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Winter bird activity in fields on a split conventional/organic farm in northern England

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Abstract

Winter bird activity on 18 fields of a split conventional/organic farm in northern England was surveyed in six winters between 2002 and 2009. The three winter covers on the 10 conventional fields were grass, cereals (winter wheat and barley) and oilseed rape whilst grass/clover, cereal stubble (wheat) and vegetable stubbles (beans, potatoes, Brassicas) covered the eight organic fields. The fields were also classified by dominant boundary cover (woodland, hedges, tall herbaceous vegetation). The influence of field and boundary covers, and any interactions, on the activity of 40 bird species was investigated. Activity of 30 species was significantly associated with field cover, with most activity in fields with stubble, especially for seed-eaters such as linnet Carduelis cannabina and skylark Alauda arvensis but also for invertebrate feeders such as jackdaw Corvus monedula. Several species were more active on organic grass/clover than on conventional grass. There was more bird activity in oilseed rape fields than in either winter cereals or grass. There were only six significant activity relationships with field boundaries, with four species most active in fields with adjacent woodland. The seven significant field cover/boundary interactions indicated most activity with organic covers in hedged fields. Song thrush Turdus philomelos was the only species with a positive relationship to any conventional crop whilst the results suggest that winter activity of 25 species was positively influenced by organic management.

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Acknowledgments

We thank a reviewer for some very useful criticism. This work was supported by the European Union Integrated Project QualityLowInputFood (EU FP6 Contract CT-2003-506358.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nafferton Ecological Farming Group, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, Nafferton Farm, Stocksfield, Northumberland, NE43 7XD, UK

    M. D. Eyre, M. Hughes & C. Leifert

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  1. M. D. Eyre
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  2. M. Hughes
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  3. C. Leifert
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Correspondence to M. D. Eyre.

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Eyre, M.D., Hughes, M. & Leifert, C. Winter bird activity in fields on a split conventional/organic farm in northern England. Org. Agr. 2, 197–203 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13165-012-0036-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13165-012-0036-5

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