Help for endangered farmland birds announced

Help for Britain's endangered farmland birds has been announced by the Government. Farmers will be paid extra under a stewardship scheme if they manage small areas of land to help wildlife. The skylark is one of the birds that will benefit from the new measures The plan will be a successor to set aside - under which farmers kept a tenth of their land out of production - which was scrapped so more food crops could be grown to meet shortages. Set aside land provided both the food and cover farmland birds need to breed successfully and there were fears species such as skylarks, yellowhammers, corn buntings and linnets would suffer if it disappeared. Now Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has accepted recommendations from an advisory group that a replacement for set aside - which provides the same environmental benefits - is... [read full story]