Hope Farm - winter birds on the up

Unlike almost any other farm in the country we count wintering birds systematically at Hope Farm - it's not surprising really is it? 

This means that we can, and do, produce a winter bird index (months of December, January and February) each year to compare the wintering bird population of Hope Farm now with that when we took over the management of the farm over a decade ago.  There is no national annual survey of wintering farmland bird numbers with which we can compare our figures in contrast to the breeding season figures which can be compared with those coming from the BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey.

The final winter count for this winter was conducted recently and shows that the index is now more than 11 times its original value.  Amazing.

That increase is driven by big increases in grey partridge, yellowhammer, linnet, rook and jackdaw. 

In the early years of the survey linnets were absent and yellowhammers numbered on average one each winter month.  This last winter count incuded 163 yellowhammers and 63 linnets - impressive increases by any account.

These numbers show that there is more food around than there was when we took over the farm in 2000 - you don't get big flocks of buntings and finches without lots of seeds. 

But winter counts aren't the most important counts - the real measure of success is in breeding numbers.  But the breeding season is not that far away and so having such a healthy number now bodes well for the future - but we'll see,