Reed bunting BAP report

Male reed bunting singing in arable field
The RSPB is making a substantial contribution to the UK BAP for reed bunting through research, advocacy and advisory work

What are we trying to achieve?

The Government agreed a Biodiversity Action Plan for this species in 1998. The targets for this plan were reviewed in 2006 and are as follows:

  • For UK, England and Scotland, increase the BBS index to 115% of the 2003 level by 2010. For Northern Ireland, increase the population to 115% of the 2010 baseline by 2015. For Wales, maintain the population at the 2010 baseline level. The immediate priority for Northern Ireland and Wales is to establish the population baseline by 2010
  • For UK, England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, increase the percentage of occupied BBS squares to 110% of the 2003 level by 2010. In Wales, maintain the percentage of occupied BBS squares at the 2010 level (immediate priority is to establish the population baseline by 2010)

What is the RSPB doing to help?

The RSPB is making a substantial contribution to the UK BAP for reed bunting and other farmland birds through research, advocacy and advisory work. In 2000-2003, we undertook, with English Nature (now incorporated within Natural England), a detailed study of factors influencing the distribution and breeding success of reed buntings in farmland and wetland habitats (gravel pits) along the Trent Valley in Nottinghamshire.

Following RSPB research and advocacy efforts, suitable prescriptive management options have been included in Environmental Stewardship in England, including the provision of winter stubbles.

Summary of progress

Population indices for farmland birds are based on long-term monitoring schemes; the JNCC funded Common Birds Census (CBC), for which 2000 was the final year; and its successor, the BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey (BBS). Between 1994 and 2005, reed bunting numbers increased by 30% according to the BBS. 2005 was an excellent year for this species. The long-term trend however, as indicated by the CBC/BBS, is a decline of 43% between 1970 and 2003, and although the recent increasing trend is encouraging, we are still some way from achieving the BAP targets, despite their revision. 

The research study found a much higher density of reed buntings using oilseed rape fields than cereal or set-aside. Reed buntings nesting in cereal or set-aside fields were within 50m of a stream or wet ditch but within oilseed rape they would nest up to 500m away from any wet habitat.

It seems likely that the high numbers of invertebrates in rape fields, which receive less summer insecticide than most cereal crops, allows the reed buntings to search for food away from wet habitats, whereas in cereal fields they require large areas of invertebrate-rich rank vegetation in order to raise their young.

The study highlighted the importance of rank herbaceous vegetation along field boundaries or watercourses for nesting and foraging. Breeding attempts were more successful when nests were concealed in emergent grass or herbaceous vegetation.

The provision of wide, uncropped field margins within agri-environment schemes should promote nesting and feeding opportunities for reed buntings on farmland. However, with the exception of Entry Level Stewardship in England, these schemes are unlikely to be available on a wide enough scale to allow the plan targets to be met.

Has our work been effective?

It is hard to gauge the direct effects of advocacy and advisory work on bird numbers but the indications are that our work has been effective in raising awareness of the decline in farmland birds such as the reed bunting, both among farmers and politicians. The biological prospects for this species should be fair, given that prescriptive measures to benefit reed buntings are now available in most agri-environment schemes, in response to RSPB advocacy, and are becoming widely available in England with the onset of Entry Level Stewardship.

What do we plan to do next?

  • Continue to press government departments to change agricultural policy to benefit farmland birds, including reed buntings
  • Continue efforts at UK and EU level to ensure that rural development funding, and in particular agri-environment funding, is increased, not decreased
  • Use the RSPB’s Volunteer & Farmer Alliance project to identify farms with reed buntings, and encourage farmers to apply for entry to relevant agri-environment schemes and manage their land appropriately
  • Continue a study on ‘wetting up’ farmland to create small-scale wet features to benefit farmland birds such as reed bunting – this is likely to have additional benefits in the long term for reducing diffuse pollution and other natural resource benefits
  • Continue to research ways to promote seed abundance on livestock farms, such as allowing final cut grass silage to flower and set seed, and growing wholecrop cereals with following winter stubbles

What are the constraints to fully achieving the targets?

  • Lack of widespread prescriptive management due to funding constraints on agri-environment schemes

Last modified: 03 September 2007