6th November 2026

Two years ago, the Duchy partnered with Chirrup.ai to explore what birdsong could reveal about biodiversity across its farms. Today, eight farms are fitted with Chirrup.ai monitoring devices, transforming birdsong into valuable data about the health of the surrounding landscape. Birds are indicators of healthy ecosystems, helping us understand how nature is responding to environmental change. By listening to the landscape, the Duchy is building a clearer picture of biodiversity across farms, supporting our ambition to build communities where nature enriches people and people enrich nature.

Chirrup.ai uses acoustic monitoring technology to identify bird species from their songs, helping us understand which species are present and how biodiversity varies from farm to farm. Birds can tell us a lot about the health of the environment. Farms with diverse bird populations are often associated with healthier soils, richer habitats, improved water quality and more resilient landscapes. The Duchy is a on a journey to become more nature-rich and by using tools like this, we can test what is working and work out how to improve.

The 2026 results recorded between 30 and 40 bird species across each Duchy farm, highlighting a diversity of wildlife. While the overall number of species was slightly lower than in 2025, this is likely because of the hot weather we had over the summer months. The results also showed a mix of species from different roles within the food chain as well as many red-listed species, meaning birds identified as being of conservation concern. This year Brimpts farm in Dartmoor had the highest bird abundance and number of red list species of the farms across the Duchy, continuing on the estates strong performance after Wilmington Farm ranked one of the most biodiverse of all Chirrup.ai monitored farms in 2025.

For the second year running, the Skylark was the most widespread, red-listed species, recorded on six of the nine monitored farms. Particular highlights were the presence of Nightjar and Little Owl on the estate. Other species spotted on our farms that you might recognise include Wren, Song Thursh, Blue-Tits and Robins.

We use this data to highlight the areas we are doing well in and highlight areas to improve. For example, if the farm scores low for aquatic specialists then we know we need to focus on improving existing pond and wetland features or creating new one

We’re taking our tenant farmers on our net zero journey, with the ambition for 100% of equipped farms to follow regenerative principles by 2035. We’re hoping that by measuring data, through projects, such as Chirrup AI and our partnership with Regenified, we can help create more resilient and regenerative farming practices across the Duchy.

We aim to continue this work and hopefully expand to other farms where possible. We aim to expand, enhance and connect existing habitats on the estate, and create new, as part of our Nature Rich goal so monitoring the impact of these changes will be vital.