Helping farmers create a safe haven for vultures in Zambia

When human activity in biodiverse forests is uncontrolled, the survival of plants, animals and other micro-organisms is at risk. 

In a bid to secure Zambia's Chisamba Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA), a safe haven for endangered vultures, BirdWatch Zambia (BirdLife Partner) has educated farm owners, managers and workers who operate within the IBA on why it is important to protect natural habitats from man-made threats. 

The Chisamba IBA in Zambia covers an area of 55,000 hectares and more than 72% of it falls within private farms. Activities like cattle ranching, game farming, dairy farming and crocodile farming attract hundreds of vultures to the farms, where the birds benefit from large trees that offer suitable perching, roosting and breeding sites. The large privately owned commercial farms also offer a safe haven for vultures that are attracted by the waste from meat processing, and the harvesting of crocodiles. 

Much of the Chisamba IBA land falls within local and national forests and serves as home to Zambia's only true endemic bird species, the Zambian Barbet Lybius chaplini. However, encroachment by human settlement, fuelwood and charcoal production are threats to conservation efforts in the area. 

BirdWatch Zambia is working to secure 4,000 hectares of the Chisamba IBA for the benefit of vultures and natural ecosystems in general. They have engaged in dialogue with private farm owners in Chisamba to create a Vulture Safe Zone (VSZ) in the properties within the IBA. The initiative recognizes the movement of vultures from one farm to another depending on the feeding opportunity. 

An education and awareness campaign around the area has also targeted school children and their parents who either own, manage or work in farms in the area. The campaign and dialogue seek to change local perceptions about vultures and also influence farm management practices. 

“They [vultures] are ugly birds that spoil good meat,” said Chanda, a Chisamba secondary school child residing in a cattle ranch within the zone before attending the campaign.

After learning about the environmental importance of vultures through the project, Chanda now describes vultures as “lifesaving birds”. 

Read more 

Nature-friendly farmers help RSPB make conservation breakthrough

Twenty-five years of dedication to saving the cirl bunting as a breeding species in Britain has been rewarded, with the threatened bird’s population topping 1,000 pairs.

Farmers in Devon and Cornwall have responded brilliantly and helped the RSPB make a giant step towards achieving conservation security for this farmland bird.

A survey this summer recorded 1,078 pairs – passing the 1,000-pair target the RSPB set when it launched the Cirl Bunting Project a quarter-century ago. By the early 1990s there were barely more than 100 pairs left in Britain, almost all confined to a narrow coastal strip of South Devon.

The project is one of the best examples anywhere of how farmers and conservation groups can work together and achieve breakthrough results; it is also shines a light on how we can achieve a better future for nature in the farmed countryside.

Nick Bruce-White, the RSPB’s South West regional director, said: “The cirl bunting’s recovery is a wonderful example of farmers and conservationists working together.

“This summer’s survey results show clearly the impact we can have when collective focus is placed on researching and implementing solutions to the loss of nature in our countryside.

“What is so satisfying about this story is how the cirl bunting has recovered thanks to the efforts of farmers. Sadly, farming and nature conservation are often unfairly portrayed as representing conflicting interests – the success of the Cirl Bunting Project is a spectacular demonstration that nothing could be further from the truth.”

The bird’s population crashed in the 1960s and 1970s because of changes to farming practice.

Research by the RSPB and others established the switch from spring to autumn-sown cereals had reduced the cirl bunting’s supply of winter food, more intensive management of grassland had dramatically cut the number of grasshoppers and other invertebrates they needed to feed their young, and modern techniques of maintaining hedgerows had reduced the amount of scrub and bushes essential for nesting and for cover.

These problems were multiplied by the bird’s sedentary nature, meaning they could only thrive where spring-sown cereals, with their characteristic stubbles, unimproved grassland and hedgerows could be found together in a small area – a happy combination still to be found on South Devon’s mixed farms.

The beginning of the cirl bunting’s recovery can be dated to 1991, when Devon farmers began to take up the Countryside Stewardship Scheme – a government programme that allowed them to earn payments for making nature-friendly choices.

Dr Sarah Wollaston, MP for the Totnes constituency – an area that can realistically claim to be the bird’s British heartland – and Species Champion for the cirl bunting, said: “Many congratulations to everyone who has worked so hard to rescue the cirl bunting from the brink.

