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Crops for Wintering Birds
(Game cover crops)

In the UK, many landowners grow winter gamebird “crops” to provide food and cover for Ring-necked Pheasants (“Pheasants”) and partridges. Such crops typically comprise maize, millet, kale, mustard, plus quinoa and other exotic seed-rich plants, and some mixes are eligible as “wildbird cover” set-aside options or “Wildlife Seed Mixtures” options. The AS scheme is a fresh initiative, currently being piloted in two areas of the UK, where specific payments are made for wildlife-sympathetic farming. The GCT/BTO Crops for Wintering Birds Survey, collected information from the full range of these “winter bird crops” with volunteers having visited over 130 farms in order to obtain these data.

Our analysis has showed that, with the exception of Skylarks (found in large fields of stubble or bare soils) and Grey Partridge (preferring bare ground, stubbles or non-cereal crops such as turnips), the densities of all birds seen, were higher on winter bird “crops” than on nearby conventional crops (e.g. cereals, rape, bare ground) or grassland. Key winter bird crops provide food, cover and a foraging resource throughout the winter for a wide range of bird species. Among these crops, the strongest and most consistent preference across bird species was for kale, a biennial brassica, which forms large, cabbage-like leaves in its first winter, followed by a seed-head in its second winter. Kale attracted finches, buntings and Tree Sparrows as well as insectivorous passerines, such as Blackbird, Song Thrush and Dunnock that forage below the leaves for invertebrates and small seeds; kale in its second year was especially important in enhancing bird abundance and diversity. As well as kale, quinoa, a giant South American relative of fat hen, also attracted relatively high densities of a wide variety of passerines, including Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Linnets, Chaffinches and Reed Buntings.

No single bird crop will provide all things to all species or circumstances but certain crop types and conditions appear high on the list of priorities. Although occasionally susceptible to disease (club foot) and pests (flea beetle on emerging plants) consistency between the first two years of the survey provided convincing evidence that kale is worth the effort under most circumstances. The exotic quinoa is also a winter-long source of food for birds, and grown with kale will offer an optimum habitat for passerines, non-passerines (including gamebirds), seed-eating and insectivorous species. More specific interest could be added with grasses and cereals such as millet and oats to benefit larger seed-eating species such as buntings, Trees Sparrow, Chaffinch and Brambling. Locating bird crops by wooded boundaries may enhance their value for boundary-based species, especially given a warmer south-facing aspect. Giving seed-bearing weeds the space to perform will amount to a more complete package.

Volunteers who contributed to the national survey should note that following their efforts, wildbird cover crops became an option available to farmers under the arable options of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme in 2002, now replaced by Entry Level options within the Environment Scheme.