Effects of habitat type and management on the abundance of skylarks in the breeding season

Summary 1. There is increasing evidence to link major declines in skylark populations in Britain to agricultural intensification. However, whether causal mechanisms identified through localized studies can be generalized to the national scale remains unknown. The abundance of breeding skylarks was determined by surveying singing males in over 600 randomly selected 1‐km squares throughout Britain, in which skylarks recorded were assigned to homogeneous habitat patches. A more intensive survey of skylarks was carried out on lowland farmland sites in England. Singing males were assigned to specific crop types, and data on crop height and field boundary features were recorded. 2. Skylark occupancy (presence/absence) and density where birds were present (i.e. omitting zero counts) were analysed in relation to habitat type, habitat diversity and time of year, using generalized linear modelling. 3. Set‐aside, moorland and winter cereals had high rates of skylark occupancy at the national scale. Set‐aside had consistently high rates of occupancy and high densities across the breeding season at different spatial scales. Apart from set‐aside, there was little difference in density between habitats in the early half (March to mid‐May) of the breeding season. In the later half of the breeding season (mid‐May to July), density declined significantly on winter cereals, which showed significantly lower density than a number of habitats at this time, including spring cereals, legumes and moorland. 4. Within lowland farmland, there were significant effects of crop height on skylark occupancy, with crops of greater than 30 cm in height being occupied at relatively low rates. Winter cereals reached this height significantly earlier in the breeding season than a number of other crops, including spring cereals and legumes. 5. Skylark density increased with increasing habitat diversity across the whole sample of 1‐km squares and in lowland 1‐km squares in England. However, within the lowland farmland plots in England, skylark density showed a significant decrease with increasing habitat diversity. These conflicting results suggest that crop type rather than habitat diversity per se is important. 6. The effects of vegetation height on skylark abundance support the hypothesis that increases in winter cereal, and simultaneous loss of spring cereal, have had an adverse effect on skylark populations by reducing the number of breeding attempts made per year. These results support findings from smaller scale studies showing the generality of these habitat effects at different spatial scales. The extent of the British skylark population associated with agricultural land suggests that sympathetic changes in farming practice are likely to provide the best mechanism for improving the status of this species. The inclusion of options, such as spring cereal or fallow land (an equivalent to set‐aside), in agri‐environment schemes is likely to benefit skylarks breeding on farmland by providing suitable nesting habitat throughout the breeding season. In addition, reductions in the intensity with which cereals are managed, such as reduced pesticide and fertilizer input under approaches such as precision farming, and the creation of sparser patches of cereal sward, are also likely to increase the suitability of winter cereals for nesting skylarks.