Permanent and temporary linear habitats as food sources for the young of farmland birds.

Abstract

The decline of some farmland bird species has been linked to an insufficient supply of food for the young. The availability of invertebrate groups important in the diet has been intensively studied, both spatially within arable fields, as well as between different crops. Less well studied however, are the differences between field edge habitats whether permanent (hedges or grass strips), semi-permanent (beetle banks and non-rotational set-aside), or temporary (wild bird cover or brood cover strips sown along field headlands). Invertebrate groups commonly found in the diet of farmland birds were compared in these types of field boundaries and with the edge of grassland habitat and cereal crops.