A Bird on the Farm is Worth...

An abundance of diverse farmland birds is one of the most apparent ecological indicators that our decisions are having a positive effect on our landscape. Birds are relatively easy to see or, if not, hear. They signify that the environment supports a whole web of tropic layers – because a bird’s habitat includes its food source. Often it is more complex than simply a food source. A bird’s habitat may also support special life cycle requirements, a host plant, or a particular type of nest site. For example, after migrating thousands of kilometres from Africa, a female cuckoo needs to satisfy her unique appetite for thousands of hairy moth caterpillars, find a mate, and return to a habitat that supports a multitude of the particular species of host bird she has adapted to parasitise by mimicking their eggs. One such species is the ground-nesting meadow pipit. Suppose you are lucky enough still to have an annually visiting cuckoo on your farm. In that case, it is essential to understand that refraining from topping pastures at the time of year when (red-listed) meadow pipits are nesting is vital to preserving both species. 

Although the presence of birds is a positive indicator, the absence of birds that once inhabited or visited the farm is a lagging indicator. That cuckoo could continue to arrive and call yet fail to find a suitable host nest that results in a successful fledgling for many years. 

Migratory birds with natal-homing, loyal to a returning to the territory where they were born, like the swallow or corncrake, are especially vulnerable because the void they leave may not be repopulated. Birds with natal-homing will often fly across a suitable habitat to return and attempt to nest where they were born, even if the latter has become less than ideal. If these birds repeatedly fail to rear a brood over several years, the family line homing to that area dies out, and the species is gone from the farm. In this case, the bird’s absence only indicated a problem years after the issue arose. It can be too late to act when they are gone, hence the term “lagging indicator.”

We need to watch for the “leading indicators” – early changes in the bird’s habitat or food source. To make the most informed decisions, farmers need to become applied ecologists. Firstly, observe the species on our farms and understand their life cycle needs and how to best manage their habitats. It is a tall order; ecology is a complex subject and not something many farmers have the time or the will to study. But we do need to do something, as there is a real possibility that some mistimed topping could accidentally wipe out the last breeding curlew in the country within our lifetimes. 

It is said that biodiversity in Ireland was at its peak at the turn of the 17th-19th century when small, mixed, but intensive farming was at its height. It is debated that this patchwork mixed-farming landscape ecology was more diverse and abundant than the closed-canopy wooded landscape that once blanketed the country. 

Indeed, what we now class as farmland birds thrived in this man-made landscape. Birds that inhabit scrub in the wild took advantage of managed woodland copses. Populations of granivorous birds who would have survived on the seed of wild grasses exploded with a near unlimited supply of plump domestic grain and the web of thick hedgerows where a network of corridors connecting woodlands through the diverse- farmed habitats. The annual rotation of land use created a shifting but dynamic abundance. One year, the species that favoured the ploughed crop field found a new territory across the hedge the following year.

The horse-powered small field agriculture of the past is not likely to return, but there are lessons we can take from it. The connection those farmers had with the land and environment was undoubted closer. Still, the abundance of wildlife was a happy consequence of their mixed farming practices rather than by design.

Organic farms, void of chemical pesticides, are fantastic places for birds. The lack of herbicides means that more “weed” species – the food for insects and birds thrive in the messy edges. The lack of insecticides means those insects survive to feed more birds a diet without synthetic poisons, and other animals that are, in turn, the prey for raptors. However, organic farms are often isolated bird haven islands in a sea of surrounding monocultures. In the current tidy agricultural landscape, the reduction of hedgerows with any substance has created pockets of disconnected habitat. The disconnection means that populations become isolated and vulnerable.

Countrywide connectivity of habitats is an issue that needs to be encouraged at a government level. However, there are numerous examples of locally-led schemes where collective landowners come together to fulfil common ecological goals across large territories. EIPs (European Innovation Projects), such as The Hen Harrier Project, are fantastic examples.

Ecologists fear that some red-listed bird species may be past the tipping point or point of no return. Despite the worrying prospects for some species, rare birds like the lesser spotted woodpecker are returning if suitable habitat becomes available. The lesser spotted woodpecker indicates that the landscape is rich in mature native trees and insect diversity. Creating this sort of habitat can take centuries, but we can preserve what we have and work towards connecting them and ensuring a succession of such habitats.

The seminal books - Call of the Reed Warbler by Charles Massey (Australia) and Wilding by Isabella Tree (England), both tell of the incredible resurgence in birds when management was changed. The work of Dutch ecologist Frans Vera has also shown that nature’s resilience is encouragingly beyond our expectations when given a chance.

When observing and learning about the species already on your farm, it is also important that we keep an open mind towards the types of vegetation or habitat that are not valued in today’s production culture. There are many reported cases where well-meaning subsided environmental measures, such as the Wild Bird Cover or Native Woodland Scheme, were carried out on less productive high-nature-value areas, destroying areas of important perennial habitat only to replace them with lesser ones. Trees planted on a rare area of rich native grassland could be devastating to ground-nesting birds, whereas those trees in the right place - on a steep slope, in an area of bracken or rushes, could transform a landscape into a microclimate of abundance.

From next year (CAP 2023), the Department of Agriculture has made the welcome change that up to 35% of a land parcel can be scrub and still qualify for payment. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of a social shift in appreciation of the array of benefits scrub habitat can bring to farmland. 

Despite some birds’ complex life-cycle requirements, the limiting factor for the population of most bird species is food. A simple beginning to secure the future of farmland birds is to look down - the soil is the foundation of the trophic food web. The soil condition is a leading indicator where we can monitor the early changes in the health of our ecosystem. Above the soil, swards and crops should be teaming with beetles, spiders, hopping and flying insects, frogs, and mice. Allowing for a bit less neatness across the landscape or even just strips of chaos at the edges of fields is a sure way to encourage a host of small creatures. 

A natural diversity of wild plants like nettles and burdock, even the much-maligned ragwort, play host to many insects and caterpillars that rely solely on those plants. Wet areas, ponds or even old overgrown drains all create fantastic habitats, even in a small area. Their preservation could mean a healthy population of starlings that provides an excellent service of probing for leatherjackets in the veggie garden or the privilege of a night hunting barn owl keeping the rodent population in check.

Learning as much as we can about the species we have on our farm and about the ones we have lost is a great way to begin to understand our farms’ ecology and make good decisions to preserve and improve on what we have. The birds are not an indicator to monitor, but they are the assurance and reward for doing an excellent job with the things we can monitor and manage.

Thanks to Dr Barry O'Donoghue - head of Agri-Ecology with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, for his generosity, expert guidance and fact-checking during the writing of this article.