Research In The Area Around The Chembe Bird Sanctuary — IELTS Listening Answers

“a lot of damage can be caused to farmers' crops by rodents, such as rats, which would consume the crops as they grow in the fields”

The gap needs an example of rodents: the speaker names rats, which eat crops as they grow in the fields, so 'rats' fits the note.

“For example, a major danger to rural workers is snakes, whose bite may be dangerous or even fatal, and birds of prey have a major role in keeping their populations under control”

The danger to rural workers is snakes, whose bite can be dangerous or even fatal, so the plural noun 'snakes' completes the note.

“However, more recently, the sanctuary and its birds have also become increasingly important to the community in economic terms, because at present, after a relatively slow start, tourism has become an important source of revenue for them”

The economic benefit is tourism, described as having become an important source of revenue after a relatively slow start.

“Fatalities occur when birds alight on roads to catch and eat their prey, and are hit by fast moving traffic”

Birds are killed when they land on roads and are hit by fast moving traffic, so the cause of these fatalities is traffic.

“This is a particular danger in the heavy rain which can occur in the region in the months from December to April”

The danger is greatest in the heavy rain between December and April, so 'rain' fits the gap; 'rainfall' is also accepted.

“farmers may shoot these birds, which is illegal but understandable, or they may poison the birds, which again is illegal and can have negative effects on the ecosystem”

Farmers may illegally poison the birds, which damages the ecosystem, so the verb in the evidence becomes the noun 'poison'.

“Another possibility would be to prevent the chickens from going outside at all and to keep them safe from predators inside a building, but this would cost far too much to be a practical solution”

Keeping chickens inside a building would cost far too much to be practical, so the shelter named in the note is 'building'.

“Most of the farmers had at least one dog and said this was a big help at scaring away the predators”

Farmers kept at least one dog, which was a big help at scaring away predators, so the animal is 'dog'.

“some of the farmers also reported that during the breeding season, when the chickens were particularly vulnerable, they encouraged their children to watch over the chickens and to hit pans with a metal spoon so that the resulting noise would succeed in driving away birds that were trying to seize the young chicks”

Children hit pans with a metal spoon so the resulting noise would drive birds away, so the gap takes 'noise'.

“None of these methods was 100% effective so as a result the village people told us that rather than just using one method, they were forced to use a combination for them to have any effect”

Since no single method was fully effective, farmers had to use a combination, which is the noun the note needs.