Walking the predominantly grassy hills of the Cumbrian uplands, particularly in the Lake District, you may notice the distinct paucity of bird life over huge areas. The dominant sheep-grazed swards host little more than low densities of Meadow Pipit Anthus pratensis and variable numbers of Skylark Alauda arvensis.
Against a backdrop of debate around a sustainable future for the uplands and – in particular – the unnatural scarcity of trees, Mike Douglas and Peter Leeson share a case study demonstrating the impressive response of breeding birds when denuded hillsides are restored to scrub.