Britain’s
first farmland worm survey reveals nearly half of English fields lack key types
of earthworm and may help explain a 50 per cent fall in song thrush numbers
Britain’s
first farmland worm survey has revealed that nearly half of English
fields lack key types of earthworm and may help explain the alarming decline of one of the country’s most loved
songbirds.
The
citizen science project, in which farmers dug for worms in their own fields,
has prompted 57 per cent of them to pledge to change their soil management
practices – a move that may benefit the song thrush, for whom worms are a vital food source.
The
English population of the song thrush, popular for both its voice and its habit of using stones as an “anvil”
to smash the shells of its other favourite food – snails – declined by more than 50 per cent between 1970 and
1995, leading to it being listed as a species of conservation concern.
The #60minworms survey, led by Dr Jackie Stroud, a Natural
Environment Research Council (Nerc) soil security fellow at the Rothamsted
Research centre, adds to the evidence that the song thrush is being affected by
a reduction in farmland earthworm populations, along with the loss of hedgerow
nesting sites.
In
a statement about the survey, Rothamsted Research said:
“The results indicate widespread, historical over-cultivation, and may explain
observed declines in other wildlife, such as the song thrush, that feed on
these worms.”
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