麻豆约拍

From counting birds and badgers, to hares to wild boar - Charlotte Smith crunches the numbers on the accuracy and political controversy of wildlife surveys.

Whether counting animal droppings or determining one bird song from another, how accurate are wildlife surveys? And how important are they when it comes to doling out cash to help endangered species?

Charlotte visits Brandon Marsh Nature Centre near Coventry to search for signs of otters, mink and water voles.
And Clare Freeman goes in search of hares in Wales and wild boar in the Forest of Dean. Whilst Anna Hill walks at 'a policeman's beat pace' counting chaffinches, rooks and crows in Suffolk.

Gauging bird populations has always been a bone of contention between conservationists and farmers. Farming Today speaks to the RSPB and farmer Guy Smith about how they see the reporting of bird figures.

But how easy it is to estimate the numbers, when like the programme's fruitless search for hares, otters, water voles and wild boar - you see nothing?

Presented by Charlotte Smith. Produced by Clare Freeman in Birmingham.