Corn buntings have declined by 90% since the 1970s alongside the intensification of arable farming. Their welfare and population recovery depend on changes to farming practices that once supported them.
Corn bunting welfare decline is directly traceable to agricultural policy changes that incentivized intensification. Loss of winter stubbles removed food at the most energy-critical time of year. Earlier harvesting and cultivation destroyed nests. Removal of field margins and hedgerows reduced nesting habitat. Each of these changes made individual corn bunting welfare progressively worse. Agri-environment payments that reverse these practices — retaining stubbles, delaying cultivation, maintaining margins — have shown that population recovery is achievable when farming practices change.