February 2008

Winter bird monitoring.
We monitor wintering birds on the whole farm and divide the records into field or boundary categories. The whole farm counts are completed on a monthly basis from October through to February. These counts have shown that birds at Hope Farm are not only flourishing in the breeding season. A look at some individual species reveals some very interesting trends. The mean counts of Yellowhammers rose to 111 this winter from 1 in 2000/01, reed bunting 25.3 from 2.3 and skylark 120.6 compared with 18.3 in 2000/01. This shows some of the real progress that has been made since we purchased the farm.
Other sightings over the winter period included counts of 150 fieldfares, 150 linnets, 100 starlings, 4 buzzards and several barn owls. I hope that figures crossed, this year we will be able to add Barn Owl as a breeding bird.

Demonstration Plots
Although a quiet time from a cropping perspective, we have still had a busy period on farm. The contractors started work at the start of the New Year on a project centred primarily within the farmyard and neighbouring grass field that will allow the site to expand its demonstration value by adding a series of plots. These will display options already within agri-environment schemes but not already demonstrated on the farm, important policy areas such as crops grown for biofuels or bioenergy as well as our latest research.

Alternative method of establishing skylark plots
During trials on Hope Farm and on a wider basis in the SAFFIE project, skylark plots in winter wheat fields have been shown to extend the breeding season for skylarks and to increase the number of chicks successfully leaving the nest. Due to this success they have been included in Environmental Stewardship, Entry Level Scheme (ELS), although the uptake has been poor to date.
Until now, plots in ELS agreements were established as undrilled areas during the sowing phase. However, a number of farmers have indicated that this presents them with significant problems. To reflect their concerns we are currently trialling an alternative strategy of spraying some of the plots out using glyphosate. 25% of the plots will be undrilled (already established), as in previous years. The other 75% will be sprayed out during winter 2007/08 with 25% in December, 25% in January and 25% in February. The vegetation in each plot will be monitored during the summer months to assess which month provides a similar structure to the undrilled plots.

Future Open Days.
We will be opening the farm for a number of open days this year so if you would like to visit the farm then please get in touch with chris.bailey@rspb.org.uk. The dates are shown below:
Farmers Open Days: 21st May, 24th May,
Public Open Days: 7th June, 9th July