HUSTINGS F (1986) Population changes in the Stonechat Saxicola torquata during 1970 - 1984. LIMOSA 59 (4): 153-162.

British Stonechat Saxicola rubicola = Saxicola torquata In the first half of the 1970s, the Stonechat was still a common breeding bird in farmland in South Limburg. Between 1970 and 1984, the species vanished nearly completely in a study area of c. 7900 ha. The few remaining pairs inhabit mainly heathland (fig. 1, tab 1). To find out whether this situation was typical for the Netherlands as a whole, bird watchers all over the country were asked to report numerical changes in the breeding population in their study areas during 197084 (fig. 2), a period in which no severe winters occurred in the South European winterquarters of the species. There was a considerable reduction in the number of breeding pairs in agricultural areas, often amounting to more than 70% within ten years. The most serious decline took place at the end of the 1970s (fig. 3A-D). In heathland and in remnants of peat moors, both increases and decreases were observed (fig. 3E-H). The same held true for the populations in the dunes, although the trend here had a declining tendency (fig. 31-J). As a whole, the Dutch breeding population of Stonechats has decreased in numbers drastically. In 197476 about 4100-5800 pairs bred here, in 1982-84 16002300 pairs were left (tab. 2). In the same period, a contraction in the breeding range was observed (fig. 4). Locally, there were increases in areas with heathland and peat moors, but these increases could not compensate for the decline in farmland. The opposite trends in the numbers of breeding pairs in farmland and seminatural habitats can be explained from changes in these habitat types. In farmland, the utilization of meadows was drastically intensified during the 1970s and 1980s. Moreover, large-scale cultivation of maize was introduced at the cost of the traditional growing of cereals. Other factors negatively influencing the Stonechat's habitat were re-allotment, destruction of hedges, cultivation of marginal land, and burning or mowing of slopes of ditches. In semi-natural habitats, management measures to prevent heathland from being overgrown with trees often turned out to have a favourable effect on Stonechat populations. However. the recent tendency to intense and large-scale management of heathland appeared to work backwards to breeding Stonechats.

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