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I visited a farm in Bedfordshire this week to witness one of the most impressive farmland bird sights imaginable. An observer had recorded 700 corn buntings in a stubble field. If true, this would be over 3% of the British population. What I saw was a mixed lark and bunting flock of an absolute minimum of 1,200 birds but maybe as many as 2,000 birds, with skylark and corn bunting being the commonest two species, and including at least 200 yellowhammers too.
The birds were in a block of ELS stubble fields, but they also use a stubble field which has been sprayed off to control weeds, but to compensate for this, the farmer has distributed waste barley grain (about 10kg, twice a week) during the hard weather period. The farmer has deliberately harvested the winter wheat leaving a tall (6") stubble to provide cover, which may be beneficial for mid-field species like skylarks and corn buntings, even though other species tend to prefer shorter stubble.
An RSPB adviser hopes to draw up a case study of the stubble management on this farm for posting on this website later in the winter.
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