One should be careful to formulate such conclusions. In recent years, the relative stability of the European farmland bird indicator could be seen as a positive signal for conservation and even as indicating a halt to the loss of biodiversity in European agricultural landscapes. However, when the long-term trend is considered, and 1980 is taken as a reference year rather than in recent years, then the populations of farmland birds seem to be depleted. Furthermore, models based on the risk assessment framework suggest that a further decline of the farmland bird index in Europe is expected soon (Butler et al., 2010).