Auchnerran game and songbird counts


Pheasant chick being brooded by the hen. Our pheasants will provide an important resource for the farm shoot in the future. © Marlies Nicolai/GWCT


BACKGROUND


Auchnerran was born from the desire to emulate the huge success and influence the Allerton Project at Loddington has had on English policy makers and practitioners. We think Auchnerran is representative of at least a third of Scottish farms and so has the potential to be an important role model to inspire many others. It comprises 480 hectares of typical hill-edge land, dominated by grass, and lies at the foot of a productive grouse moor, falling within the area of predator control for that moor. Farming on site has been at a very low intensity for many years and coupled with the predator control, this has resulted in high densities of wildlife, especially birds.


2016 was the second and final baseline year at the Game and Wildlife Scottish Demonstration Farm, Auchnerran. This period has been very important and insight- ful, as it has allowed us to uncover the wildlife treasures we have on the farm so that we might then be better able to manage the land in a targeted, wildlife-friendly manner into the future. There are currently no grey partridges in the area, though they were last recorded a couple of kilometres away in the early 2000s. We are hoping to reintroduce them across an area much bigger than just Auchnerran in due course, with the co-operation of a number of farmers nearby who have expressed an interest in seeing them return. There is much habitat work to do first so this will not happen quickly, but the level of enthusiasm among some of our near-neighbours is encouraging. We hope to harness this by further expanding our Farmer Cluster on the MacRobert Trust land around Tarland. The previous owner at Auchnerran ran a reared pheasant shoot and many of


the birds have survived and now breed on site. The peak count in April/May from 2015 was of 91 males and 58 females, while in 2016 it was 77 males and 18 females. Although this shows year-to-year variation, it also suggests a reasonable number of cocks that could be available to the fledgling farm shoot that we are developing. We also have a wealth of other bird life on the farm, the stars undoubtedly being


the waders. The habitat in the area has been close to ideal for them, with minimal impacts from farming over the years and the rigorous control of crows and foxes.


TABLE 1


Numbers of waders seen at Auchnerran (480ha) in April/May when adults are starting to breed, but before chicks have hatched


2015 Lapwing


Oystercatcher Curlew


Woodcock


46 32 11


n/a * Woodcock were surveyed during May and June, but not in 2015 74 | GAME & WILDLIFE REVIEW 2016 www.gwct.org.uk 2016


92 61 15


18 roding males


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