New app to facilitate next years Big Farmland Bird Count

A new mobile phone app is set to facilitate next year’s Big Farmland Bird Count (6-22 February) to help make recording sightings more straightforward.

The annual census of farmland birds, run by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) and supported by the NFU, was first held in February 2014 at the trust’s demonstration farm, the Allerton Project, and has been repeated every year since.

Those taking part can now add bird counts instantly as they record out in the field, or later from home.

See also: Farmers’ conservation efforts key to reversing bird decline

The GWCT hopes having a simpler process to submit results will encourage more farmers and land managers to participate.

The trust’s Eleanor Williams said: “We really want to push up the number of farms where counts are being done to above 2,000, or even higher.”

On the previous platform, she added, people sometimes struggled to submit results.

“The new version is based on the PerdixPro model, which many farmers and conservationists already use to record data and biodiversity measures on their farms,” she said.

Farmers can submit their results by downloading the PerdixPro Fieldbook App.

A paper version of the count sheet is still available, and participants can either send it to the GWCT or enter it themselves later.

Raising awareness

As well as providing a snapshot of the bird population on UK farms, the BFBC aims to raise awareness of the vital role farmers and other land managers play in the conservation of native farmland birds.

In February 2025, nearly 359,000 birds were spotted during 1,332 surveys. The most common species seen was the starling. A total of 125 different species were recorded and of those, 26 were red-listed, totalling nearly 140,000 individuals. 

The most abundant red list species were starling, lapwing, common gull, linnet and fieldfare, while the rarest sightings were of black grouse, bittern, greenshank and golden eagle.

To download bird identification sheets and find out more about the 2026 count, visit the BFBC website.