Green boost as birds numbers take wing

A SURVEY into the biodiversity benefits of Scotland's agri- environment schemes has shown considerable increases in bird life in areas farmed under them.

However, the same survey has shown little or no difference in bird numbers on farms taking part in the Organic Aid scheme.

The results emerged from work carried out by a team of researchers working under the leadership of Dr Dave Parish of the Game and Conservancy Wildlife Trust and were reported to a conference in Dundee this week.

The five-year survey covered 230 farms involved in the range of schemes operating in Scotland in the past decade. When compared with farms outside the scheme, those working in the Countryside Premium scheme, showed an average of 30 per cent more bird life and also provided up to 15 per cent more species. Similarly positive figures emerged from those farmers working within the Rural Stewardship Scheme, with increases of the same magnitude in both numbers and species.

Parish states that part of the difference between those in biodiversity schemes and those farming without their guidelines may be explained by the landscape and were part of a more complex environmental equation than just counting numbers of birds.

The survey also carried results from farmers who had entered the Organic Aid scheme, but this did not raise any significant difference to biodiversity between those within the scheme and those farming traditionally.

Parish admitted that part of the reason why there is no difference could be because the top priority of organic farmers was not improved biodiversity.