One of the largest counts of farmland birds ever conducted in England is underway. The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) has just launched its first annual Big Farmland Bird Count in the hope of getting the country's farmers to help gather important data on the state of England's bird species.
Hundreds of gamekeepers and farmers have already signed up to take part in the project, and they'll be recording bird numbers and different species spotted on their land. The aim is to provide scientists with information on how local birds are faring and to highlight the important conservation work that's being undertaken on farmland.
"Much of the good work done by farmers and gamekeepers to help reverse farmland bird decline goes unrecorded. We want to remedy that," says the GWCT on its website.
The GWCT has also indentified some of the more important species that will hopefully be recorded during the count, including the grey partrigde, the tree sparrow and the yellowhammer (pictured at the top).
The bird count kicked off at the start of this month and will run until February 7.
For more information and to find out how to take part, visit the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s website.
Top header image: Martin Bailey, Flickr
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