Volunteer catches the early birds to map farm wildlife

You call up the RSPB and he pops along to your farm and draws a map of the birds he finds on it.

In theory, he could claim expenses but he does not think it right to volunteer to help a charity and then send a bill, so it is entirely free to everybody except the RSPB, which uses staff to collate the results sent in by hundreds like him.

I joined him on the third of four monthly visits he is making to a big East Yorkshire arable farm – April-July, to cover most of the migratory and breeding action.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds suggests crack of dawn for maximum activity, which would be about 4am, but luckily, Graham thinks 6am will do.

Lesson One for early morning birding is: Waterproof trousers. After half an hour wading through grass with the dew still on it, Graham's jeans are soaked to the thigh and my nice new gaiters have proved useless.

A big bird flapping lazily away looks like a gull to me but turns out to be a buzzard. And a succession of pop-up appearances are pinned down as chaffinches, yellowhammers, larks and linnets – and, to Graham's pleasure, a corn bunting, confirming earlier sightings.

It is on the RSPB Red List, meaning giving cause for concern – along with the herring gull, surprisingly. The buntings appear to be nesting and a bit of special effort on their behalf could be a useful element in any bid for stewardship funding by the farmer.

Yellow wagtails, wheatears and curlews, are also significant entries on Graham's list. Crows and pigeons are noted as present but not counted, because they flourish everywhere. The RSPB does not want to know about hares but we see them by the dozen.

Graham makes his IDs through a combination of colours, shape, behaviour, calls and location. His certainties, at 61, come from a lifetime of experience.

There is no training for the job and no entrance exam, although there is an interview which prompts a lot of volunteers to drop out, when they realise what they have to be confident enough to do. The RSPB can sometimes arrange induction with an experienced inspector.

At the end of the process, the farmer will get a laminated map and a list of the species on it. In this case, he will be content if that is all he gets. He is Iain Hurst, 46, who runs 920 acres of Wolds for a family board from Rosemount Farm, Weaverthorpe, growing wheat, barley, rape, peas and seed potatoes. He likes his birds and Graham is largely confirming what he thinks he has already seen.

But there is a financial angle. Iain has 15,000 of income depending on his efforts to be wildlife friendly over about 70 acres, including margins. A third of that is from Entry Level Stewardship and the rest from older conservation agreements, which are now running out. He needs to see if he can get into HLS instead, but suspects he might be a victim of the cuts. He said: "In many ways this farm is a showcase for high productivity – up to the margins and the land we have left untouched since set-aside. I like to think we can do our job and still live alongside lots of interesting wildlife."

Graham Thurlow, a retired Defra vet, was recruited by Blnaid O'Connell, in the Newcastle office of the RSPB, regional organiser of the Volunteer & Farmer Alliance scheme. She has 130 volunteers in North East, Yorkshire and Humber. Email Blanaid.O'[email protected] or call her on 0191 233 4310 to discuss volunteering or organising a survey.