Farmland birds are counting on you!

What?

The Axholme and Idle Farmland Bird project supports local farmers who are giving nature a home on their land. A big part of this involves keeping a careful eye on numbers of farmland birds across the area. This spring there are opportunities for more farmers and birdwatchers to join in.

Local RSPB staff pair up volunteer bird surveyors with local farms, and the surveyors complete a breeding bird survey over several visits in spring. The farmer receives a map of where the key birds are, and information on all the birds recorded. They can also get free, one-to-one support for their conservation work. Each survey is repeated regularly, so we can monitor how the birds are responding to the conservation work on the farm and across the wider area.

 Where?

The project area covers where the Trent and Tame River Valleys and the Humberhead Levels Futurescapes merge across the River Idle valley and the Isle of Axholme. 

Why?

Because the area is great for farmland birds! The Bird Conservation Targeting Project http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/projects/targeting/index.aspx shows the Isle of Axholme and the Idle Valley are a national hotspot for arable birds. Corn bunting, grey partridge, lapwing, turtle dove, tree sparrow and yellow wagtail are all still regularly recorded in this area. Sadly all these species are in trouble in the wider countryside, with much reduced populations compared to 25 years ago.

We want it to remain an important area for farmland birds and become even better. The good news is that by working together, farmers and conservationists are making farmland better for wildlife.

Who?

Local farmers are leading the way, and underpin this project. Birders from around the area make the wildlife monitoring possible, and are local people are providing ideas for new ways of linking communities with farmers.

The local RSPB team include Anna Broszkiewicz, Conservation Monitoring Officer, and Jim Lennon, Conservation Adviser, with support from Kirsty Brannan, Senior Conservation Officer, and me, Conservation Officer.

 When?

The project kicked off last year in 2013, when five farms took part. As part of the bird monitoring, 12 volunteers between them spent 228 hours surveying over 733 hectares across nine survey sites. The priority birds they found are summarised in the table below.

So, 10 of the 14 target species were recorded. Notable absentees were turtle dove and breeding waders, but that is a reflection on the areas surveyed in 2013..

This spring, we’re looking to include even more farms. So if you farm in the area, or would like to take part in the bird surveys, please get in touch with Anna anna.broszkiewicz@rspb.org.uk

A beetroot field in the project area, which had breeding lapwings, oystercatcher, skylark and yellow wagtail in 2013.

Photo courtesy of Carl Cornish