Changes in breeding populations of six farmland bird species in Western Poland between 1987 and 2007

The breeding populations of the Skylark Alauda arvensis, Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella, Corn Bunting Miliaria calandra, Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava, Whinchat Saxicola rubetra, and Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio were censused by the mapping method on 315 ha of intensive farmland in W Poland. Results obtained in 2006 and 2007 were compared with previously published data from 1987 to 1997. Changes in habitat structure, mainly the decline of margin habitats, and the intensification of agricultural production, which both occurred between the two study periods, affected breeding bird populations; M. flava showed drastic long-term decreasing trends, and M. calandra increased significantly in number. The other four species showed yearto-year variation rather than directional trends. Numbers of A. arvensis declined from 1987 to the late 1990s and subsequently increased. Generally, population trends of the studied species were similar to those in other long-term study plots in Poland but differed from trends in Western Europe.