Game crops as summer habitat for farmland songbirds in Scotland.

Abstract

Counts of songbirds during the breeding season on 21 farms across eastern Scotland, UK, showed that up to 80 times as many birds were recorded from game crops as nearby conventional crops. At the same time, butterflies and bumble-bees were, respectively, up to 15 and 40 times more abundant in the game crops than conventional crops. In a survey of weeds in smaller game crop plots where sowing conditions were controlled, 90% more species were found than in nearby conventional crops (180% more broad-leaved weeds). Weeds from important bird-food groups were nearly three times as abundant in game crops as conventional crops. Game crops therefore provide a very attractive habitat for many forms of wildlife that in turn provide valuable resources for songbirds, many of which are currently declining on modern farmland.