Using technology to monitor birdlife on farms across Wales

Birds play a crucial role in maintaining healthy ecosystems and agricultural productivity as well as providing a useful indicator of the health of habitats on the farm. Farmers are often aware of the regular visitors to their farms but rarely have the time to monitor and record species. Traditional bird surveys are time-consuming and labour-intensive so this project is using some new technology that automatically records birdsong which can then be identified using computer systems trained by artificial intelligence. The Chirrup acoustic monitors are small, battery-powered devices that can be placed on the farm and programmed to record at a certain time each day. For this project, we have chosen to record the birdsong during the dawn chorus each morning for 2 – 3 weeks. There are fourteen farms across Wales taking part in the project and two sensors are installed on each farm. There are a variety of farm types taking part including upland, lowland, dairy, beef, sheep and poultry.

The data collected will provide a fascinating insight into the birdlife that is present on each of the farms taking part and will contribute to our understanding of which species and habitats are present across Wales. This will inform which habitats need to be created or maintained in certain areas and whether temporary habitats such as seed-filled margins could support some species.

The results will be ready later in the summer of 2025.