This week sees the end of my brief term acting as Hope Farm Manager. I have been overseeing operations since Chris Bailey left in June. It has been great to have more direct involvement in the running of the farm, but the really interesting stuff is just underway. The oilseed rape was harvested on 29 July, and the wheat was harvested on 3 August. As Chris said in his last blog, we are expecting yields to be low, given that it has been the driest spring here in over 100 years. Derek Gruar, the resident research biologist, is about to start evaluating the 2011 bird populations from his weekly counts throughout the breeding season. We will be able to report these and our 2011 crop yields in the next blog.
Ian Dillon started as the new farm manager on 1August. Ian is not completely new to the farm. He was the research biologist overseeing research and monitoring on the farm between 2006 and 2009, so he has trudged around these fields many times. Now, his focus will be more on the management of the crops and the environmental features, and he can leave all of the wildlife monitoring to Derek!
We are keen to invite more farmer groups to Hope Farm to look at what we have done to combine productive arable farming and boost wildlife populations. Our tours are fully interactive: we are as keen to find out what arable farmers could do on their own land as showing them what we have done on ours. This is the best way to identify and address the barriers to uptake of the most beneficial wildlife measures that currently exist. If you are a member of a farmer club, why not find out if they would be interested in a group visit? To arrange a visit, please e-mail ian.dillon@rspb.org.uk.