One of the joys of starting a new job is to be able to inherit the success of others.
Hope Farm is perhaps one of my predecessors' great legacies. Bought in 2001, thanks to the generosity of RSPB members, we have managed to demonstrate that it is possible to run a profitable arable farm and restore farmland wildlife. I was there on Friday filming for Countryfile. John Craven was putting together a package on farmland birds to be shown on telly on 29 May. It was great to meet John and even better to be able to celebrate the fact that over the past decade we have tripled the number of farmland birds on our farm.
Populations of skylarks, yellowhammer, linnets, reed bunting and starlings have all increased, while grey partridge, yellow wagtail, lapwing, turtle dove have all returned to the farm. And this year, greeted with much excitement, we also have a pair of corn bunting.
We've done all this while still returning great wheat yields.
So what's the secret of our success? Well lots of praise should go to the farm managers we have had over the years - especially Chris Bailey who moves on to a new job within the RSPB in Scotland later this summer. But it is simple really, we have put 3% of our farm into Entry Level Stewardship Scheme (ELS) - a government grant scheme available to all farmers. This subsidy allows us to get paid to get the basics right for farmland birds: habitat which provides somewhere to nest, food in spring/summer as well as food in the winter.
If it is that simple, why aren't farmland birds doing much better across the whole country?
Unfortunately, not all the options in the the schemes are effective. This is why the UK Government is currently reviewing the scheme. We are encouraging them to concentrate on scheme quality, ensuring all agreements contain a minimum of the best options for wildlife, while ensuring that farmers get better advice about what's appropriate for their their farm.
My predecessor was convinced that if you could get ELS working more efficiently, you could see farmland bird numbers rise again - offering more people a chance to enjoy the sountrack to spring and summer.
Have a great Sunday.
P.S. This blog will be silent for three days until Thursday 19 May. The RSPB computer people have some maintenance/upgrade work to do. After a couple of weeks in the new job, I might ask them to reboot me as well.
Hi Martin well this theory about Hope Farm being good in all things is just about the biggest myth of all.I am quite happy to salute the increase in bird numbers but in my calculation the profit to RSPB is really atrocious considering that we are in one of the most profitable periods ever for grain farms.I would like you to put a true monetary value on the farm and then calculate the return on capital.Of course the RSPB says it does not hate farmers but there is always someone past and present willing to have some nasty things to say.Let me tell you if someone bought us all a farm like subs etc did with Hope Farm and so no mortgages we farmers could all farm differently.Hope Farm is not a normal working farmers farm and never will be so cannot be judged with other farms,it is simply another RESERVE.I do however acknowledge as I said the increase in birds is impressive and giving the knowledge of what improvements will help increase numbers on farms helpful but profitable farm well if you tell me RSPBs share of profit per acre and return on capital and it is impressive think I would have to eat my hat.