Trip reports
FARMLAND WALK
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Holland's Farm, which covers 37 hectares (a little over 94 acres), is purely arable, specialising in cereals, sprouts, leeks and potatoes which are rotated to minimise pests and diseases. Andrew Holland, the grandson of the man who consolidated two smaller farms to create the holding, conducted us round the farm and pointed out the issues of environmental importance.
He explained that it was not an organic farm because he used some artificial fertiliser and selected pesticides without which the crops would not be profitable; however, he left untreated buffer strips of crop around every field and these encouraged insects and weeds which in turn supported birds and brown hares. It was interesting to note that the unsprayed crop was not flourishing in the same way as that which was treated confirming Mr Holland's point.
Hedges were cut on a rota only every 3 years so that the hawthorn had time to produce flowers which the insects loved and berries for winter feed for the birds. He had replanted hedges and filled in gaps in existing hedges providing over 1000m of new hedgerow. Patches of approximately 1m2 were left un-sowed in winter cereal crops for the benefit of lapwing chicks which struggle to cope with the dense stalks that winter cereals have already developed by the time the eggs hatch. About 5 hectares of wild bird mix has been sown as sacrificial crop to provide winter feed for the birds and a 6 metre strip in one field had been rotovated then left un-sown to encourage wild flowers. Although he has some winter cereal most is sown in the spring and the stubble left until next spring to provide winter feed for the sparrows and corn buntings.
As a result of his husbandry the red listed birds breeding on the farm include linnet, grey partridge, corn bunting, skylark, song thrush, tree sparrow and yellowhammer all of which we saw during our visit
The farm also includes a woodland designated a biological heritage area where some thinning of saplings and the removal of Himalayan balsam has led to an abundance of bluebells, ransom and wood anemones.
A wild life pond was under construction at the time of our visit and this will be protected by a 10m strip of land which will not be fertilised or treated with chemicals. Mr Holland hoped this would provide extra habitat for water voles which have been recorded in the adjacent brook.
This report covers only a small part of what is being done for wildlife at Holland's Farm. We will try to find out more about the RSPB Regional Farm Week and publish details in the newsletter for those who were unable to go on this visit. Due to Mr Holland's time constraints another Group visit will not be available in the foreseeable future.
Library Photograph: Yellowhammer