Month: September 2014
Saving the cirl bunting from extinction in the UK
Author: Lynne Roberts A desperate situation The cirl bunting is the UK’s rarest farmland bird. Having once been widespread in southern England and Wales, the UK population of cirl buntings…
Dairy farm creating a buzz
Authors: Gethin Davies (RSPB), Anna Hobbs (BBCT), Stuart Taylor (farmer, Argoed) Dairying can be a challenging sector for farmers and wildlife. Small margins have driven increasing scale, efficiency and specialisation,…
Managing hedges for pollinators
Author: Steven Falk It’s easy to be dismissive of insects, yet about one-third of all the food we consume has required a pollinator to put it there, and by pollinator,…
Introducing Fair to Nature – a new partner for Farm Wildlife
When we developed the Farm Wildlife approach, we wanted to make sure that the advice was not only simple to follow, but based on the latest evidence so that it…
New research: What limits bumblebee populations on farmland?
Authors: Dr Tom Timberlake and Prof Jane Memmott A new study by Tom Timberlake and colleagues at the University of Bristol shows how important late summer flowers and rural gardens…
Case study: Reversion of arable land to lowland chalk grassland
Author: Lynne Roberts: The RSPB’s Manor Farm, Newton Tony, Wiltshire Aims and setting Chalk grassland is one of the richest landscapes for wildlife in the UK and is a habitat…
Case Study: Managing hedges on an extended rotation – Using an excavator mounted finger bar and tree shear
Author: Fraser Hugill: Throstle Nest Farm, Sproxton, North Yorkshire The Management Challenge In recent years I have taken over the management of the family farm. The farm business consists of…
Case Study: Carabid beetles for natural-enemy pest control
Author: Kelly Jowett: If there was an agent acting within your crops that could reduce eggs and first instar larvae of the cabbage root fly by up to 90%; reduce…
Case study: Insecticide-free arable farming
Author: Martin Lines Farm: Papley Grove Farm, Cambridgeshire: 160 ha farmed in-house plus 360 ha contract farmed Aims: In 2013, my agronomist recommended that I spray for black bean aphid,…
Case Study: Pasture for Pollinators
Authors: Owain Rowlands ( Menter a Busnes ) & Anna Hobbs ( Bumblebee Conservation Trust ) Welsh dairy farmers and bumblebees don’t normally crop up in the same context…