Akkervogels

Corn buntings Miliaria calandra have declined by a staggering 83% over the past twenty years, according to a new study of thirty sites in Aberdeenshire and Angus published in Bird Study, the journal of the British Trust for Ornithology. This once common farmland bird, known as the ‘fat bird of the barley’, has suffered as farming methods have intensified.

The corn bunting Miliaria calandra has undergone severe population decline in the Republic of Ireland and other western European countries. By the late 1990s, no corn buntings were known to be breeding in Ireland. The most important factors are thought to be the decline in mixed farming and the loss of temporary grasslands. The use of pesticides may have reduced the availability of invertebrate and seed food supplies.

Corn buntings Miliaria calandra were abundant throughout arable agricultural landscapes in Europe, but have catastrophically declined since the mid 1970s with changes in farming practice and now give serious conservation cause for concern. Corn buntings declined in Denmark during 1976-1993, but (almost unique in Europe) have since increased (by up to 11% per annum) in some areas without specific conservation recovery actions. Based on breeding bird surveys in the mid 1990s, highest corn bunting densities occurred on mixed agriculture in west Denmark (Jylland); the species was rarer or absent in regions of highest arable land cover.

De ortolaan Emberiza hortulana en de grauwe gors Miliaria calandra zijn verdwenen uit de landbouwgebieden in Nederland. Dat meldt het Compendium voor de Leefomgeving.

Nick Brickle reports on a project to investigate the effect of agricultural intensification on corn buntings Miliaria calandra. The main aim was to test the hypothesis that breeding success was affected by low chick-food availability, caused in part by the use of pesticides. Data from a study site on the South Downs in Sussex showed that corn buntings collected invertebrates for their chicks in areas that received relatively few insecticide and herbicide applications. These areas contained more invertebrates of the types commonly fed to chicks than more heavily sprayed areas. When the abundance of chick-food invertebrates was low close to a nest, breeding success was low. In these conditions chicks were underweight, parents foraged further from the nest and nest failure rate was high. When chick-food invertebrates near the nest were more abundant, breeding success was higher. The relationship between pesticides and food availability, and the relationship between food availability and breeding success, links the corn bunting to other species of farmland birds where pesticide use has been shown to affect breeding success, such as the grey partridge. Similar relationships between pesticides, food and breeding success may occur in some other farmland bird species such as skylarks and yellowhammers.

In einem interdisziplinären Forschungsvorhaben der Universität Kiel wurde untersucht, wie sich die Umstellung eines Landwirtschaftbetriebes auf ökologischen Anbau auf die Entwicklung der Brutvögelbestände auswirkt. Die auf Hof Ritzerau in Schleswig-Holstein ermittelten Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass diese Umstellung vor allem die Siedlungsdichte der Feldlerche Alauda arvensis fördert.

Die Bestände von Neun­töter Lanius collurio und Feld­lerche Alauda arvensis nehmen deutsch­land­weit ab. Dies ist auch im Sauer­land fest­zu­stellen, wie die Orni­tho­lo­gi­sche Arbeits­ge­mein­schaft des "Ver­eins für Natur-und Vogel­schutz im HSK" (VNV) mitteilt. Die ehren­amt­li­chen Vogel­kundler nehmen alljähr­lich mehr als 50 Vogel­arten HSK-weit unter die Lupe, und stellten ihr Ergebnis beim Jahres­treffen im Kloster Bredelar vor. Knapp 25 Orni­tho­logen disku­tierten dort die Ergeb­nisse ihrer Bestands­auf­nahmen der Brut­saison 2008. Zu den Vögeln, die in der Agrarlandschaft leben, gab es schlechte Nachrichten. War die Feldlerche vor wenigen Jahrzehnten überall in der Feldflur zu hören, gingen die Bestände seitdem drastisch zurück. Auf vielen Acker- und Wiesenflächen des mittleren Sauerlandes, beispielsweise im Stadtgebiet Meschede, ist sie bereits ausgestorben.

De Steenuil Athene noctua is een vogel van het halfopen agrarische landschap met houtwallen en een korte vegetatie. Regenwormen en insecten vormen met 75% het hoogste aandeel van het voedsel van de Steenuil. Op plaatsen waar de vegetatie kort is, wordt lopend, huppend en soms rennend gejaagd op insecten en wormen. Als de achteruitgang van de Steenuil zich in het huidige tempo voortzet, zal deze uil spoedig uit het Friese cultuurlandschap zijn verdwenen.