Farmers Take a Staycation to Tally Up Their Flocks

As the Great Backyard Bird Count unfolded this past weekend and people all over the world scanned their backyards for birds, British farmers were wrapping up their own survey on the home front.

From February 7 to 15, 2,000 farmers and gamekeepers across the United Kingdom rallied to count record numbers of at-risk avians for the Big Farmland Bird Count. The event is supported by the U.K.’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and organized by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, a wildlife conservation charity that helps farmers make their land more hospitable to wild animals and birds.

For the count, farmers were asked to spend 30 minutes scanning a two-hectare area of farmland with a GWCT species checklist in hand. They were also encouraged to keep their eyes peeled for rare birds, such as the Yellowhammer and the Grey Partridge. Now the tally is in, with a total of 117 species being detected on farms in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Fourteen of the species spotted so far, including the Yellowhammer, the Common Linnet, and the European Starling, are on the RSPB’s red list, showing that even threatened birds are finding a home on the farm. “This is a very good number as we are looking specifically at farmland birds,” says Morag Walker, a spokesperson with the GWCT. “There are 598 [U.K. bird] species altogether, but this includes wetland birds, seabirds, upland species, woodland birds, and so on.” This year’s number is a moderate increase from last year, says Walker, and data are still floating in.

The count provides a spot of good news in an otherwise bleak outlook for rustic birds. Agriculture is typically blamed for driving down avian diversity since it leads to the clear-cutting of forests and other critical habitats. Recent government statistics show that numbers of some wild birds in the United Kingdom are bottoming out, with such species as the Grey Partridge and starlings suffering losses of 85 percent since the ’70s.

The value of the farmland count is that it gives farmers a sense of just how many birds inhabit their fields. Having them participate directly might even spur them on to get involved in conservation, says Grahame Madge, a senior RSPB spokesman. “The future recovery of these species depends on farmers. So it’s great that they are keen to take part in this survey, as the more they know about the wildlife on their land, the more they are inclined to help.”

Additionally, the GWCT says that the count puts farmers who are actively protecting birds in the spotlight. It’s tangible proof that their preservation efforts are helping birds. “Many [of the 2000] farmers involved in our Big Farmland Bird Count are putting in place wildlife-friendly habitats [by] providing over-winter supplementary food, growing wild bird seed mixes, or leaving over-winter stubble,” says Walker. The latter creates habitat for migratory birds.

“There has been an enormous change in the way many farmers now manage their land to benefit wildlife,” said Jim Egan, the GWCT’s head of development and training, in a press release. Once the final tally is released in March, the full extent of the conservation impact will be known.

Here are some stats from the farmland count, side-by-side with data from the GBBC: