FARMLAND birds are doing better in the North-East than any other region in England.

The region enjoyed a three per cent increase between 1994 and 2008 compared to an 11 per cent decline in England as a whole.

The South-East suffered the biggest decline at 23pc while Yorkshire and Humber and the North-West regions each recorded a small one per cent decline.

The figures are contained in a report from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs showing regional populations of farmland and woodland birds in the English regions.

Richard Gregory, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), said a clear north-south divide in farmland bird populations was largely due to changing farm practices and land use patterns.

He said: "With more fertile arable land in the south the effects of agricultural intensification have been felt more severely.

"Another possible factor is the small, but growing, impact of climate change on the UKs wildlife.

"The impacts of global warming are being felt first in the south. Habitat loss and degradation are still the biggest issues facing wild birds but we cannot ignore the new climate threat."

However, Gareth Morgan, RSPB head of agriculture policy, said there were now encouraging signs that the rate of decline may be slowing.

He said: "We are confident that if farmers get on board the industrys Campaign for the Farmed Environment, and put environmental measures in place on their land for wildlife, these figures will begin to turn around.

"Farmland birds such as skylarks, yellowhammers and lapwings have suffered in recent decades, but there are ways farmers can make a positive difference."

Ends