Bird abundance and distribution on Peak District farms and moorlands, 2007-2008 - RELU Sustainability of hill farming

This data set consists of the tabulated results of bird surveys on Peak District farms and moorlands. Bird abundance and distribution on Peak District farms and moorlands, 2007-2008 The study is part of the NERC Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) programme. The project used the Peak District National Park as a case study to examine the impact of hill farming practices on upland biodiversity (using birds as an indicator group); how hill farms were responding to ongoing and future changes to policies and prices; what this would in turn imply for upland biodiversity; what the public wanted from upland ecosystems and how policies could be designed better to deliver public goods from hill farms. To answer these questions, the project team conducted ecological and economic surveys on hill farms; used survey results to parameterise ecological and economic models of this farming system; developed new ways to integrate these into coupled ecological and economic models and paid particular attention to interactions across farm boundaries; used the models to evaluate the performance of existing policies and to test designs that could lead to more effective policies; and conducted a range of choice experiments with different cross-sections of the general public to evaluate their preferences for upland landscapes. Choice experiment, socio-economic survey and model data from this study are available at the UK Data Archive under study number 6363 (see online resources). Further documentation for this study may be found through the RELU Knowledge Portal and the project's ESRC funding award web page (see online resources).