Can intensive farming support wildlife?
As a game bird, the grey partridge (Perdix perdix), always were to French cereal-growing plains what grouse (Lagopus scoticus) have meant to the moors of Scotland. Partridge populations had decreased dramatically in the last decades. Research by the Game Conservancy (U.K.) had demonstrated that insecticides were certainly responsible, but it was believed that other chemical treatments and agricultural methods such as irrigation might also affect recruitment of young birds. The Foundation launched a big project on the general theme: “Is it possible to reconcile modern, intensive agriculture and the grey partridge’s survival in Europe? ” Newborn partridge chicks are entirely dependant on a high-protein insect diet during the first ten days of their lives. Insufficient insect densities led to 100% chick mortality. But the presence of most insects on farmland depends largely on broad-leafed weeds. Weeds and insects are, on the other hand, considered as pests by farmers and were eliminated
