Does farmers' knowledge of birds influence their conservation of them?

Abstract

Environmental Stewardship is designed to encourage farmers to adopt conservation practices that benefit farmland wildlife. This paper explores to what extent farmers are familiar with the bird species for which Environmental Stewardship is designed, and to what extent such knowledge influences farmers' adoption of it. Data were gathered from 64 farmers as part of an Environmental Stewardship training scheme carried out at the GCT Allerton Project research and demonstration farm at Loddington, Leicestershire. Older farmers had significantly greater knowledge of bird species present on their farms than did younger farmers. Knowledge of birds had no significant influence on farmers' interest in Environmental Stewardship. Knowledge of some Biodiversity Action Plan species such as reed bunting and corn bunting was low, while farmers were more familiar with species such as lapwing and barn owl. Information provision and habitat management for familiar species may be important to sustainable conservation of less familiar Biodiversity Action Plan species.