By Honor Jones, GWCT placement student
On a damp and drizzly February morning at Auchnerran Farm, I put on my gear, grabbed my binoculars and a clipboard, and happily set off to take part in the GWCT’s annual Big Farmland Bird Count. Initially, with my recently acquired and still developing knowledge of bird ID, I felt somewhat intimidated by the array of bird calls and songs I could hear in the distance. Nonetheless, I made note of the time, opened up the Merlin app on my mobile for some extra support, and started counting. A few chaffinches here, little tweets of coal tits over there, a hungry buzzard far in the distance.
Even a cloudy, wet day on the farm won’t stop you from hearing and seeing birds. This abundance of activity could only get me excited at the thought of spring and what’s to come. I’m ticking the days off my calendar in anticipation of the bloom of spring and an explosion of new life on the farm.
Twenty minutes into the count I was lucky enough to hear lapwing for the first time as they flew straight overhead. Looking up I quickly counted a group of 15 lapwing, my newfound sign that spring is on its way. Soon the sound of wading birds will fill the air, and I simply cannot wait.
Alistair Green, the GWCT’s Scottish Grey Partridge Project Research Assistant, and students Lara Auld and Georgia Gargett did the Big Farmland Bird Count at Balgonie Farm in Fife.
Well done Honor.