Action

Mark bird nests during harvest or mowing

How is the evidence assessed?
  • Effectiveness
    20%
  • Certainty
    15%
  • Harms
    not assessed

Study locations

Key messages

 

 

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

  1. A replicated study in 2005-2006 on arable farms in Noordoostpolder and Oostelijk Flevoland, the Netherlands (Kragten et al. 2008) found that marked northern lapwing Vanellus vanellus nests were significantly less likely to fail as a result of farming operations than unmarked nests (0-9% of 1,644 marked nests destroyed vs 15-42% of 229 unmarked nests). However, overall survival rates did not differ significantly (37-73% success for marked nests vs 38-66% for unmarked), with some evidence that marked nests were deserted or predated more often. Nests on the marked farms (121 in 2005, 113 in 2006) were marked with two bamboo poles (1 m high) by 151-171 volunteers, and farmers told of their presence. On the control farms, no markers were put in place and farmers were not informed of the nests.

    Study and other actions tested
Please cite as:

Dicks, L.V., Ashpole, J.E., Dänhardt, J., James, K., Jönsson, A., Randall, N., Showler, D.A., Smith, R.K., Turpie, S., Williams, D.R. & Sutherland, W.J. (2020) Farmland Conservation. Pages 283-321 in: W.J. Sutherland, L.V. Dicks, S.O. Petrovan & R.K. Smith (eds) What Works in Conservation 2020. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK.

 

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

All the journals searched for all synopses

Farmland Conservation

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Farmland Conservation
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What Works in Conservation provides expert assessments of the effectiveness of actions, based on summarised evidence, in synopses. Subjects covered so far include amphibians, birds, mammals, forests, peatland and control of freshwater invasive species. More are in progress.

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