The national annual census of farmland birds, run by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) and supported by the NFU, is returning in February next year, when it will be launched from its birthplace, the Trust’s demonstration farm, the Allerton Project.
For the past decade, the Big Farmland Bird Count (BFBC) has been providing vital data that has helped the GWCT understand which species of farmland birds are in the most serious trouble and how we can help them. Many of them have been in decline for the past 50 years, but there are ways in which we can help them during the winter months when food is scarce and temperatures drop. This is exactly what the BFBC tries to highlight.
The 2026 count begins on Friday 6th February and runs until 22nd. As well as providing a snapshot of the bird population on UK farms, the BFBC aims to raise awareness of the important role that farmers and other land managers play in the conservation of our native farmland birds.
Next year, all data will be recorded on the new PERDIXPro Fieldbook app. This will make the process of recording results simpler and those taking part can input counts either instantly as they record out in the field, or back inside from the comfort of their own home. The app can be downloaded onto any mobile phone or tablet. There is still the option of filling in a paper version of the count sheet, and either sending it to the GWCT, or inputting it yourself later.
BFBC 2025 Results
During this year’s count back in February, 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.
Nearly 65% of farms participating were in agri-environment schemes and 44% provided supplementary feeding for birds.
There were notable decreases in sightings of some species, including red-listed fieldfares, long-tailed tits and curlew, with a 25% drop, year-on-year. On a positive note, recordings of red-listed common gulls were up 112% and sightings of amber-listed kestrels had increased by 182%.
