The diminishing area of weedy winter stubbles in the Welsh landscape is having a dramatic impact on the wintering farmland bird populations. Not only have many arable fields been converted to silage fields or permanent pasture in recent decades, many of those that are left tend to be undersown with grass at the time of drilling the crop. This grass not only outcompetes any arable plants that would be associated with the crop, it also limits the amount of seed available to farmland bird populations over the winter months. It is now possible to travel for hours through the Welsh countryside during the winter months and not encounter a flock of birds.
