Threatened wildlife birds have been given a helping hand by a Bristol-based technology company, who have come up with a novel new software platform.

Agrantec developed the software, which helps farmers and gamekeepers count and identify their range of farmland birds on their land during the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust's 2017 Big Farmland Bird Count.

The success of the system meant that farmers across the UK were, for the first time, able to easily count and record more than 240,000 individual farmland birds, including 22 species from the red list for Birds of Conservation Concern such as yellowhammer, starlings, house sparrows and skylark.

As well as being able to record their birds online, through Agrantec’s cloud-based NotaZone platform, the farmers were able to access simple tips and hints on the various conservation measures that should be implemented to ensure the future survival of their farmland birds.

An added bonus of NotaZone is that each individual farmer was able to access his or her own personalised account, so that they have an ongoing record of how their birds are faring from year to year.

Jim Egan, from the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, said: “This is the fourth year of the count and we wanted to build a more effective online recording system so that farmers could easily monitor the birds on their farms, but as a charity we were limited by budget and time restraints.

"We found a great partner in Agrantec, who understood what we wanted and were up for the challenge.

"We are delighted with the success of the NotaZone platform. "It has certainly made the Big Farmland Bird Count much more efficient and effective this year and we have received very positive feed-back from the farmers taking part.”

NotaZone was originally developed as a record-keeping and information management tool for farmers and food processors and was specially adapted for this important annual farmland bird count.

The customised software was free to all those taking part and works on smartphones, laptops and desktops.

Jim continued: "Having immediate feedback through NotaZone means that land managers can make really targeted changes to help their threatened birds, such as putting up nest boxes in the right place, providing over-winter feeding sites or creating ideal nesting conditions.”

Martin Coates, CEO of Agrantec, which adapted NotaZone to meet the GWCT’s needs,said: “This is very much a collaborative project that aims to make data collection and the sharing of this information, more focused, efficient and permanent.

"We’re delighted that the new recording system allows farmers to compare their results year on year. Hopefully everyone will be back to count again in 2018 and can track developments and changes over the seasons.”

NotaZone gives farmers complete ownership of their data, enabling them to build their own long-term record of their achievements.

In the world of wildlife surveys, this is very unusual. Over time they will capture invaluable historical data on what is working, and how conservation efforts can be improved or adapted.

This can then be easily shared with others who wish to innovate for the benefit of their birds.

The aim of the GWCT’s Big Farmland Bird Count is to help farmers discover the number and type of farmland birds that they have on their land and to also demonstrate the positive effect of farmland conservation measures.

In 2017, nearly 1,000 farmers took part in the count, recording 112 species, 240,000 different birds and across more than 783,314 acres of land.

The fifth GWCT Big Farmland Bird Count will begin on February 9, 2018, with bird identification training days being arranged across the UK during January and February 2018.

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For more information please visit www.gwct.org.uk.