Report reveals drop in farmland birds

A LOCAL conservationist has blamed ‘industrialised farming’ for a massive drop in the numbers of farmland birds across the North during the last 30 years.

Bob Salisbury was speaking out after an environmental study, The State of Nature 2023, revealed that the abundance of farmland bird species had decreased by 43 per-cent.

According to the report, the North is ‘one of the most nature-depleted’ countries in the world, with 12 per-cent of local wildlife species under threat of extinction.

Additionally, it also shows that wood and turfland across the UK are in ‘poor quality’.

Mr Salisbury turned a wasteland bog into a flourishing garden which sees 80 species of birds and mammals inhabit the land. He has pointed the finger at ‘industrialised farming’ for the decline in local wildlife.

“The change from mixed farming – when farmers grew wheat, barley etc in one field at a time – to using all grassland to accommodate an increase in animal farming has meant more chemicals are going into the ground,” the conservationist said.

“More nitrogen and slurry is being sprayed over the grasslands and it’s caused a decline in the farmland birds.

“In our 17 acres we don’t use chemicals and instead we have a wide range of different plants to attract all kinds of wildlife.”

Mr Salisbury said he had recorded 66 different species of birds and 14 types of mammals, including otters and beavers, on the reclaimed land.

“It just goes to show that when the habitat isn’t neglected there can be a rapid recovery – wildlife is resilient and can come back.

“However, if we don’t protect their habitats we will lose them forever,” he warned.