ORNITHOLIGSTS have welcomed a new Government initiative to reverse the decline in farmland birds now that set-aside payments to farmers leaving land untended have been scrapped.

Set-aside, created when the EU’s notorious Common Agricultural Policy fund was encouraging over production of butter and Beef Mountains and olive oil lakes, was always controversial.

But it had one unexpected bonus. Because large areas of land were left to grow wild, wild birds thrived after half a century of declining numbers blamed on intensive farming. When set aside was scrapped last year, bird-lover feared this progress would be halted.

Now, the environment department Defra has decided that farmers in England will not be paid subsidies unless they leave a small part of their farm for wildlife, creating feeding and nesting sites for species like skylarks, yellowhammers, corn buntings and linnets.

Set-aside was never supposed to help wildlife but, with so much other land farmed so heavily, it became a sanctuary for many species.

Gareth Morgan - RSPB

The move, announced today by Environment Secretary Hilary Benn, will help replicate the environmental benefits of set-aside and will be effective from 2009. Farmers will also be asked to voluntarily manage small patches of land less intensively.

Gareth Morgan, Head of Agriculture Policy at the RSPB, said: “This is a massive step forward for the environment. Set-aside was never supposed to help wildlife but, with so much other land farmed so heavily, it became a sanctuary for many species.

“Many much-loved birds like skylarks, yellowhammers and lapwings have been thrown a lifeline by this decision, which will help bring birdsong back to many parts of the countryside.”