“The financial support for protecting the habitat of cirl buntings, which has been central to the success of this project, shows the crucial importance of continuing agri-environment support following the end of the Common Agricultural Policy.”

John Holmes, Natural England’s area manager for Devon and Cornwall, said: “This really is a credit to the farmers of Devon and Cornwall. Natural England, in partnership with the RSPB, has helped support more than 140 farmers who have created and managed habitat for cirl buntings.

“This project is a great demonstration of farmers using an agri-environment scheme to make a difference for the natural environment and saving a species under threat of extinction.”

Mel Squires, South West regional director of the National Farmers’ Union, said: “Success for the cirl bunting has not been through chance but a true, committed partnership for 25 years between conservationists and farmers.

“It has been a relentless focus on delivering a combined objective where we have all wanted the same outcome – a positive and resilient future for this fantastic bird. And it’s a great example of making conservation work in tandem with a modern farming setting.”

The cirl bunting was first recorded in Britain by George Montagu in 1800 near Kingsbridge. Its population probably peaked in the 1930s when they could be found in most southern English counties and parts of Wales. At the nadir of its fortunes the bird had largely retreated to the South Devon countryside near to where Montagu first found it.

Cirl buntings are now present in an area largely tracking the coast that stretches from around the Exe estuary, in Devon, to the Rame Peninsula, in South East Cornwall.

In a further groundbreaking project, in order to better secure conservation security for the species, cirl buntings from Devon were re-introduced to the Roseland Peninsula, further west into Cornwall, between 2006 and 2011; 65 pairs were recorded there during this year’s survey. It was the first successful re-introduction of a small passerine (perching bird) in Europe.

Cath Jeffs, the RSPB’s Cirl Bunting Project manager, said: “Cirl buntings need real farmers growing real crops, and cirl-friendly farmers don’t just help these birds but many other species too. For example, more than a quarter of the farms involved in the project now have nationally important assemblages of rare plants.

“Cirls are a very special bird for the South West because this is where the story began and without a lot of hard work by a lot of people over the last 25 years, this is where it could have ended.”

Ends

For further information, images, or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Chris Baker, RSPB Communications Officer, 01392 453299 / 07701 050010

Notes:

The RSPB is hosting a reception to mark the 25th anniversary at Dartington Hall, near Totnes, on 18 November, to thank Devon and Cornwall’s farmers for their contribution to the Cirl Bunting Project. Media organisations are invited to attend from 12.15 to 12.45 (or at other times by prior appointment) where many of the farmers involved in the project will be available for interview. The RSPB would like to thank Natural England and South West Water for helping towards the cost of this event.

This year’s cirl bunting survey was supported by the RSPB, Devon Birds, Devon County Council, the National Trust, Paignton Zoo Environmental Park, Slapton Ley Field Centre and Teignbridge District Council.

By local authority area the South Hams has 54 per cent of the UK population, Teignbridge 33 per cent, Torbay 7.4 per cent, Cornwall 4.1 per cent, East Devon 1 per cent, North Devon 0.2 per cent, and Exeter 0.1 per cent.

The RSPB’s Labrador Bay reserve, on the coast between Teignmouth and Torquay, is being specially managed for the bird, to help them weather future shocks such as that which prompted the population crash of the 1960s and 1970s. Twenty-three pairs were recorded this year, with many more wintering there, and it now holds two per cent of the national population, qualifying it as a nationally important site for this species. The RSPB hopes similar refugia can be created elsewhere in the cirl bunting’s early 21st Century range.

Cirl buntings are a farmland bird whose increasing numbers belie the trend in the farmed countryside. The number of farmland birds in the UK has declined by 54 per cent since 1970, according to the State of Nature 2016 report. Although the rate has slowed in recent years the decline continues, and 12 of 26 farmland breeding bird species are red-listed (the highest category) as birds of conservation concern in the UK, the greatest percentage of species on the red list by habitat type.

Chris Baker

Communications Officer

Tel: 01392 453299

Mobile: 07701 050010

South West Regional Office, 4th Floor (North Block), Broadwalk House, Southernhay West, Exeter, Devon, EX1 1TS

@RSPB@RSPB#RSPBLinkedInRSPB@rspb_love_nature

RSPBRSPB


www.rspb.org.uk Let's give nature a home


The RSPB is the country’s largest nature conservation charity, inspiring everyone to give nature a home. Together with our partners, we protect threatened birds and wildlife so our towns, coast and countryside will teem with life once again. We play a leading role in BirdLife International, a worldwide partnership of nature conservation organisations.



