Results in on big farmland bird count

Ben Barnett

02:24Saturday 04 April 2015

A HEALTH check of farmland birds has found that a number of under threat species are still being seen across Yorkshire.

The Big Farmland Bird Count was co-ordinated by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) between February 7-15 and the results are now in.

In North Yorkshire, 24 farmers spotted 86 different species including 14 that are ‘Red Listed’ and are a conservation concern, while in East Yorkshire 21 farmers took part and recorded 67 different species with 13 of them threatened types of birds.

The most spotted species in both areas was the blackbird, ahead of the blue tit in North Yorkshire and the pheasant in East Yorkshire. Robins, carrion crows and woodpigeons were also common sights.

Stephen Fell, chairman of Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF) who farms in Thorganby. near Selby, said: “I have always felt that our farmland bird populations are much greater and more diverse than we have been given credit for.

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More than 1,400 sign up for Big Farmland Bird Count

Philip Case

Thursday 22 January 2015 5:30

More than 1,400 farmers across the country have signed up to the second Big Farmland Bird Count.

The event, led by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), will take place from 7-15 February.

It aims to help farmers and gamekeepers record the effect on farmland bird numbers of any conservation schemes on their land, such as supplementary feeding or growing wild bird seed crops and game cover crops.

Jim Egan, from the GWCT’s Allerton Project, said: “It is crucial that farmers understand how these vital ‘greening’ measures are helping some of our most rapidly declining birds and importantly, what species are benefiting from these measures.

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