With the new Entry Level Scheme now available, the size of your drill could be all important to helping the scheme make a real contribution to the economic and environmental bottom line.
Skylarks nest and feed on the ground, in large open fields. The new skylark plots - undrilled patches devised at the farm over the last five years - make a huge difference to this bird. Allowing the birds to breed for longer and to breed more successfully, our plots have helped to treble the skylark population from 10 to 30 pairs in just five years.
Attracting five points per plot under the new scheme - equivalent to £5 once the points target is reached, farmers can produce plots ranging in size of 3x3m to 12x12m just by switching the drill off.
With first wheat yields at the farm at almost 11t/ha, we would need to sell our wheat at more than a massive £284/tonne (!) to break even with the payment for 4x4m plotsAt Hope Farm, our crops are drilled using a 12m Horsch drill, which can close off 4m sections. With first wheat yields at the farm at almost 11t/ha, we would need to sell our wheat at more than a massive £284/tonne (!) to break even with the payment for 4x4m plots.
Given the average price for our wheat this year was £70/tonne, neither we, nor the skylarks, can afford not to put plots into all our autumn-sown cereals in September at 2 per hectare. Do you farm? Find out if you can benefit from helping the skylarks on your farm.
The table below shows the contribution (£5 minus cost of production) that creating skylark plots of differing sizes can make when yielding 10 tonnes per hectare and at different wheat prices.
Size of plot
(m x m)
Blooming marvellous
Most colourful is our phacelia, birdsfoot trefoil and red clover 'pollen and nectar' margin, the purple flowers of the phacelia playing host to large numbers of bees and other insects. Unsurprisingly, our partridges and yellowhammers are just two of the species which search for insect prey to feed their chicks that are enjoying this insect 'larder' we have provided.
Also developing well are our 6m wildbird seed mixtures. Two blocks - one growing triticale, kale and qunioa and another growing barley, linseed and millet - aim to provide the widest range of seed food for our farmland birds this winter. We expect these areas to be a crucial lifeline in the cold winter months to come.
We expect these areas to be a crucial lifeline in the cold winter months to comeThe mixture drilled into our non-rotational set-aside fared less well. On a small, linear 0.93 hectare field where cropping has never been economically viable, the seed bed was good but the dry conditions and shading from the adjacent wood probably contributed to very poor germination.
Rather than just leave the field bare, we sprayed off the field with Roundup and drilled a universal mixture from Kings Game & Conservation Crops in mid-June.
Breeding season analysis starts
Whilst the birds of Hope Farm have been busily rearing their young, our research staff have been painstakingly monitoring their activity using nationally recognised methodology.
Comprising ten surveys between April and June it is not just Hope Farm that has come under such rigorous scrutiny. We also survey our 'control farm', a nearby arable farm where we have no management control and which is typical of other arable farms in the area.
The last of the surveys was conducted at dawn on 30 June. With all the birds mapped, we are currently analysing the results so we can accurately determine the breeding territories we have at the farm this year.
Watch this space for the final results, but indications are that our wildlife-friendly farming methods have attracted more breeding birds like skylark, yellowhammer and grey partridge in 2005 than ever before.
Read all about it...
The last few months have seen us reach our five-year anniversary of owning Hope Farm. Thanks to the generosity of our membership, we were able to buy the farm with the aim to help arable farmers to help wildlife within a commercially viable business.
To mark the anniversary, we have produced a brand new booklet 'Hope for farming'. This not only details why the RSPB bought Hope Farm, but what we have achieved in the last five years and how we are planning to help farmers and wildlife flourish alongside each other in the years to come.
Getting back into the rotation
Having been out of production since harvest 2003, our two-year set-aside trial looks set to provide some real challenges as we focus on bringing it back into the rotation.
The wildlife benefits of the trial have been huge, a four-fold increase in skylark breeding numbers on the field, attracting grey partridges to breed on the farm for the first time and large flocks of wintering yellowhammers and reed buntings to name just a few.
The road to bringing the field back into production began in June, as the field was sprayed with Roundup in order to control weeds such as blackgrass, brome and cleavers - all known to damage crop yields and be of little feed value to wildlife.
To test how best to bring this 10.2 hectare (24.6 acre) field back into production, the field will be split in half, with one half growing winter wheat while the other half grows spring beans. Ease of establishment, management methods and ultimately the yields will all be closely monitored over the next 12 months - so watch this space for updates on progress.