The farmland breeding bird indicator is based on the population indices of 11 species linked most closely to open field habitats. The indicator reflects the pan-European distress of farmland birds, which started in the 1950s with the development of intensive farming practices. During the past 30 years the farmland bird populations have decreased by approximately 50%. In recent years the decline appears to have halted and in the 2000s some farmland bird populations have even started to slowly recover. Intensive farming has transformed and diminished the breeding and foraging habitats of farmland birds. Small-scale elements providing shelter from predators have also been greatly reduced in the otherwise open landscape. The individual changes that have had the greatest impact on farmland birds include the substitution of mixed dairy production by specialized cereal and root vegetable production, autumn cereals by spring cereals and cattle manure by chemical fertilizers as well as the proliferation of subsurface draining and intensified use of chemical pesticides and farming machinery. These practices, which were mainly introduced during the 1960s and 1970s, transformed the farmland landscape in a profound manner. Their impact on the amount and quality of breeding and foraging habitats has generally been negative. The combined data on birds of the open landscape, which includes also mire, shore and alpine species, shows that the resident species and short-distance migrants within this group have declined equally much as the long-distance migrants. Out of the species included in the farmland bird indicator five species belong to the first group and six to the second. Although the reasons behind the decline of farmland species may be partly related to the changes on their wintering grounds and along their migration routes, according to this analysis also the changes that have taken place on Finnish field have been significant. | |
Out of the species included in the indicator the population developments of the Northern Lapwing, Eurasian Curlew, Skylark and Ortolan Bunting are the most tightly connected to the changes on open fields. These species both breed and forage on the field. For example, farming practices carried out on the field during their breeding period are likely to have deleterious effects. If the open filed species have already laid eggs by the time of spring tillage and planting the risk of their nests being destroyed is great. In addition the quality of the field and its long-term changes affect the species through the availability of food and shelter for nests. The populations of the Lapwing, Curlew, Skylark and Ortolan Bunting have all declined significantly during the monitoring period. The field edge species - that is, species living predominantly in the thickets, field margins and ditch edges surrounding the fields - are protected from the direct effects of the farming practices carried out on the fields. Nevertheless, these practices have an indirect effect on them through food supply and quality. For instance, pesticides used on the field have an effect also on the field verges. Edge species also commonly forage on the open fields. Edge species are represented in the indicator by four species. Out these the Whinchat has decreased significantly during the monitoring period while the Whitethroat has become significantly more common. Barn Swallow and Eurasian Starling represent species living predominantly in the vicinity of farm buildings. Both of them have declined. The significant reduction in the number of cattle and in the area of pasture, grassland and fallow fields has led to the decline insect food in the wider farmland landscape. The decline of the Barn Swallow and Starling has been shown to have been linked to the decrease food supply in particular. The rate of decline of the Starling was a staggering 5.9% per year between 1979 and 2008. The last species included in the indicator, the Yellowhammer, represents a species which breeds in the forests and small forest patches surrounding fields but which also forages on the open fields. Yellowhammers have declined moderately in the southern parts of the countr, but increased in the north.
The six long-distance migrants traveling across the Sahara desert among the indicators species are the Barn Swallow, Whinchat, Whitethroat, Red-backed Shrike, Common Rosefinch and Ortolan Bunting. These species are more susceptible to the dangers such as hunting and drought awaiting at their wintering grounds and along their migration routes. This may be reflected in their populations on the northern breeding grounds. At the beginning of the 1990s the populations of the Red-backed Shrike fell to an all-time low while the Common Rosefinches were especially common. The development of the populations of these two long-distance migrants was entirely contradictory. | Farmland indicator birds
| | Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus | | Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata | | Skylark Alauda arvensis | | Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica | | Whinchat Saxicola rubertra | | Whitethroat Sylvia communis | | Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio | | European Starling Sturnus vulgaris | | Common Rosefinch Carpodacus erythrinus | | Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella | | Ortolan Bunting Emberiza hortulana |
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