The effects of severe hedge cutting on a breeding bird population

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Abstract
The effects on the bird population of a drastic cutback of all the internal hedges on a farm in central England were studied using the Common Birds Census mapping method. Numbers of hedgerow bird species were reduced after the cutback and it was birds along the affected hedges that were lost. Their numbers subsequently showed a full or partial recovery. In the year after the cutback birds of 5 of the most widespread and abundant hedgerow species on British farms temporarily packed some extra territories into unaffected hedges around the edge of the farm. The implications of the increased packing on the carrying capacity of farmland are briefly discussed.