The decline in farmland wildlife has been well documented, with populations of numerous characteristic farmland species suffering due to changes in agricultural practices. Attempts to reverse the trend have struggled, but now a new partnership between a number of the UK’s largest conservation organisations is hoping to change that. Richard Winspear, Katie Cruickshanks and Paul Evans describe the problem, and outline the plan to try and help conserve farmland wildlife.
Biodiversity loss on farmland continues despite decades of research and government incentives, as last year’s State of Nature report confirmed. Good advice is known to underpin successful conservation, and there are many examples where tailored advice was given to support rare, localised species such as, to take just two examples, the Corncrake Crex crex and the Marsh Fritillary Euphydryas aurinia.