Sir, – Daniel Brown’s (RSPB) reply to my letter of the September 16, (‘Songbirds get a lifeline, but waders are in trouble’ in the issue of November 11) provided at first sight heartening statistics showing a dramatic recovery in songbird numbers from a historic decline.

However, as with all figures, they need to be studied with a degree of caution and put into the right context. While it is true that the 2016 breeding bird survey (BBS) results showed a recent increase in some species such as the red-listed tree sparrow (+ 429% over the period 1995-2015), it must be pointed out that this is from a very small sample and, as the document makes abundantly clear: “In a UK context, tree sparrow populations are most abundant in north-east England and eastern Scotland. Causes behind increases in these areas are unknown. Tree sparrows declined massively from the late 1970s so, despite the recent increase, it remains at one 20th previous levels.”

Quite so. The UK has lost 95% of its tree sparrow population in 40 years. Even a 429% increase of not a lot, while very welcome, remains not a lot.

Moreover, the even shorter term trend for tree sparrow from 2015-2016 in the same document showed a 23% decline in Scotland, or a reversal in the welcome increase of the past 20 years. The tree sparrow is, therefore, not out of the woods by a long way. Nor are other red and amber listed songbirds and farmbirds, such as the corn bunting (-33%), starling (-26%), skylark (-23%), linnet (-20%), wheatear (-20%), or meadow pipit (-10%).

Recent increases in reed bunting and yellowhammer numbers are welcome, but perhaps only go to show that current Scottish Rural Development Plan (SRDP) Options are only helping to reduce the overall, steep long-term rate of decline of many songbirds and waders, certainly not reversing it.

Furthermore, it is worth taking a look at some of the other

BBS trends during the period covered. Magpie, jackdaw and raven numbers are all up (39%, 23% and 35%, respectively). These are all significant predators of songbird and wader eggs and young. Carrion crow numbers are down slightly (-6%) set against a 45-year long period of a more than doubling of their numbers.

As for waders, they continue to decline at an alarming rate despite farmers’ best efforts to create the right habitats and protect nests, as Daniel Brown points out. It is, therefore, pleasing to learn that the RSPB is now taking seriously the problem of mammalian predators on ground-nesting birds and conducting trial experiments to increase curlew breeding success and inform future wader management strategies.

They could save themselves a lot of time and money by reading the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust’s ( GWCT ) findings from their nine-year long upland predation study at Otterburn, which showed that properly targeted predator control there increased curlew and golden plover breeding success by 400%; that of the lapwing by 300%; and doubled that of the meadow pipit.

The joint findings from their own Hope Farm and the GWCT’s Loddington Farm revealed that where predator densities were high (five corvid pairs/sq km and 1.1 foxes/sq km), properly targeted predator control combined with good habitat maintenance and sufficient year round food resources, boosted song and other bird populations.

No surprises there, as these three elements, predator control, food and habitat make up the essential legs of the late Dr Dick Potts (GWCT) ‘three-legged stool’ analogy for balanced ecosystems.

I agree with Daniel Brown that there is some good news with respect to our much cherished songbirds. There will always be winners and losers in conservation, but it is up to those on the ground, farmers and land managers, to ensure that our practices restore and maintain a proper balance of nature.

Since time immemorial human intervention has played a part in maintaining this balance and it is up to governments and conservation bodies as well to play their part in acknowledging and encouraging this balancing intervention.

Colin Strang Steel

Trustee of the Songbird Survival Trust,

Threepwood,

Galashiels