NATIVE bird species in the North-East have shown a 13pc increase while numbers in the South have continued to decline.

The results for the period 1994 to 2003 were released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Apart from the overall increase, the survey found that 45 of the 86 individual species showed an increase of ten per cent or more.

The figures are one of the indicators the Government uses to gauge the state of wildlife and the countryside because of their wide range of habitats.

The general indication is that there has been no specific overall changes to bird populations, but those in the North are doing better than in the South.

Defra says farmers in the North-East have played their part by using environmentally-friendly farming methods after signing up to its Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS).

Farmer Robert Nixon, of Seven Mile House, near Newcastle, has adopted a range of arable options on his 300 hectare farm specifically targeting farmland birds.

"We signed up to CSS in 2002," said Mr Nixon, "We have tree sparrows, which I never knew we had, as well as skylark and grey partridge here on the farm.

"Farmers have always known how important it is to look after the environment.

"As businessmen we've got to meet market demands and make a living, but we effectively built the landscape and we understand how important conservation is and schemes such as CSS help us to look after the environment and its wildlife."

While existing CSS agreements will run their course, the scheme has now been replaced by the Environmental Stewardship (ES) scheme which will allow more farmers in England to help protect bird habitats, with the support of Defra and the Rural Development Service (RDS).

Elliot Morley, environment minister, was encouraged to see increases in species in some regions but said there was still much work to be done to reverse the decline in farmland populations by 2020.

"What these figures show is that the decline is generally stabilising and this owes much to the hard work of farmers and landowners under our agri-environment schemes," he said.

"The measures they take to ensure that bird habitats are protected and enhanced, such as establishing areas of wild bird seed mixture, creating beetle banks and conservation headlands, make a big difference to bird populations.

"The new Environmental Stewardship (ES) which we launched on March 3 will encourage large numbers of farmers and land managers to deliver simple yet effective environmental management over a wide area.

"This will be particularly beneficial for many of the species mentioned in this report by providing both year-round food supplies and suitable nesting habitat."

Other key findings in the North-East included:

* an eight per cent increase in the population of farmland birds between 1994 and 2003, compared to a slight decline nationally;

* eight of the 18 individual farmland bird species showed an increase of ten per cent or more. Species doing particularly well included goldfinch and woodpigeon;

* a 6pc increase in the population of woodland birds between 1994 and 2003, compared to a slight decline nationally;

* out of the 31 individual species, 16 showed an increase of ten per cent or more with blackcap, coal tit and robin faring particularly well.