The results of the latest Big Farmland Bird Count indicate that farms providing supplementary feeding are supporting higher numbers of many at-risk species.
Run by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) and sponsored by the NFU, the BFBC takes place each year in February and encourages farmers and land managers to record bird species and numbers on their farms.
Despite poor weather conditions this spring, more than 1200 submissions were made from across the UK. A total of 275,024 birds were counted over 292,828 hectares of farmland by farmers, land managers, or their helpers, with the most counts submitted in Suffolk, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire.
Agri-environment schemes
This year, 67% of farms surveyed were in an agri-environment scheme, with 64% providing supplementary feeding for birds on their farm. In total, 69,222 red-listed birds were counted including 34 different species, with the most abundant of those being starling (25,306), lapwing (19,198), and fieldfare (15,816).
Jayna Connelly, GWCT’s science communicator, says the BFBC data shows that many farmland species that are declining nationally as breeders, can be found in large winter numbers on farmland. “Red-listed farmland specialists such as starling, lapwing and linnet continue to feature strongly in the counts, despite severe long-term declines shown by BTO data.
“This suggests that well-managed farmland, with supplementary feeding and improved habitat features, helps provide important winter refuge and food when it’s scarce elsewhere. However, it hasn’t solved the underlying breeding problems driving national declines – populations may be boosted locally even where these species remain under pressure overall.”
She adds that in contrast, BFBC data for adaptable generalists like woodpigeon and jackdaw, show patterns that closely mirror their national stability or increases, which provides a useful benchmark and helps to reinforce that management really matters most for specialist species.
“For highly-mobile winter visitors such as fieldfare and gulls, the BFBC data show big year-to-year swings. When you set that against BTO evidence, it becomes clear these changes are driven much more by weather, movements and redistribution than by real population change.”
Encouraging results
NFU vice-president, Robyn Munt, says it’s encouraging to see farmers and growers continually engaging with the Big Farmland Bird Count.
“From providing supplementary feeding to maintaining hedgerows, land managers across the country are playing a vital role in supporting farmland wildlife. These findings provide a valuable data set and are an important indicator that farmers and growers can sustainably produce food whilst supporting outcomes for nature.”
