Farmers have been urged to participate in a brand new farmland hen survey as figures present numbers have declined by greater than 60% over the previous 53 years.
The annual Big Farmland Bird Count, organised by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), started in 2014.
Officials launched the 2024 survey, which runs till 18 February, at Lodge Farm, in Westhorpe, Suffolk.
The belief mentioned farmland birds “desperately” wanted assist,
Farmers’ union the NFU mentioned the most effective a part of 20,000 farmers took half within the 2023 depend.
‘Raise consciousness’
“This 12 months marks the eleventh anniversary of the GWCT Big Farmland Bird Count – the primary nationwide citizen science challenge to contain farmers in monitoring the state of farmland songbirds,” mentioned a spokesman.
“The depend goals to boost consciousness of the necessary position they play within the conservation of farmland birds, and to measure the affect of the conservation work that many farmers and wildlife managers perform.
“Since the primary depend in 2014, practically 13,000 counts have been carried out by folks engaged on the land.”
NFU president Minette Batters mentioned farmers and growers had been the”custodians of the nice British countryside”.
“I might encourage as many farmers and growers as doable to take part within the 2024 depend, document what number of farmland hen species you see on farms and, importantly, submit your outcomes to GWCT,” she mentioned.
GWCT advisor Dr Roger Draycott mentioned farmers had been key to reversing a wildlife decline.
“Farmland birds have declined by 63% since 1970 and desperately want our assist,” he mentioned.
“With 72% of the UK’s land space used for agriculture, the important thing to rising biodiversity and reversing the decline in wildlife is held by these taking care of this land.”
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