The RSPB has been trialling wild bird cover crops in north-east Scotland to conserve the remaining population of corn buntings. Two-year mixes did not feed corn buntings in the second year, so the Project now only uses annual mixtures including a mix of triticale, barley and oats. This mix provides grain throughout the winter. Corn buntings have increased in areas where these mixtures have been used, but continued to decline in areas without cover crops.

Wet grassland restoration on this site has been achieved through the creation of shallow foot drains and scrapes using the RSPB's Rotary Ditcher. The resulting increase in breeding wader populations includes the first nesting redshank in the cherwell catchment since 1982.

John Moir has successfully helped the corn buntings breeding on his mixed farm in Aberdeenshire by delaying cutting on his less productive grass fields used by nesting birds.

Nicholas Watts has successfully used cultivated margins on his farm in the Lincolnshire Fens to boost insect food for birds. The diversity of wildlife on these margins is unparalleled by any other habitat on the farm.

Nicholas Watts has created and maintained flower-rich margins on his farm for 15 years, which he believes are a much better option for wildlife than the standard grass margins.

Management to reduce rush cover and increase the wet features present on this site in Lancashire has benefitted lapwings, curlews, redshank and snipe. The improved grazing condition has also benefitted the economics of the livestock enterprise.

An area of permanent set-aside has been managed by cultivating a third of the area each year on a 3-year rotation to increase the floristic diversity and wildlife benefits.

Chris Barnes reverts 40ha of unproductive arable land to wet grassland using Higher Level Stewardship and overcomes problems of poor grassland establishment to create an invertebrate-rich grassland that has immediately attracted high wintering numbers of waders and should attract breeding waders in the near future.

Provision of a seed crop for seed-eating birds on an RSPB farmed reserve managed primarily for breeding waders and wintering geese has turned up huge numbers of seed-eating birds adding another wildlife spectacle to this reserve in Dumfries and Galloway

Winter bird use of oilseed rape established by autocasting and non-inversion tillage were compared over two years on Grange Farm. The hypothesis was that autocasting made winter stubbles available through the winter. However, the results indicate that there is no significant difference. The possible reasons for this are that the oilseed rape rapidly grows up to prevent access to the seed within the stubble or that birds do not use it once the rape has grown up due to the predation risk. At present the decision on method of establishment for oilseed rape crops should be based on agronomic considerations, as for birds, there is no clear and consistent evidence that suggests one technique is more beneficial than the other.