Being involved in conservation and advisory work has taken me all over the country. This has been particularly useful as a bird conservationist, because it has allowed me to gain a feel for why species might be found in one place and not other, and therefore understand what their ecological requirements are.

Bringing this knowledge back home to Cornwall with me has been useful when discussing with farmers how we can help farmland birds. So, when the opportunity came up to do a bit of work for Cornwall AONB looking at wintering farmland bird populations on the Lizard, I was excited to get out and collect some data to show how birds are faring locally. With 33km of farmland to walk, Mike Ingam and I split the survey work between us, covering 11 sites and a range of habitats.

As is always the case with wildlife surveys, the results show some good news and some less good. Some uncommon and declining species were seen in good numbers, while other once familiar birds, such as yellowhammer, appear to be all but gone from the peninsula. I produced the following report to show what different species use different habitats on farms and why, and the full survey results appear at the end. Click on the preview below to see the full report, and if you have any questions please do get in touch, or comment on this blog post below.

 

Click the image above, or here, for a pdf copy of the full report