Life on the Margins

It's amazing what you can find while having a quiet wander along the side of the beautiful flower margins on the top of Bredon Hill at the moment.  Many are situated along side public rights of way so there's no need to trample across farmland to view them.  They are created by cultivating the soil to stimulate the wild seeds to grow that have been dormant in the soil for many years.  But the wild flowers are only part of the benefits, the flowers also encourage millions of insects that in turn provide valuable feed for young farmland birds.

The list of spices very evident is long, from bumblebees, butterflies, hoverflies, beetles and other pollinator species.  There were also many insect feeding birds such as Skylarks, Yellow Hammers, Goldfinches Meadow Pipits and Linnets, all feeding in the margins and carrying the feed out into the fields or up into neighbouring trees or hedges, where their nests are located.  You may have seen the small bare patches that have no crop in them which provide landing areas for Skylark and today they were singing with joy, that the sun had finally appeared!

Not all of the margins are this successful; in other margins we have had to mow the margin to stop the weed seeds from becoming fertile and adding to the weed seed bank, which is necessary for the long term benefit of the strip.  We hope that you enjoy walking on the hill and looking at what nature is providing and in order to enhance the benefit please do not let your dogs disturb the birds busily collecting feed for their young, by keeping them under very close control or ideally on a lead.

Magnificent Margins

Early summer is one of my favourite times on the farm when the hard work of the year, on so many levels, starts to pay off.  The ears of wheat and barley, the pods on the oilseed rape are starting to fill up and the countryside springs into life with a fantastic display of colours and different species. There is no doubt that we live in a sculpted and managed environment.  People are quick to forget this point and since the first settlers began turning their back on nomadic life, our landscape has become man made.

We must not loose sight of the fact that we need to create space for wildlife and mother nature in our very groomed landscape.  We need to create space for our insects to breed and in turn become food for birds.  The space can be populated by flowers adding to our enjoyment of our surroundings and we should take time out to appreciate these wonders.

Our field margins, that we cultivated last autumn are a wonderful mix of poppies, cornflowers and are alive with insects.  There are so many skylarks that tripping over them is almost a certainty!  They are nesting the wheat and barley crops in the purposely sprayed out skylark plots as well as the rough grassland periodically grazed by our sheep.  The diversity of the landscape is what makes it so special.  This must all be done in addition to providing safe, healthy and profitable crops that are wanted by our customers.  Growing wheat that ends up in Kellogg's Cereals as part of the origins group really enables a connection between farmers and customers, a connection we are proud to support.

We have also planted specific pollinator mixes around some of the oilseed rape field margins which are delivering huge benefits in terms of food supply for insects.  Mixtures of crimson clover, phacelia, daisy's and other annual flowers have been a great addition to the work we are doing on the farm to improve diversity of beneficial species and create a better habitat for us all to live and work in.

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