Wildlife Conservation on Farmland: Volume 1: Managing for Nature on Lowland Farms

This book is the first volume in a two-part series that aims to offer two complementary perspectives on the conservation of wildlife on lowland farmland. The first book explicitly covers the perspective of WildCRU, which has worked on farmland issues for several decades. The focus of this volume is mainly case studies covering a variety of taxa: from small mammals (with a chapter on water voles) to moths, dragonflies, bats and farmland birds (with a chapter devoted to behavioural studies as a tool to improve reintroduction of grey partridge and another one on agri-environment schemes and birds).

The book also covers the impact of management on a selection of habitats, in particular long-term studies on field margins with focus on plant and invertebrate biodiversity, the impacts of land-use on biodiversity in rivers and ditches, and the effect of woodland management on the distribution and abundance of small mammals and macro-moths. A chapter on the effect of organic farming on wildlife covers both the work done by WildCRU on butterflies and spiders, and a multi-taxa study which resulted from a collaboration of several UK-based organisations.

Chapters in this book are very authoritative and they contain a wealth of knowledge and often thought-provoking suggestions for the future. Examples include how to optimize farming systems, and, potentially more controversial, whether the British countryside should be re-wilded with large mammals, and what impact this might have on the land-sharing versus land sparing debate. This book offers a very good account of the key issues in wildlife conservation on lowland farmland and it would be of value to anyone interested in gaining an overview of this topic paired with detailed results.

Book reviewed by Daria Dadam