National Nest Box Week Takes Off With Support From North West Farmers
11/02/05

Love is in the air for our feathered friends this month, as according to tradition St Valentines Day on February 14th is the time when wild birds go in search of a mate.

It is also the day when the British Trust for Ornithology launches National Nest Box Week, aimed at encouraging organisations and individuals to provide homes for birds and help halt the decline in population caused by loss of natural nesting sites.

Certain birds have traditionally thrived around farmland because of the readily available supply of seed, but the intensive farming methods of the last century, resulting in fewer weeds in cereal crops, less overwintered stubble and a reduction in hunting grounds for predators, have seen bird populations decrease.

The Rural Development Service (RDS) has been helping to reverse this trend by promoting agri-environment initiatives such as the Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) which encourages sensitive land management to improve the nesting, breeding and feeding environments for farmland birds. They also promote the use of nest boxes, which have been shown to play an important conservation role, attracting a variety of species. The CSS is now closed to new applicants but is being replaced in March by the new Environmental Stewardship scheme (ES).

In the North West, increasing numbers of farmers have taken up environmentally friendly farming agreements and hundreds of new nest boxes have been erected in the region over the last few years.

Farmer John Rosbotham of Rainford, Merseyside, is in the fifth year of a CSS agreement on his arable land at White House and Holiday Moss Farms. John has thirty-four acres under CSS with options including six metre grass margins, wild bird seed mix areas, meadow and hedgerow restoration. Seventy acres of overwintered stubble are left every year in rotations and he has put up sixteen tree sparrow and two barn owl boxes since 2001. Pupils from Eccleston Mere School visit the farm at different times of the year to help with observations in the area and learn about the agricultural environment under the Scheme's educational access option.

Tree sparrow and barn owl are both protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act and classified as Birds of Conservation Concern. Nationally, tree sparrow numbers have declined by 95% since 1970 and ensuring they have enough nest sites is vital. Tree sparrow prefer to nest in colonies and farmers are advised to erect several nest boxes per tree.

The barn owl's decline is attributed in part to fewer suitable breeding sites and hunting areas and lack of food in severe winters. A breeding pair needs 1.5 hectares of rough grassland within their territory and Defra recommends that nest boxes are erected in pairs as the male roosts close to - but not in - the nest site during the breeding season.

John said:

"The scheme is working very well and the boxes are definitely being used. The RSPB came out and surveyed the land a couple of years ago, the amount of birds we now have on the farm is phenomenal. It really shows how even small changes can be immensely beneficial to the environment and local wildlife."

James Hall is Land Agent on Cholmondeley Estates, near Malpas, where Lord Cholmondeley has CSS agreements covering 1,250 acres of the estate. This includes an Environmental Trail at Deer Park Mere. The trail consists of a 3/4 mile walk through various habitats, with bird hides provided for observation and has 25 nest boxes, which are monitored by the Nantwich Natural History Society. The trail is open to the public and to school parties by appointment as a free educational facility, with teacher packs available.

James says:

"The boxes have become home to a variety of species. They are examined twice a year by the Natural History Society and all have been occupied at sometime. The nest boxes have been mainly occupied by great tit and blue tit, but have also provided homes for coal tit, treecreeper and nuthatch. We have even had pipistrelle bats use them as roosts and one year a box was used by yellow tailed bumblebees."

Sarah Warrener, an adviser from Defra's Rural Development Service in the North West, said:

"We have had a great deal of interest in the nest box options over the last few years and anecdotal evidence from farmers would indicate that more birds are returning to our farmland. The RSPB are monitoring several of our nest box sites and we hope that when definitive figures become available this will prove the contribution these initiatives are making to reversing the population decline of several species."

1. Events are being held throughout National Nest Box Week to provide help and information to anyone who is interested in erecting nestboxes in their own gardens or on local nature reserves. For more information visit the BTO website: www.bto.org

2. Wild birds are one of the Government's fifteen headline indicators of sustainable development, and their success reflects a wider picture of a healthy environment. Birds were chosen as an indicator of the natural countryside because they occupy a wide range of habitats, they tend to be near or at the top of the food chain, and considerable long-term data on bird populations have been collected. Government has set a target to reverse the long-term decline of farmland birds by 2020.

3. The overall population of British breeding birds has been relatively stable over the last two decades. However, farmland bird populations declined by almost a half between 1977 and 1993. The latest Wild Bird Indicators, published in October 2004, show that there has been very little change in UK farmland bird populations over the last ten years.