading to uncertainty when applied to the prediction of seasonal change in distributions. In this study, we aimed to build a species’ distribution model for the Common Quail Coturnix coturnix, a farmland species that shows changes in its distribution...
Habitat associations of farmland birds are well studied, yet few have considered relationships between species distribution and soil properties. Charadriiform waders (shorebirds) depend upon penetrable soils, rich in invertebrate prey. Many species, such as the Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus, have undergone severe declines across Europe, despite being targeted by agri‐environment measures. This...
Earthworms (Oligochaeta, Lumbricidae) form a significant component of the food web and are the staple diet of many higher‐trophic‐level predators, such as invertebrate‐feeding birds and mammals. Their almost complete digestion in the predator's gut hampers their detection or quantification in faeces or pellets except through labour‐intensive microscopic examination. As a result, the evaluation of...
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