BIRDS, SCYTHES AND COMBINES

Despite the scale of change in agricultural methods in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, farmland birds were little affected, with many benefiting from the appearance of extensive new resources. This book is an historical account of the impact of changes in farming methods on the bird populations of British farmland over the past 250 years. A comparison with modern experience shows significant differences, with the more recent changes in grassland management, herbicide use and harvesting methods leading to a loss of diversity in farmland and, consequently, resulting in steep declines in bird numbers.