Big Farmland Bird Count launched at Stowmarket farm

Lodge Farm at Westhorpe, near Stowmarket, provided the launchpad for the first Game and Wildlife Conservation Group (GWCT) organised Big Farmland Bird Count in 2014.

And it returned to the same location on Friday, February 2 - as the annual count-up continues to gain momentum.

Over the first two weeks of February, thousands of farmers, land managers and bird enthusiasts across the UK will take half an hour out to observe and record the wild birds that share their land.

The data is collected - and is building a picture of how wildlife is really faring on farms in the UK - as well as how well various government-funded farm conservation schemes are working.

To mark the start, farming cousins Patrick and Brian Barker welcomed farmers back to their commercial farm - which has won a number of conservation accolades - to show how they were helping birds survive the winter 'hunger gap' and go into the spring ready to breed and flourish.

A red kite and flocks of yellowhammers delighted guests as they were taken on a farm walk where they were shown a host of measures that the Barker family employs to encourage birds onto the farm.

The walk was led by Patrick Barker, GWCT adviser Roger Draycott and RSPB bird expert Mark Nowers.

Hedgerow experts Richard Negus and Richard Gould were on hand to add their expertise along with Natural England rural agronomy expert David Whiting, and Jim Egan of Kings Crops, which supplies wild bird seed and game mixture.

Last year, more than 1,700 farms took part in the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Big Farmland Bird Count. More than 460,000 birds of 149 different species were recorded across over 1.5 million acres of farmland.

Visitors to Lodge Farm heard how the High Suffolk Farm Cluster - which includes Lodge Farm - is bringing together farms to provide a patchwork of support for wildlife and has attracted support from Nestlé-Purina.

The annual Big Farmland Bird Count event has become a "real feature" of the farming calendar, said Roger Draycott.

"This is the time of year when birds really need us the most," he said. "It's the time of of year when farmers have a bit of respite as well."

With data gathered now over 10 years, they were starting to produce some really interesting results, he said.

It showed that farmers who adopted two government-funded options aimed at helping bird populations were seeing up to four times as many yellowhammers on their farms, he said.

Patrick said they had been adopting measures diligently on their 545ha farm from the start - and they were reaping the rewards.

"We work really hard just to create the habitat," he said. As well as hedgerows and margins, the farm has sown an area of winter cover, which will stay in place over two years.

Recently within the cluster a white-tailed sea eagle - a Dutch ringed bird, hen harrier, grey partridge, linnet, yellowhammer and turtle dove have been recorded.

Ed Bullock - whose family runs a dairy and arable operation at Cotton and Mendlesham -  said his 600-acre farm was in a mid-tier Countryside Stewardship scheme and they were looking at going into a Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme and doing some supplementary feeding.

"We are doing a lot of it already. We are part of the (High Suffolk) cluster and I was interested in learning more and seeing it in practice because the Barkers have been doing it for a long time," he said. 

"Obviously there are a lot of birds here - they have given them habitat."

Since going into Countryside Stewardship three years ago they were seeing more birds. "It's rewarding," he said.

National Farmers' Union (NFU) regional policy manager Charles Hesketh said the scheme provided a "fantastic snapshot" of the huge amount of work being carried out on our farms to encourage wildlife.

“It’s fast becoming an important national event, organised by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, where thousands of farmers and growers here in the East and around the country are able to take stock of and importantly, take pride in what they find on their land.

“I encourage all farmers and growers to take part before the count ends on February 18, and also remember to submit your records to the GWCT, so we can then pull together a vital state of the nation when it comes to farmland birds.”

The GWCT Big Farmland Bird Count runs from February 2 to 18.

Signing up for the count is free and no specialist knowledge or equipment are required. To find out more visit www.bfbc.org.uk.