Employing Citizen Science

Through initiatives such as the GWCT’s Partridge Count, farmers are starting to measure their own environmental impact.

- Tim Field

WE have all heard it: an elder reflecting fondly on days gone by, when skylark were abundant, murmuration of starling blackened the sky, wild grey partridges provided plentiful sport… and then the sorrow of how it vanished over the past century. As time moves on I like to think the dialogue is changing. Reflection on the good old days is replaced with positive stories of our road to recovery. We speak of species conservation, habitat management and biodiversity restoration. This narrative is richest when articulated by farming folk but the credibility comes from quantified data and the ecological intricacies, an essential requirement if public money is to reward success in wildlife-friendly, sustainable farming.

My earliest encounter with this shift in attitude was on a cousin’s farm in Fife. While still farming commercially, Patrick Bowden- Smith has been committed since the 1980s to reinstating hedgerows, wetlands, ponds, cover crops and woodlands. He became the master of the grant application, passionately restoring significant tracts of wounded countryside and then sharing the trials and tribulations with many groups of visitors.