UK farmers are being asked to take a health test – not for themselves but for the country’s bird population.

The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust has just launched its ‘Big Farmland Bird Count’ which will ask all farmers and gamekeepers to take part to help determine how bird species are faring.

Jim Egan from the trust said: “Farmers and gamekeepers are vital in helping to ensure the future survival of many of our most cherished farmland bird species such as skylark, yellowhammer, corn buntings and wild grey partridges.

“They are responsible for managing the largest songbird habitat in this country on their land but frequently their efforts to reverse bird declines are largely unrecorded.

“We believe our ‘Big Farmland Bird Count’ will help remedy this, particularly as our earlier pilot count showed such encouraging results.”

The GWCT’s bird count, will take place between February 1 and 7 next year.

The trust wants people to spend about half an hour recording the species and number of birds seen on one area of their farm.

Ideally, counting should take place at first light as this is when the birds are most active.

However, it is more important that people take part, so timings should suit the individual involved, says the trust.

The initiative offers a simple means of recording the effect of any conservation schemes currently being initiated on their land such as supplementary feeding or growing wild bird seed crops and game cover crops.

In the pilot scheme carried out earlier this year, farmers demonstrated their enthusiasm to take part.

Mr Egan added: “We asked 60 farmers to take part in a trial and 50 per cent of them rose to the challenge.

Managing more than 10,000ha of land between them, the participating farmers recorded 69 different species, ranging from tree sparrows, yellowhammer, pictured, and linnet through to barn owls, kestrels and buzzards.”

Mr Egan said the GWCT is ideally placed to run the project.

He said: “Over the last 21 years researchers at our Allerton Project farm in Leicestershire have gained a great understanding of the needs of farmland game and wildlife.

“Their work has demonstrated the combined benefits of habitat management, winter feeding for birds and targeted legal predator control in the breeding season.

“We have also come to understand the benefits that can be gained from long-term monitoring of bird numbers in order to identify trends in wildlife populations.”

For those keen to join this national Big Farmland Bird Count, the GWCT will provide a simple tick sheet that can be downloaded and taken into the field to record sightings.

Participants will then be able to send the results via a dedicated web page on the trust’s website.

Mr Egan said: “We understand the crucial role that farmers and gamekeepers play in the survival of farmland birds and we want to give them an opportunity of showing what their conservation efforts deliver on the ground.

“It is also a satisfying way for people to discover the different range of birds that are on the farm and the results can be surprising.

“We hope it will spur people on to do even more work for their farmland birds in the future and will act as a catalyst for them to start building their own long-standing wildlife records.”

For more information visit the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s website at www.gwct.org.uk/bfbc to register interest or alternatively email jegan@gwct.org.uk for more information.