Opinion: Let’s shout about (and count) our remarkable birds
© Adobe Stock A curious reflection on the human condition is that we have the capacity to rapidly normalise circumstances and treat them as somewhat unremarkable.
Many moons ago, I spent six months training as a soldier and soon became completely inured to the sorts of activities I’d previously only seen in rather exciting films (though I never quite got used to having perpetually wet feet).
Later moving to London, I can’t say I ever made the time to visit any of the big attractions that draw millions of tourists from all over the globe.
They were just there, and proximity perhaps grew a sense of over-familiarity and mild ennui.
See also: Opinion – farmers can’t pay for society’s ecological conscience
About the author
A few years ago, I participated in my first Big Farmland Bird Count (BFBC), an initiative instigated in 2014 by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) and launched at the Allerton Project, our research and demonstration farm at Loddington in Leicestershire.
The BFBC is an annual event, sponsored by the NFU, that encourages farmers and land managers to record the bird species and numbers on their farms and report them back to the GWCT.
Heading out with Allerton’s ecologist early one February morning, there may have been some expectation that, having spent most of my working life within the confines of hedge and field hollow, I might have the first idea what I was looking at.
Rather disappointingly for all concerned (and particularly myself), had it not been for the encyclopaedic ornithological knowledge of ecologist John, our submission for that year would have been somewhat restricted to pigeons, pheasants and “brown jobs”.
Despite a lifetime spent on the land, I’d never taken the time to get to know the species I’d shared it with.
The darting shapes and delicate blossoms were just there, unremarked, in the background.
Many farmers, I know, do have deep knowledge of the natural environment surrounding them, but equally, I think, many do not.
We’re too busy trying to coax an honest living from the land and reacting to the multiple catastrophes which seem able to strike at any given time to stop, look around, and breathe it in.
The BFBC is a fantastic gateway activity to both demonstrate what we might know to be there, and to learn ourselves what treasures our farms possess.
Over the course of a two-week period (7-23 February) farmers, keepers and land managers are encouraged to take 30 minutes to record the bird species and numbers on any 2ha plot.
In 2024, 1,700 farms and estates took part, recording nearly 395,000 individual birds from 140 species (including 27 on the Red List).
In 2025, we’re especially encouraging the younger generation to take part to help nurture an interest in farmland ecology from a tender age.
There are handy bird ID resources available on the BFBC website, as well as a host of apps (such as the free Merlin Bird ID) which can help discern your bullfinch from your chaffinch.
Ultimately, the BFBC is also a great opportunity to demonstrate the work many farmers undertake across the country in helping to boost farmland bird populations alongside food production.
After all, another element to the human condition is that when it comes to good news stories, if we don’t shout about what we’re doing, we can guarantee nobody else will.