Farmers helping iconic bird fear future funding cuts

Farmers in Hampshire and West Sussex have successfully restored populations of lapwings that are facing extinction.

They are encouraging the bird species, which is synonymous with farmland, to nest by keeping patches of fields uncultivated and protected from predators.

But some are concerned about the future of such projects, after the government suddenly closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) green funding scheme.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it would give details of a new and improved scheme following a spending review.

Simon Butler, an arable farmer near Selborne in East Hampshire, said his grandad and great-grandad came to the farm in 1930.

"There were lapwings then and they'd have been there long before that," he said.

But lapwing numbers have fallen dramatically since the 1980s and they are now listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

Habitat loss and degradation due to changes in agricultural practice have reduced the availability of high-quality foraging habitat.

"They're a beautiful bird. It would be a travesty if we lost them."

Mr Butler is one of a number of farmers trying to encourage the birds back. He has fenced off three one-hectare plots in his fields, with cereals planted around them.

"There is a bit of extra work and hassle and cost," he said. "But it's well worth it if you can get the results.

"I'm proud of what we've achieved. We want the best crop of wheat, best crop of barley, but as farmers we want the most lapwings too."

He receives about £2,000 a year from government grants to offset the loss of crops and to maintain the habitat.

But he said he worried about the future of schemes like this following the government's decision to stop accepting new SFI applications last month.

"To take away environmental payments would be very risky and foolhardy," he said.

"Lots of farmers I know are seriously considering cutting back on environmental schemes because of funding cuts."

"We want to be planning long term. We don't want to be worrying whether we can continue this next year.

"The lapwings won't forgive us if we stop doing what we need to do and then they may not come back. If the lapwings go, what else has gone with them":[]}