OPINION - HAVING FOOD AND WILDLIFE |


Farmland conservation; what’s the point?


Despite millions of pounds being spent on Stewardship schemes, wildlife continues to disappear from our farmed environment. Surely farmers are to blame says Peter Thompson


he State of Nature report, which came out in autumn 2016, assessed 8,000 UK species and found that one in 10 is threatened with extinction, which is bad enough, but the report then went on to say that wildlife declines on farmland, are by far the worst. For instance, more than half of farmland birds (56%) including the turtle dove and corn bunting, are in danger of extinction and since 1990, the Farmland Butterfly Indicator has declined by 27% and the Woodland Butterfly Indicator by 51%. Mark Eaton, the lead author of the paper said: “We now know that farming practices over recent decades have had the single largest impact on the UK’s wildlife.” So despite millions of pounds being spent on various Stewardship schemes over the decades, wildlife continues to disappear from our farmed countryside. This must surely mean that the farmers themselves are to blame. How have farmers reacted to this gloomy report? Psychologically this must be pretty dreadful for them, especially as around three quarters of them have actively tried to manage their farms for wildlife under the Stewardship schemes. The apathy blanket must surely now have been thrown over the farming community. Research backs this up. For instance, by communicating doom and gloom stories about climate change, Professor Chris Rapley at University College London has shown how negative this can be. “Strong appeals to fear are unlikely to avert danger and can


T www.gwct.org.uk/fcc


generate defensive avoidance (‘this is too scary to think about’) or worries of being pressured or constricted (‘they are trying to manipulate me’). Initial states of worry and anxiety can change over time to numbness, desensitisation and disengagement from the issue altogether”.


Of course reports such as the State of


Nature are important, but if nothing positive follows in its wake, then we are all left with a feeling of hopelessness. What we also need is a counteractive spoonful of hope. How about the RSPB cirl bunting project for example? Cirl buntings were once widespread and common across much of southern England, but they declined rapidly,


“...the result - an astonishing 630 per cent increase in cirl buntings”


eventually only to be found in south Devon where just 118 pairs were left. But step up the excellent Cath Jeffs, who worked tirelessly alongside the farmers of south Devon, encouraging and disseminating what the rather finicky cirls needed. The result – an astonishing 630 per cent increase in the cirl bunting population.


My own experiences absolutely spell this out too. If you are prepared to work


Conservation is about optimism – a belief that you can make a difference. © Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)


alongside farmers (see page 22), you will not find them hiding under the ‘apathy blanket’, far from it, if anything they are angry at all the negativity thrown at them. They have most certainly not given up on conserving the wildlife on their farms, they just need more help and encouragement.


One farmer told me that he has been in an ‘all singing and dancing’ Stewardship scheme since 1999. Has it worked I asked him? “Not a clue” was his reply – “nobody has ever been out to monitor anything”. And that my friends, says it all. Managing the countryside is much, much more than just allocating money to various schemes – although that is of course important. It is about enthusing, monitoring, feed-back and praising when things work well. Conservation is about optimism. Much of it is in the mind. A belief that you can make a real difference. Yes, I really can farm successfully for food and wildlife at the same time. If we all want to turn the fortunes of our farmland wildlife around, we have to hang onto one thing. We all need hope.


Peter Thompson is our biodiversity advisor and an expert on farmland habitat and wildlife. A fi nalist in the Farmers Weekly advisor awards, he is a specialist on agri- environment schemes.


GAMEWISE • SUMMER 2017 | 39


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