The importance of weedy winter stubbles for birds cannot be understated, without them, seed-eating farmland birds will struggle to survive the winter. Recent surveys of >120 ha of farmland in west Wales found that the sole remaining area of weedy stubble on the farm, an area of c.0.5 ha, supported more than 90% of the larks, pipits finches and buntings present on the farm overall, which was largely barren of these species. As these critical habitats disappear from the Welsh countryside so will the birds associated with them.
