Birds are the new alternative to crops: Fields that for more than 40 years grew crops on a Lincolnshire farm are fast becoming a wildlife sanctuary

摘要

In one of the final Countryside Stewardship schemes to be approved, about 46ha (115 acres) of Manor House Farm, Wain-fleet, have been transformed into a wetland haven for birds including several uncommon species. In just four years, land that had beengrowing wheat and oilseed rape has seen dramatic increases in their numbers. In the first season after conversion to wet grassland 12 pairs of lapwings chose to breed on the site, part of the county's Coastal Grazing Marsh. "Last season I counted 74 pairs," says local FWAG officer and project manager Roger Wardle. "We had four pairs of avocets nesting." There were also three pairs of redshank, and two of little ring plover, and snipe and shovellers were also present in early June, suggesting possible future breeding. "We've also recorded Garganey duck, which is quite scarce."