Wyke Farms has unveiled a pioneering project that uses artificial intelligence to listen to birdsong and turn it into hard data – aiming to make cheese production better for nature.
The three-year initiative, developed in partnership with UK-based nature-tech company Chirrup.ai, will see bioacoustic devices deployed across Wyke’s own farms as well as ten pilot supply farms.
Together, these pilot farms, all based in the South West, provide around a quarter of the milk used at Wyke’s Bruton cheesemaking site in Somerset.
Chirrup.ai’s devices capture and analyse birdsong in real time, transforming it into biodiversity data via an easy-to-use web platform.
The technology allows farmers and land managers to track bird species accurately, assess ecosystem health, and support regenerative agriculture as well as sustainability reporting.
Bird populations are widely regarded as sensitive indicators of ecosystem wellbeing. By using birds as bio-markers, Chirrup.ai’s platform also provides insights into soil quality, water health and overall biodiversity.
This enables farms to benchmark progress and measure year-on-year improvements, aligning with environmental, sustainability and governance (ESG) goals.
Rich Clothier, managing director of Wyke Farms, said the project would allow the business to measure the health of nature on its farms in a reliable, scientific way.
"Birds are fantastic early-warning indicators for the environment, and with Chirrup.ai's technology we can see how our land stewardship is making a real difference year after year.”
Conrad Young, founder of Chirrup.ai, described Wyke Farms as an iconic name in West Country dairying and praised its pioneering role.
“It is the first dairy processor to take advantage of Chirrup's low-cost service under the UK Dairy Roadmap, which sets a target of 50% of farms monitoring biodiversity by 2030.
"We're delighted to be working with pioneers like Rich and his team in 2025 and looking forward to other dairy processors scaling up their monitoring from next year.”
The first monitors will be installed on the South West pilot farms next week. Results will be reported annually, including metrics such as the Chirrup Rating, species richness, and biodiversity trends.
