For the 5th year running, Norfolk has actually topped the table of reactions to a nationwide study which exposes our most plentiful farmland birds.
The 2023 Big Farmland Bird Count, arranged by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), intends to highlight the conservation work done by thousands of land managers, while showing targets for future efforts.
During the count from February 3-19, more than 1,700 farmers, gamekeepers and land supervisors secured their field glasses to collect a picture of the health of the country’s valued farmland birds.
An overall of 460,000 birds of 149 types were tape-recorded throughout more than 1.5m acres of UK farmland.
Norfolk once again submitted the most returns, with 164 farmers finishing the study, followed by Wiltshire with 109, Suffolk with 93 and Hampshire with 85.
The leading 5 most plentiful birds – starling, woodpigeon, rook, linnet and lapwing – comprised more than half of the overall birds counted in 2023.
The most frequently-spotted types were blackbirds, woodpigeons and robins, seen on 70pc of counts. But birds seen by less than 1pc of individuals consisted of evasive types like jack snipe and bittern, or unusual and decreasing birds like the willow tit.
A big percentage of birds counted were from types of preservation issue, with 33 on the Red List and 47 on the Amber List.
Starlings, lapwings, fieldfares and linnets were the 4 most plentiful Red-Listed types, with almost 200,000 counted, relating to 42pc of all birds tape-recorded.
GWCT Big Farmland Bird Count organiser Dr Roger Draycott said: “The reality that the count is still going strong after ten years highlights the enthusiasm and dedication that British farmers have for the birds on their farms and their eagerness to comprehend how the birds – whether Red-Listed or not – are faring.”
