Neil Hamilton Ms encourages farmers to join the ‘Big Farmland Bird Count’

NEIL Hamilton, MS for Mid & West Wales, and Leader of UKIP Wales, is calling on farmers to find out more about birds they may see on their land.

Mr Hamilton, a member of the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs committee, is encouraging them to take part in The Farmers’ Union of Wales ‘Big Farmland Bird Count’ 2021.
He said:

“This is a great initiative and we should all welcome anything which helps to showcase the many different types of birds we have on our Welsh farmlands.

“The FUW is asking farmers to spend 30 minutes identifying and recording our feathered friends as part of the annual UK wide count.

“It is an excellent idea and I would urge anyone interested to start by taking part in a webinar on Monday February 1, to find out more about what is involved.

“The annual count is run by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust(GWCT)with the FUW and is scheduled to run between February 5-14. I would encourage everyone to get involved and play their part in identifying and protecting our national birdlife.”

The webinar is free and open to all and will hear from FUW President Glyn Roberts, FUW member John Yeomans and Matthew Goodall and Lee Oliver from the GWCT, who will be discussing the birds that we might see and suggest some ideas on what can happen on farms to encourage more bird activity.

FUW President Glyn Roberts said: “The aim of the Big Farmland Bird Count is to raise awareness of the great conservation work being done on farms across Wales and to highlight what can be done to help farmland birds survive this difficult time of year so that the breeding populations are increased.

“I’m looking forward to the special webinar which will help us to understand the importance of recording what birds are present and identify what effects Glastir, Wales’ agri-environmental scheme, has on bird numbers.”

Matthew Goodall added: “We are delighted to be in partnership with the FUW to discuss the BFBC which is in its eight year attracting over 1500 farms to participate.

“More importantly we want to impress that this’ hungry gap’ time in the year means more can be done to help them get into a favourable condition to maximise breeding success this year.”

The joint webinar, with the GWCT, is being held on Monday February 1, at 7pm via Zoom and it is open to all.