Overbury selected as showcase for wildlife-friendly farming

Any farmer knows how fitting environmental stewardship around a commercial farming operation can sometimes be a tricky balancing act and with wheat at more than £225/t, many may understandably question the logic in taking any land out of production.

But Overbury Farms manager Jake Freestone is adamant that the longer-term benefits from environmental stewardship are worthwhile – for the farm business, wildlife and for the general public. This attitude is one of the reasons why the farm recently became a LEAF demonstration farm. Along with more than 40 other farms, it will showcase the organisation’s principles of integrated farm management to other farmers and the public.

The farm joined LEAF in 2003 and became LEAF Marque accredited in 2007. It sits in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and joined the Entry Level Stewardship scheme in 2005, having been in the Countryside Stewardship Scheme since 2000. The farm has also just completed its second year in the Higher Level scheme and Jake is happy with how both schemes are working out.

Around 10% of the total arable area is managed under some form of stewardship scheme and Jake says ELS and HLS account for a similar proportion of overall farm turnover. The ELS scheme brings in around £45,000 a year across the 1,500ha.

“If it’s done correctly, stewardship can work well,” he says. “You’ve got to find the options that fit in with the rest of the farm and keep an eye on whether they’re working. At the end of the day, we [farmers] are receiving quite a lot of public money, so it’s nice to show it’s worthwhile and is being used to enhance the environment.”

A range of stewardship options is employed (see tables). To monitor their effectiveness an independent conservationist carries out regular surveys in three selected areas. This cost – around £1,500 a year – is not covered by either scheme, but is worthwhile to demonstrate progress, says Jake.

Key lessons learned

Skylark plots: After initial scepticism, Jake is very pleased with how the 120 plots are working, with skylarks regularly using many of them. Plots are relatively easy to establish by spraying off the crop once drilled, although weed growth can be more vigorous due to the absence of crop competition – especially charlock and blackgrass. He plans to treat plots again with Roundup (glyphosate) in the spring (April) to control weeds.

Low input grassland/ species-rich grassland: Largely confined to an area of higher brash land with poor inherent fertility. Interesting wildflower and grass species are coming through, although ragwort is also a problem, so Jake is considering applying for a derogation to graze it hard in the spring, or use weed wiping with a herbicide to control the problem.

In-field fallow: Some 10ha has gone into this in total, with individual fallow plots of 1-2ha in size. At £360/ha, Jake says it’s not the best return given the relatively large arable area lost and he is also unconvinced about how effective they are at encouraging ground-nesting birds. “I’d like to cut down the area a bit and focus them near areas where we know we’ve got birds such as lapwing. I’ll probably switch some of the area that comes out into cultivated margins for rare arable flowers instead.”

Beetle banks: Although he was initially sceptical about these, Jake says they have real merit, with barn owls and voles sighted in them, suggesting many other species further down the food chain are also present. He says they are easy to establish and using the GPS guidance on the farm tractors means they can be kept parallel with boundaries to fit in with tramline widths.

Pollen and nectar mixes: Up to now these strips, which contain clovers and other nitrogen-fixing plants, have performed well. Normally Jake takes a cut of silage off them at the end of the growing season to avoid a build up of rotting material over winter, keep fertility down and help keep more aggressive grass weeds out. However, this couldn’t be done last autumn due to the wet weather and he is anxious about how the mixes will fare this year. He also thinks a decision by Natural England to make pollen and nectar mixes non-rotational is a mistake, as permanent strips could be eventually overrun with other weed species.

Fertiliser-free un-harvested headlands: These headlands are easy to establish in the autumn, he says, with fields cultivated in the usual manner and the headland drilled at half the normal rate – a 12m headland equates to two passes with the farm’s drill. No fertiliser or sprays can be applied for the rest of the season and the headland is left uncut to provide winter food for birds. These areas will go into spring barley this year.

Traditional orchard restoration: Under the HLS, a number of cherry, damson, plum and pear trees are being planted. The planting, pruning and subsequent management of these trees opens an interesting set of new skills for farm staff at a quieter time of year, says Jake.

Stonewalling: Some 24km of dry stonewall is included in Overbury’s ELS scheme, with a grant of £60/m available for wall restoration. However, Jake says this only covers around 50% of the total cost, which is nearer £120/m.

You can follow Jake on Twitter @No1FarmerJake or read his blog at www.farmerjakef.blogspot.co.uk