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Around 60 individuals attended final Friday’s launch which noticed the rely return to the place the place all of it started ten years in the past – the Barker household’s farm in Suffolk.
It was at Lodge Farm, a 545-hectre arable farm in Westhorpe close to Stowmarket, that the launch of the primary ever Big Farmland Bird Count (BFBC) was held in 2014.
Farmers and representatives from the RSPB, NFU, Wildlife Trusts, Natural England, Defra, the Woodland Trust, Kings Crops, Suffolk County Council got here alongside, as did the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, Martin Seeley, who has a eager curiosity in wildlife and agriculture.
The group was handled to a blustery farmland walk throughout the fields and solely 5 minutes in, a pink kite appeared above and carried out an acrobatic show because it surveyed the sphere beneath.
Patrick Barker talked concerning the biodiversity measures in place on the award-winning farm and defined how supplementary winter feeding, hedgerow administration and enhanced discipline margins and wild hen seed plots are all supporting farmland birds.
Bird knowledgeable Mark Nowers, from the RSPB, identified giant flocks of yellowhammers diving out and in of the hedgerows, and different birds that could possibly be heard and seen in the course of the walk.
The GWCT’s Dr Roger Draycott was additionally readily available to speak concerning the practicalities of the rely, how and the place it ought to be completed and what to look out for. He additionally defined how the info might help farmers and wildlife managers measure the impression of the conservation work they perform.
Hedgerow specialists Richard Negus and Richard Gould had been readily available so as to add their experience together with Natural England rural agronomy knowledgeable David Whiting.
Founder of the BFBC, Jim Egan, of Kings Crops, was additionally current and gave a glimpse of how it began again in 2014 when he was working for the GWCT.
Jim stated he was driving home someday with a colleague whereas listening to a bit on the radio concerning the RSPB Garden Birdwatch. Excitedly he turned to his good friend and stated: “We need to do the same thing for our farmland birds.”
That was the beginning of the Big Farmland Bird Count.
Encouraging farmers to participate, Jim stated: “Please don’t be scared. Even if you think ‘I don’t know my birds well enough’, don’t worry. Just get out there and have a go, find out what’s on your land and even if all you recognise is a robin, blue tit and pigeon, that fine. You don’t need to be an expert. We just want to awaken that interest in people.”
In 2023 greater than 460,000 birds of 149 completely different species had been recorded throughout over 1.5 million acres of farmland.
The outcomes might be revealed later within the spring.
The GWCT Big Farmland Bird Count runs from 2 to 18 February 2024. Find out extra, obtain hen ID guides and signal as much as the free webinar at www.bfbc.org.uk.
Signing up for the rely is free and no specialist data or tools are required.
