A FARMER is backing a wildlife charity's campaign to persuade the Government to give more cash to bird conservation projects on farms.
Hugo Black, of Flanchford Farm, Leigh, is in the Higher Level Stewardship scheme and uses the funding to provide beetle banks, wildflower strips, pollen and nectar mix, wild-bird seed mixes and grass margins to fields.
His 250-acre mixed farm is home to barn owls, lapwings, skylarks, yellowhammers, reed buntings, swifts, swallows and starlings.
Mr Black said: "It would be an absolute disaster if these schemes were to stop.
"There has been a lot of good work done over the past 10 to 20 years but rising cereal prices and modern farming practices are putting real pressure on the ability of farmers to provide enough space and food for wildlife.
"Environmental schemes allow us to focus on providing these much-needed habitats and there is a real danger that all this progress could be quickly undone."
For the past 25 years, many Surrey farmers have become wildlife champions and have rallied to the plight of some of the country's most threatened species by creating the conditions they need to survive.
Using payments for wildlife-friendly farming – known as agri-environment schemes – some of these "champions" have reversed population crashes of those species most in trouble. Some species, including the stone-curlew, now largely depend on wildlife-friendly farmers for their future survival in the UK.
But just as conservationists and farmers are celebrating the 25th anniversary of these schemes and what they have achieved, the RSPB is fearful that cuts to European and domestic budgets mean the axe could be wielded close to this wildlife lifeline.
The Prime Minister, David Cameron, will attend a European heads of state meeting in Brussels on Thursday and tomorrow to discuss the future of the EU's budget, including the amount of money spent on agriculture.
Gareth Harris, RSPB South East farmland conservation adviser, said: "We know that budgets are strained, but rewarding farmers for greater all-round environmental responsibility is excellent value for money, supporting farmland wildlife as well as improving water quality, land management and food production.
"The abundance of wildlife on these farms is simply an indicator of the health of the countryside."
