Skylark BAP report

Singing skylark
The skylark is found mainly in lowland farming areas

What are we trying to achieve?

The Government agreed a Biodiversity Action Plan for this species in 1995. The targets for this plan were reviewed in 2006 and are as follows:

  • Ensure the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) population index is 100% of the 2003 level by 2010 for the UK, England, Northern Ireland and Scotland (increasing to 115% by 2015), and is maintained at this level in Wales
  • Maintain the percentage of occupied BBS squares at 2003 levels

Although the skylark is the UK’s commonest and most widespread member of the lark family, it declined in the UK by 53% in the 33 years between 1970 and 2003 and by 13% between 1994 and 2005. An estimated 58% of UK skylarks are associated with farmland. In order to halt this decline it is becoming increasingly important that current farming practices are modified to create a more conservation friendly environment.

What is the RSPB doing to help?

The RSPB is making a substantial contribution to the UK BAP for skylark and other farmland birds through research, advocacy and advisory work.

Previous detailed research studies carried out by the RSPB have demonstrated the importance of diversity in crop structure (especially availability of sparse vegetation in summer) and the presence of winter stubbles as a food source for this species. 

Some (but not all) research in the UK and Western Europe suggest that skylark densities and chick-productivity are greater in organic than in non-organic crops but the evidence that pesticides reduce breeding success remains equivocal. Instead, generally greater territory densities on organic farmland may be attributable to the less dense structure of the crops. Conversely, recent European research has shown that rates of nest loss in organic arable crops may be high due to mechanical weeding.

A major collaborative project – SAFFIE (Sustainable Arable Farming For an Improved Environment) – in which the RSPB is a partner, has shown that leaving two unsown patches per hectare in the middle of winter cereal fields can dramatically increase skylark breeding success (www.SAFFIE.info). This research has helped to inform the inclusion of patches in the Entry Level Stewardship Scheme (Option EF8, skylark plots), available to farmers throughout England.

In 2006, the RSPB’s work included:

  • Concluded the fieldwork programme of the successful SAFFIE project (Reporting date, June 2007), looking at improving nest site and food availability in winter wheat and different types of sown grass margins.
  • Using the SAFFIE study sites and funding from Natural England through the Action for Birds in England programme, investigated predation rates of nests in relation to proximity of agri-environment options (Morris and Gilroy in prep)
  • Carrying out sympathetic management on relevant RSPB reserves including creation of arable plots, growing of wild bird cover and provision of stubbles and tailings
  • Continuing the Volunteer & Farmer Alliance project, whereby farmers receive free farmland bird surveys from local volunteers, covering all regions and countries
  • Continuing a range of research projects including the diets of farmland birds, the effects of intensification of lowland grassland management on bird populations
  • Work in progress on updating the 2001 review of FBI species resource requirements
  • Research on alternative methods (spraying with glyphosate) of creating skylark plots
  • Providing detailed advisory notes based on the most recent research findings, for conservation of skylarks

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). Due to the way the indices are calculated there is a lag of one year. UK skylark populations are continuing to decline, although the rate has slowed and there are indications of an upturn in Northern Ireland and Scotland. We are a still some way from achieving the BAP targets, despite their revision.

The RSPB’s 181 hectare farm in Cambridgeshire (Hope Farm) is being used to investigate and develop new wildlife-friendly farming methods to benefit bird species such as the skylark. The farm is allowing the RSPB to carry out a detailed programme of research to devise and test new cropping techniques for the future, which farmers will be able to incorporate on farms throughout the UK. These include the provision of un-cropped areas for skylarks within winter wheat fields (‘skylark plots’), grass margins and two-year set-aside and less intensive cultivation techniques that leave seeds in the fields for birds in winter.

Skylark plots within winter cereals are created by switching the drill off during crop establishment. Based on research at the farm, from 2007 ELS management guidelines on the creation of skylark plots will be amended to allow an alternative means of establishing them by spraying out with a herbicide (e.g. glyphosate) before December. This enables farmers who experimented problems with establishment during seed drilling to create plots at a later date. Plots must be at least 3m in length or width and no more than 12m in length or width. Over the entire breeding season, they have proved successful in increasing skylark productivity by up to 0.5 chicks per breeding attempt and by an average of 1.5 more chicks per attempt in June-July.

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 skylark, both among farmers and politicians. We have influenced the design of new agri-environment schemes but it is too early to assess option uptake and their effectiveness. We hoped that if farmer take-up of skylark plots, as part of Entry Level Stewardship in England, was high we would see an upturn in the skylark population. However, take up in the first year was poor (<3% of agreement).
The popularity of the Volunteer & Farmer Alliance project is very encouraging and should produce tangible results in the future. The RSPB’s direct delivery for skylarks has been limited to a few reserves including Hope Farm.

It is too early too predict a positive outcome for this species, however we have been enormously influential in laying the foundations for recovery.

What do we plan to do next?

We will:

  • Continue with ‘skylark plots’ both on Hope Farm and on 29 other farms
  • Press for alteration of ELS rules and/or points tariff to ensure greater take up of skylark plots
  • Increase the number of partnerships in the Volunteer & Farmer Alliance
  • Continue to promote uptake of agri-environment measures – including skylark plots, spring cereals and retention of over-wintered stubbles – among landowners, particularly in arable areas
  • Review and produce new advisory material about farmland birds and habitats
  • Continue to influence agricultural policy so that more effective management is deployed for skylarks countrywide
  • Continue efforts at UK and EU level to ensure that rural development funding and, in particular, agri-environment funding is increased, not decreased
  • Continue to research prescriptions for intensive grassland systems
  • Seek funding for follow-on research from the SAFFIE project

What are the constraints to fully achieving the targets?

  • Lack of widespread prescriptive management due to funding constraints on agri-environment schemes
  • It remains unclear what prescriptive management to deploy in pastoral and upland regions
  • Poor take up of skylark plots in the first year of the Entry Level Stewardship scheme in England, hampered by administrative problems and lack of farmer familiarity with centre-field conservation measures

Acknowledgements

Sustainable Arable Farming For an Improved Environment (SAFFIE) is sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD) and Natural England, through the Sustainable Arable LINK programme (project LK0926). The industrial funders are: British Potato Council, Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC), Crop Protection Association, Home-Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA), Jonathan Tipples, Linking Environment And Farming (LEAF), RSPB, Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd., Syngenta, the National Trust, and Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC.

We are also grateful to Natural England for funding of nest cameras in the predation study, through the Action for Birds in England programme.

Last modified: 04 September 2007