Shropshire Farming Talk: Get a buzz and count your farmland birds
Now is the chance for any nature loving farmer to do the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust ‘Big Farmland Bird Count.’
This is a project started by the GWCT back in 2014 to monitor breeding success of any farmland bird species, with some fascinating data being a result of the past ten years.
It is a very fun and simple task to tackle, requiring half an hour of your time watching any five-acre patch on your farm and estimating the quantity of each species you spot.
You don’t really need to be a professional ‘twitcher/ornithologist’ although if you have a friend as such, even better.
Today, to identify your species, there is a magical App you can get on your phone which, as you record any birdsong nearby, will flag up a photo and name of the bird. It’s called the ‘Merlin App’ and wonderful fun to use.
If you’re an amateur like myself, it is a joyous experience and inspiring to know you could be providing invaluable data.
I have been doing the count since its start and get a real buzz out of it.
Three years ago, when viewing a five-acre wild bird seed game cover patch I counted 800 plus finches on camera lifting off the field like a swarm of bees. It was a magical sight which will stay with me forever.
Conservation crops on shoots really can have a positive influence on biodiversity.
In 2024 1,700 counts were submitted across the UK, totalling nearly 395,000 birds of 140 different species, 27 of which are on the red list.
This was a fantastic achievement. We’d love to build on this.
If you are interested find out more at www.bfbc.org.uk
by Steve Barker, Shropshire GWCT chairman
