Better news for farmland birds

The number of wild birds in England has begun to stabilise after 20 year's decline, a report suggests today.

The wild bird population index, part of a wider view of biodiversity in England, has for the first time drawn together information for 79 urban, wetland, coastal, farmland and woodland bird species.

After two decades of decline, populations of farmland birds appear to have stabilised since the mid-1990s. Farmland generalists such as the jackdaw and wood pigeon show little overall change since 1970 but the numbers of farmland specialists such as the skylark and grey partridge have declined steeply.

The index shows a 7% increase in the water and wetland bird population since 1975 with species such as the mute swan and moorhen benefiting particularly.

The town and garden bird population, based on nine common garden species including the robin, blackbird, blue tit and greenfinch has seen an increase in numbers of 10% since 1979 though, worringly, sparrow and starling populations in towns have fallen by 60%.

Wild bird populations are considered good indicators of the broad state of biodiversity because they occupy a wide range of habitats and tend to be near the top of the food chain.

Coastal and seabird numbers have remained stable with big increases in guillemot numbers counter balanced by declines in kittiwakes.

Of the 33 species of woodland bird studied 17 species have declined with 16 increasing. The main casualties are specialist woodland birds such as the lesser-spotted woodpecker whose numbers have reduced by 75%. However, the generalist woodland bird is now as high as it was in 1970 with species such as the chaffinch and robin faring particularly well.

Announcing the report's publication Environment Minister Elliot Morley said:

'As a keen bird watcher myself I am greatly encouraged by some parts of this report but I am afraid that other areas highlight the need for us to continue to work very hard to protect and then establish the right type of environment for all aspects of biodiversity in England to flourish'.

In addition to the wild bird indices 40 other indicators are published as part of the Government's strategy for improving the status of biodiversity in England. These figures help measure progress against implementation of the Working with the grain of nature published in October 2002.

Positive trends found within the 46 measures include:

- The priority species and habitats, that have been selected for concerted action under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, are showing gradual improvements overall

- The biological quality of rivers and the number of rivers with sustainable salmon stocks are improving

- The area of land under agri-environment schemes in England is increasing

- The inputs of hazardous substances to the marine environment have steadily declined since 1985

- The numbers of people caring about and enjoying biodiversity have increased, with more and more people volunteering for conservation activity

More companies are getting involved in biodiversity as shown by the increases in responses to the BiE Index of Corporate Environmental Engagement

Negative trends can be found in the following areas:

- Wild plant diversity in fields and field margins, river banks and stream sides and in woodlands has declined - Levels of nutrients (particularly phosphates) in rivers has increased over the last decade

The report contains, for the first time, information on: - The baseline condition of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in a

range of sectors - agriculture, water and wetlands, woodland, and urban and coastal areas - as well as those in business and local authority ownership, so that comparison between sectors can be made.

- The status of UK BAP Species and Habitat Action Plans -

differentiated across the sectors of the strategy, - showing

comparative progress for some of the species and habitats most at risk in England.

This is a baseline assessment, so in many cases it is not yet possible to show clear trends. Some of the indicators need further work to develop them into useful measurements. In particular work is underway to develop an indicator showing the status of marine biodiversity, which is a substantial gap at present.