'The narrative that farmland birds and insects are in irreversible decline is not something I recognise on the ground'

Regardless of which buttons she pushed, Kate’s auntie Jane couldn’t get her mobile phone to produce so much as a ring tone, let alone call someone up.

Jane is habitually a very resourceful and sharp-witted lady, a keen fisherwoman well into her 70s who would rise early in the morning in the hope of spotting an otter by the chalk stream in Devon where she lived, but modern technology had defeated her and she had reached the end of her admittedly relatively short patience.

Throwing in the towel, auntie Jane repaired to the mobile phone shop in town to take out her frustration on the proprietor. The response was brief, but illuminating: “Erm, that’s the remote control for your television set madam.”

We all have our moments, but if you can locate it successfully, our smart phone is probably the single most useful piece of tech we have now and last week, thanks to Vic Ballantyne on Twitter, I discovered a new app, Merlin Bird ID, which identifies birds from their songs.

One small brown bird might look much like another from a distance, but Merlin is reasonably accurate at picking them out and it has been a game-changer in helping to learn their different songs and calls. I thought we might have 25 species of bird on the farm, but with the help of Merlin and my own observation, I can positively identify 56.

The balance of numbers is not always as we might want it. Corvids are far too numerous if we like seeing smaller birds, but many of them, including ones which are officially at risk, are commonplace.

There is only one bird which used to nest here when I was young that we don’t see in the summer any longer and that is the lapwing, although there is always a large flock of them in the winter. They tend to nest in the Angus glens nowadays, where keepers still actively control corvids and foxes.

Our farming practices haven’t changed much, but there are undoubtedly far more foxes, buzzards and corvids around than when I was a lad.

With the caveat that some are only rare sightings, or like the geese, passing through, here is the list so far – buzzard, carrion crow, rook, hooded crow, jackdaw, magpie, heron, sparrowhawk, kestrel, tawny owl, chaffinch, greenfinch, bullfinch, goldfinch, yellowhammer, corn bunting (only one brief recording), reed bunting, siskin, black cap, redstart, chiffchaff, greater whitethroat, skylark (in every field), tree sparrow, house sparrow, linnet, dunnock, starling, wood pigeon, collared dove, grey partridge (common), pheasant, oystercatcher, curlew (common), redshank, song thrush, mistle thrush, blackbird, wren, robin, coal tit, great tit, blue tit, long tailed tit, wagtail, goldcrest, willow warbler, swallow, sand martin, moorhen, mallard, greylag goose (winter), treecreeper, greater spotted woodpecker, kingfisher and Lapwing (winter). Phew.

The sand martins have taken advantage of a pile of sand that was dug into in the winter leaving vertical sides – we have never seen them here before, so it is pleasing that we have inadvertently created the perfect habitat for them. It is also remarkable that they found this small pile of sand in the middle of a field of polytunnels.

I suspect our farm is not unusual and I would love to hear if it is the same for others, because the narrative that farmland birds and insects are in irreversible decline is not something I recognise on the ground.

I have as many bugs on my windscreen as I ever did. I think GAEC measures – such as margins next to hedgerows – and EFAs are bound to have helped partridge numbers and we have quite a few breeding pairs.

We have planted 4000m of new and replacement hedges on the farm in the past 15 years, and my father has planted trees around the farm throughout his stewardship of the land. Perhaps we have a little more diversity than other farms with soft fruit, which provides shelter and more field margins and rough ground than other crops, but I would be surprised if most farms are not similarly well populated.

There might be plenty of bird life around, but when it comes to ScotGov, the vultures are fighting over the stricken agricultural budget – NHS, education and other departments seem to have more clout.

Money’s too tight to mention and I hate to be a cynic, but I suspect you can forget about the £33m supposedly ringfenced for agriculture that has been temporarily ‘released’ to graze on fresh pastures. Scotgov have form for this.

When the LFASS payment was cut by the EU in 2020, they diverted convergence money into it that should have been used to support all regions in order to shore up LFASS for that year. Guess what the amount was? £33m.

Don’t be surprised when agricultural budgets are cut elsewhere at some point in the future to make room to slot in the missing £33m and hey presto, the money has been 'returned'. I will be surprised, but delighted, to be proved wrong.

Enough of politics. Summer has finally arrived on the East Coast of Scotland after a very cool spring.

While our friends in the West have been enjoying temperatures in the 20s, we Angus teuchters have never cast a cloot.

The cool temperatures have allowed for a slow ripening of the strawberry crop, allowing the sugars to develop for longer and I honestly can’t remember when they ever tasted better than they do now.

Get yourself down to the nearest shop and pick up a few punnets of the sweetest, juiciest berries you will ever taste. You won’t regret it!