Open Farm Sunday-8th June

Come rain or shine we will be taking part, along with almost 400 other farmers around the country, in this years Open Farm Sunday.  The annual event is organised by LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) and it is a great day out for all the family.  If you are interested in having a look around a farm to see how your food is grown and how farmers look after the countryside go to the website, type in your postcode and get searching!

We are conducting guided tours around the farm, lasting for about 1.5 hours and taking in some of the tremendous views form the top of Bredon Hill overlooking Cheltenham.  We'll be stopping off at Overbury Stud to visit the horses before heading towards Beckford and heading up the Yellow Brick Road.  We will stop off to look at the arable land and how we are using different crops to protect our valuable soil and increasing the populations of earth worms in our soil.  After this it is off around the hill escarpment to look at pollen and nectar mixes designed to provide much needed pollen and nectar for all of our pollinators and recently planted wild bird food seed mixes.  These are not not harvested but left through the winter to provide valuable winter feed for our farmland birds.  Following on we will be sampling some fresh peas before returning via the Park to look at our sheep flock  then on to the village hall.

Trailers are setting off from the village hall at 9.30, 11.30 2 and 4pm.  Places are limited so you will need to call the Estate Office (01386 725111) or e-mail reception@overburyestate.co.uk 

Conservation Grade Student

Yesterday I travelled to Royston in Hertfordshire for an Induction Day into becoming a farmer growing 'Conservation Grade' milling wheat for this years harvest. The training took place at Thrift Farm and is owned by Robert Law Robert has been one of the pioneers of Conservation Grade (CG) cereals, growing Oats for Jordans and as one of the 80 or so CG, growers has dedicated 10% of the arable area of the farm to wildlife.

The day started with an induction about CG from Brin Hughes about how the organisation started and what the aims are.  In a nutshell the idea is to grow food for people and wildlife on the same farm, whilst getting a premium from the customer for the nature friendly production methods (very important!)  In essence the farm needs to provide varying degrees of habitat and food sources for different insects, mammals and birds made up of specific types.  4% must be in Pollen and Nectar Mixes, 2% on Wild Bird Food, 2% in fine tussocky grasses and the final 2% in other habitats, such as hedgerows, ditches, watercourses, woodland and ponds.  These percentages work in nicely for us with our Higher Level Stewardship Agreement.  A farm map is also needed to help the assessor when being audited, once a year.  Within two years there is a habitat assessment to ensure all of the habitats we say we've planted have been done and managed accordingly.

We had a great talk by Peter Thompson from the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust all about habitat selection for targets species.  First you need to know what species you have then you need to sort out the habitats.  Where to sight them, what to grow in the them, how to establish them and their following management.  All these snippets of information are so valuable when trying to plan these additions around the farm landscape. As Robert said "its easier to manage 500 acres of wheat than 60 acres of bird food".  I think that sums up the philosophy of these guys willing to go the extra mile for conservation and taking pride in the food that they grow, for people and wildlife.

We saw one of Roberts new barn Owl Boxes and heard about the Nature Friendly Owls project.  These birds are at the top of the food chain on our farms and if they are thriving then its a very good sign that those below them are also doing very well indeed.  In all I had a great day and I am looking forward to working with these farmers in the future, which can only be good for our business and also for our wildlife.  I can't help thinking that there are so many similarities and passions that CG farmers have with LEAF Farmers that there isn't some way of linking the two organisations together in some way?  We'll as the nubie of the group I'll leave that one quietly on the back burner for now, but leave you with a quote from Sir David Bellamy.

 "It's not just nature that benefits from Conservation Grade, we all do.  We see more birds and more bees and hear more buzzing and bird song.  On these farms we can start to enjoy the countryside again".  Keep watching and listening to hear how we get on.

Bustling Bramblings

For about the last 6 weeks or so we have had a great flock of LBJ's (Little Brown Jobs) feeding on one of our Higher level Stewardship bird food mixes.  The plot is quite large which is great for these smaller birds offering lots of protection, hidden away in the middle of their very own dinner table.  The size of the block (5acres) is also able to sustain larger numbers of birds for longer periods of time which is another benefit, so they're not using up energy searching out their next meal.  There is also less 'edge effect' of reduced seed yield, usually caused by rabbits nibbling away at the edges.

This mixture consists of Spring barley (60%), Tricticale (15%), Millet (10%), Fodder Raddish (5%) and Mustard (10%), although due to the dry summer when the crop was planted there seems to be a greater percentage of mustard that has survived!

The vast majority of these birds are Bramblings although there are a few Linnets and Chaffinches joining in the flock.  Having walked through the crop to take some video footage here of the flock swooping around there is still some seed left that has not shed yet so I hope that this bird table will continue to deliver the goods for a few weeks to come, while the winter weather is upon us.

Stewardship Update

I thought that I would just take a quick moment to update you on how the various stewardship options have progressed over the dry summer.  On the whole most seemed to have coped very well although some species have rather taken over!  This first wild bird seed mixture is the Norlands field and was planted with feeding Tree Sparrows through the winter months.  The plants include the wonderful Quinoa whose magnificent autumn colours look a real picture at this time of year.  They will produce a vast amount of small seeds from Christmas onwards.

In this field we have planted a pollen and nectar strip next to a winter bird seed mixture aimed at providing nesting cover and food for corn buntings. The mustard that we planted seems to have overtaken the rest of the seed mix which includes, spring barley, triticale and white millet.  Next year I think I will reduce the mixture from 10 to 5%, although who knows in a different spring 10% might have been the right amount.

This is one of my favourite stewardship margins and one that has already produced a real bounty of winter food.  Both of these mixtures were planted before we entered the Higher Level Stewardship and last year the bird food mix fed lots of small birds, including yellow hammers, dunocks and linnets through the winter period.  What I love about this combination of pollen and nectar and wild bird food is the way that it caters for our farmland wildlife completely.  It provides winter food for adult bird survival, pollen and nectar for insects to live on which then become chick feed and there are nesting sites in the tussocky grass margins and hedge bottom on the right hand side.  It will be fascinating to watch these sights develop over time and hopefully reap the benefits for our farmland wildlife.