Posted on: 13 Sep 2014
As Scotland's Kestrel population plummets, RSPB conservationists have suggested that intensive farming is the cause.
Between 1995 and 2012, Kestrel numbers decreased by 65 per cent in Scotland, the biggest decline of any monitored bird species in the country, figures from the latest Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) have shown. The BBS is carried out each year by over 2,800 volunteers across the UK. In Scotland, 471 sites were monitored in 2013, but Kestrels were only observed in around 35 of them.
As a result, RSPB conservationists are carrying out urgent research to help understand why numbers of this iconic species are diminishing so rapidly. Early studies conducted by the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science suggest that intensification of agriculture could be the main reason for the significant drop in numbers. Specifically, preliminary results suggest that Kestrel numbers have fallen at times when there has been a change from spring-sown barley to autumn-sown wheat and oil seed rape.
No comments:
Post a Comment