LARGE parts of Kent farmland providing habitats for birds and other wildlife will be under threat this winter due to a shift in EU policy.

Defra research announced this week shows as much as 77 per cent of temporary fallow land, known as set-a-side, could be lost across the South East, including up to a third of permanent habitats such as grass.

It follows the European Commission’s proposal to abolish set-aside as part of the ‘Health Check’ of the CAP. But Kent farmland birds such as corn buntings and skylarks depend on set-a-side for nesting sites and food.

Hester Phillips, a spokesman from the RSPB, said: "Farmland birds are in dire straits across Kent and this shocking scale of habitat loss is a further blow to these precious birds.

"Despite repeated efforts from Kent farmers to manage their land for wildlife, economic constraints mean many simply can’t afford to do so now set-a-side has been suspended."

Last year the RSPB predicted that high prices for wheat, caused by government incentives to grow biofuels, would prove impossible for farmers to ignore, but the sheer extent of habitat loss shown in Defra’s announcement comes as a unwelcome shock.

The RSPB’s Gareth Morgan, head of Agriculture Policy, said: "We are extremely worried about what this means for wildlife especially as the European Commission have failed to put a realistic proposal on the table for anything to replace the wildlife benefits of set aside.

"We applaud Defra for undertaking this research but these results are a wake-up call. They must now act to ensure a measure is adopted on all farmland in England. The current "Health Check" of the CAP provides an ideal opportunity for the UK to take the lead and convince other European countries that a measure to replace the wildlife benefits of set aside across the whole of Europe is needed."

The RSPB has strong links with the farming community, believing a healthy countryside relies on a healthy rural economy and community. The organisation campaigns on behalf of farmers who wish to farm in wildlife-friendly ways to be supported by the government.

Declining numbers of birds

*Numbers of countryside birds have plummeted across Kent in the past 30 years.

*The tree sparrow finds remaining strongholds on the Kent/East Sussex border with smaller colonies scattered across north Kent, but has declined overall by a devastating 97 per cent.

*Skylarks numbers have dropped by 30 per cent in the South East, corn buntings by 50 per cent. Many are now red listed species, meaning they are of the high conservation concern.