Bird numbers

The massive population crash in wild birds reported this week (your report, 3 November) is a tragedy but for many of those who work and live in our countryside this news will be of no surprise.

Research by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust supports the report’s findings that changes in agricultural production is having an impact on farmland birds, despite our efforts to reverse the decline through agri-environment schemes.

There is now huge urgency to start thinking outside the conservation box and adopt more novel approaches to supporting wild birds in order to fast-track their recovery.

Our research has clearly shown that the principles of game management (provision of habitat, providing supplementary over-winter food and the control of predators) can support farmland bird recovery.

On the trust’s own research farm, The Allerton Project, farmland birds have doubled over an eight year period using these management tools.

Gemma Hopkinson

The Game & Wildlife 
Conservation Trust

Perth Airport

Scone