Over 1,700 farmers took part in the tenth Big Farmland Bird Count, organised by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) and sponsored by the NFU. 460,000 birds and 149 species were recorded across 1.5m acres.
The top-ranking species were blackbirds, wood pigeons and robins, while more elusive species included jack snipe, bittern, red grouse and the rare and declining willow tit.
Starlings, wood pigeons, rooks, linnets and lapwings made up half of the sightings, while 33 species from the Red List for Birds of Conservation Concern and 47 from the Amber List were recorded.
Farmers from across the UK participated in the count, which took place in February, and included farmers from every English county. The average size of participating farms was 664 hectares.
GWCT reports that many of the farmers who take part in the count are actively involved in the conservation of farmland birds, with 62% in some form of agri-environment scheme. A quarter of participants are members of landscape-scale conservation projects such as farmer clusters.