Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 139 (2010) 121–128 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/agee Regional variation in the efficacy of Entry Level Stewardship in England Catherine Davey a,∗,1 , Juliet Vickery a,2 , Nigel Boatman b , Dan Chamberlain a , Hazel Parry b,3 , Gavin Siriwardena a a British Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2PU, UK b The Food and Environment Research Agency, Sand Hutton, York YO41 1LZ, UK article info Article history: Received 30 October 2009 Received in revised form 12 July 2010 Accepted 12 July 2010 Available online 5 August 2010 Keywords: Agri-environment scheme Farmland birds Land management abstract The Entry Level Stewardship scheme, introduced in 2005, is the first non-competitive, broad-uptake scheme designed to deliver simple but effective environmental management on farms throughout Eng- land. While previous analysis suggests that the benefits of the scheme at the national scale may be limited thus far, efficacy may vary on a regional basis because of spatial differences in the uptake of individual options, in local environmental resource gaps or in the population status of key species. We assessed the influence of Entry Level Stewardship on regional population changes between 2005 and 2008 of farm- land bird species. Trends were derived from standardised surveys carried out across eight geographical regions in England in more than 2000 lowland farmland 1 km squares. Birds showed apparent region- specific population trends and responses to Stewardship options. Boundary management had a positive association with the population trends of several species in both Yorkshire and the North West. Neither grass field margins nor the provision of winter foraging resources appeared to have any substantial bene- fits across any regions. An important influence of regional context was suggested by contrasting effect of management on some species, such as linnet, across regions. This study suggests that there are regional differences in the efficacy of options and responses of bird populations, although the number of tests conducted means that some of the apparent results may represent statistical artefacts. Nevertheless, this study suggests that agri-environment schemes like Entry Level Stewardship would be improved by greater consideration of regionality in biodiversity responses and efficacy than is currently common in standard schemes. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Unprecedented declines in farmland biodiversity in the last 20–30 years have prompted the development of environmental schemes designed to support recoveries and to prevent future losses. Agri-environment schemes that compensate farmers for environmentally sensitive management have been in place in the UK since 1987. In England, the most recent manifestation of conservation efforts in the wider countryside is the Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) scheme, introduced in 2005 by the UK Govern- ment in an effort to reverse declines in farmland bird populations by 2020 (Smallshire et al., 2004; Swash et al., 2000; Vickery et al., 2004). Progress towards this Public Service Agreement (PSA) target is monitored using the farmland bird indicator (FBI) a composite of ∗ Corresponding author at: CELS, Private Mail Bag 5, Wembley, WA 6913, Aus- tralia. Tel.: +61 8 93336217; fax: +61 8 93336444. E-mail address: cath.davey@csiro.au (C. Davey). 1 Current address: CSIRO, Perth, WA 6913, Australia. 2 Current address: RSPB, The Lodge, Sandy, Beds SG19 2DL, UK. 3 Current address: CSIRO, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. 19 national breeding farmland bird population indices (Gregory et al., 2004). ELS forms the non-competitive, high-uptake, whole-farm, “broad and shallow” part of a two-tiered Environmental Stew- ardship (ES) framework. The latter also incorporates Higher Level Stewardship (HLS), a competitive, targeted, “narrow and deep” scheme (Defra, 2005a). For reference, a list of acronyms and defini- tions is provided in Table 1. ELS is designed to encourage farmers to deliver simple, yet effective, environmental management above that required by cross-compliance under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Participants enter 5-year agreements and are free to choose from a range of management options for which they receive a flat payment per hectare of land to encourage uptake and to compensate for any loss of productivity. Conventional land entered into ELS receives £30/ha (£8/ha for land parcels of 15 ha or more within the Moorland Line), while organic land receives £60/ha. The Government’s current uptake target is to bring 70% of utilisable agricultural area (UAA) in England under agreement by 2011. Since 2005, approximately 5 million ha (55%) of UAA have been entered into ES (ELS, OELS, HLS), with agreements under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) and the Environmentally Sensitive Areas Scheme (ESA) covering an additional 10% (Natural 0167-8809/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.agee.2010.07.008