The Corn Bunting Emberiza calandra is one of the most severely declining farmland birds across Europe. In the UK, numbers fell by 86% between 1967 and 2008. Corn Buntings favour open landscapes, nest on or close to the ground, are often polygynous, double-brooded, and have a seed-based diet supplemented in summer by invertebrates. This study investigated the recent causes of decline in arable and mixed farmland in eastern Scotland, and sought to identify potential conservation solutions that could be delivered through agri-environment schemes (AES). Combining new data with analyses of existing long-term datasets, I investigated habitat associations during summer and winter, the timing and success of nesting attempts, and measured reproductive and population responses to AES. Corn Buntings declined almost to extinction in one study area where, over 20 years, the main recorded intensifications of farming were reduced weed abundance within crops and removal of boundaries to make bigger fields. Territory locations, late-summer occupancy and polygyny were all strongly associated with weedy fields. There were also positive associations with overhead wires and in early summer with winter barley and forage grasses. Late-summer occupancy was associated with spring-sown cereals, crops that are amongst the last to be harvested. Changes in habitat associations and to aspects of the mating system as the population declined and agriculture intensified are discussed. Intensive monitoring showed that Corn Buntings laid clutches from mid-May to mid-August, mostly in fields of forage grasses and autumn-sown cereals in early summer, and spring sown cereals in late summer. A preference for nesting in dense swards explained this seasonal variation. Breeding success in forage grasses was poor, due to high rates of nest loss during mowing. However, in experimental trials, nest success in fields with delayed mowing was fivefold that of control fields. With sufficient uptake through AES, delayed mowing could raise productivity to levels required to reverse population declines. In winter, cereal stubbles and AES unharvested crop patches were the main foraging habitats used. Unharvested crops with abundant cereal grain in their first winter of establishment were favoured. Population monitoring over seven years and 71 farms revealed increases on farms with AES targeted at Corn Buntings, no significant change on farms with general AES, and declines on control farms. In arable-dominated farmland, management that increased food availability reversed declines, but on mixed farmland where Corn Buntings nested in forage grasses, delayed mowing was essential for population increase. This study has already influenced the design of AES targeted at Corn Buntings in Scotland, and I make further recommendations for the species’ conservation and design of AES that are applicable to farmland throughout Britain and Europe.

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Agri-environment schemes (AESs), ecological focus areas (EFAs), and organic farming are the main tools of the common agricultural policy (CAP) to counteract the dramatic decline of farmland biodiversity in Europe. However, their effectiveness is repeatedly doubted because it seems to vary when measured at the field-versus-landscape level and to depend on the regional environmental and land-use context. Understanding the heterogeneity of their effectiveness is thus crucial to developing management recommendations that maximize their efficacy. Using ensemble species distribution models and spatially explicit field-level information on crops grown, farming practice (organic/conventional), and applied AES/EFA from the Integrated Administration and Control System, we investigated the contributions of five groups of measures (buffer areas, cover crops, extensive grassland management, fallow land, and organic farming) to habitat suitability for 15 farmland bird species in the Mulde River Basin, Germany. We used a multiscale approach to identify the scale of effect of the selected measures. Using simulated land-use scenarios, we further examined how breeding habitat suitability would change if the measures were completely removed and if their adoption by farmers increased to meet conservation-informed targets. Buffer areas, fallow land, and extensive grassland were beneficial measures for most species, but cover crops and organic farming had contrasting effects across species. While different measures acted at different spatial scales, our results highlight the importance of land-use management at the landscape level—at which most measures had the strongest effect. We found that the current level of adoption of the measures delivers only modest gains in breeding habitat suitability. However, habitat suitability improved for the majority of species when the implementation of the measures was increased, suggesting that they could be effective conservation tools if higher adoption levels were reached. The heterogeneity of responses across species and spatial scales indicated that a mix of different measures, applied widely across the agricultural landscape, would likely maximize the benefits for biodiversity. This can only be achieved if the measures in the future CAP will be cooperatively designed in a regionally targeted way to improve their attractiveness for farmers and widen their uptake.