The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a registered charity: England and Wales no. 207076, Scotland no. SC037654

Farmers and conservation groups work together in Oxfordshire to help threatened bird species

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and local farmers in Oxfordshire are celebrating the completion of a pilot project to protect an iconic, yet threatened wading bird.

The curlew, a threatened and secretive wading bird which makes its home in farmland across the Upper Thames River Valleys, is largest European wading bird.

It is often found on winter estuaries or in summer meadows, and recognisable by its long, down-curved bill, brown upperparts, long legs and evocative call.

Considered a rare bird – they are highly secretive, hiding their nests in long grass.

And according to surveys of wading birds across the Upper Thames River Valleys, spotting a curlew could get even harder, as breeding curlew have declined by 51% between 2005 and 2015, in line with the national trend.

The area still managed to attract more than 40 pairs over the last 10 years, making the river valleys of Oxfordshire one of the most important areas for this species in southern England.

Support of local farmers 'vital' to success

In April 2016, the RSPB was delighted to receive funding from through the Landfill Communities fund for a new pilot project to discover more about the breeding habits of this enigmatic bird, and the possible reasons behind its decline.

 

The support from local farmers was vital to the success of the project, as most curlew nesting sites are found on farmland.

Every week over the spring and early summer, volunteers visited farms and nature reserves where curlew were thought to live, gradually identifying the birds’ territories and recording their behaviour.

Read on

Farmers aid rare corn bunting's survival

 DECEMBER 10TH, 2015 - 12:30 AM  MARTIN HANNAN

A SCHEME involving farmers working with bird experts in the north east of Scotland is helping to preserve the existence of an iconic Scottish bird.

The corn bunting was at risk of extinction after the number of breeding pairs fell to just 800 – the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds say the bunting used to be “widespread” across Scotland.

Following rapid decline in numbers there have been several local extinctions during the last decade and the remaining pairs are mostly in east Scotland which is home to 95 per cent of Scotland’s corn buntings.

Even in their east Scotland strongholds corn buntings suffered huge declines during the 1990s and 2000s – numbers fell by 83 per cent across 30 sites.

The combination of a late breeding season, a preference for nesting in growing crops and a seed diet centred on grains along with insects fed to chicks makes corn buntings especially vulnerable to modern agricultural practices.

In an innovative project across Aberdeenshire and Moray, farmers are helping to change the fortunes of these iconic birds by working with the RSPB.

The RSPB announced the success of the scheme yesterday, saying: “Over the last 14 years, approximately 70 local farmers have worked with RSPB Scotland to monitor the number of corn buntings on their farms and conduct research about the best ways to help them.

Continued …

Farmers hold key to survival of threatened bird species, says RSPB

 By WMNPBowern  |  Posted: October 29, 2015

Lapwing, in danger of extinction

Farmers hold the key to saving the Westcountry’s most threatened bird species, Britain’s biggest conservation charity said today.

The RSPB said farmers had stepped in before to make special efforts to ensure the survival of at-risk birds – and they could do so again.

The charity’s spokesman in the South West, Tony Whitehead, was responding to a report from the government into the state of farmland birds – and to international research into UK species at risk.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature this week added turtle doves and lapwings to its red list of endangered birds. Meanwhile the government's farmland bird indicator reveals a 2% increase in farmland birds in 2014 – although there has been a decline of over 50% since the 1970s.

But Mr Whitehead praised the efforts of farmers in the past who had made strenuous efforts to pull threatened bird populations out of the danger zone – and called on them to help out again.

Read more: 

Proposal to force farmers to 'shoo before they shoot' pest birds rejected

By WMNPBowern | Posted: September 16, 2014

A proposal by Natural England that farmers and others who control pest bird species should have try to shoo them away before they could legally shoot them has been rejected.

The measure was widely opposed by shooting groups and farmers who registered their concerns during the consultation period earlier this year.

They warned it would have made the shooting of woodpigeons, a major threat to arable crops in the UK and other species that are controlled because of the risks they pose, much more restricted than is currently the case.

There were also proposals to take some species of the crow family off the list of birds that can currently be legally shot to protect crops and health.

Read more: