Farmers asked to take part in the tenth Big Farmland Bird Count

Organised by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, it gives farmers a chance to play their part in preserving wildlife.

Ross Macleod, GWCT head of policy Scotland, said: “It’s an opportunity for farmers to see and review what they are doing – and indeed can do – to aid biodiversity recovery.

"Looking after a small family farm myself, it’s really helpful to see how things are going from year to year. 72 per cent of the UK’s total land area is used for agriculture, so farmers, land and woodland managers and gamekeepers have a vital role to play in the future of wildlife.”

2023 will be the tenth year of the GWCT Big Farmland Bird Count – the first UK-wide citizen science project to involve farmers in monitoring the state of farmland birds. Since 2014, more than 11,000 counts have been carried out by people working on the land.

Ross added: “There are multiple pressures on farmers, yet many of them do so much to support wildlife, often unnoticed by the public.

"The GWCT Big Farmland Bird Count is an opportunity for them to see just what impact their efforts are having and for us to celebrate that hard work.”

The GWCT is asking land managers to make the count’s tenth anniversary in 2023 the best ever. By spending just half an hour between February 3 and 19 in one spot on their land, counting the birds they see and then submitting their results to the GWCT, they will help the Trust to build a national picture of which species are benefiting from conservation efforts and which are most in need of help.

The Birds of Conservation Concern 5 list (2021), suggests that our farmland birds need all the help they can get with more than one in four UK bird species in serious trouble. Land managers can make a real and immediate difference by adopting effective conservation measures.

Signing up for the Big Farmland Bird Count is free and no specialist knowledge or equipment is required.

Farmers and land managers can find out how to get involved at www.bfbc.org.uk where downloadable bird guides are also available.