The other evening I at last visited Alastair and Liz Robb at their Townhead farm a few miles up in the hills above Stirling. Alastair is the second generation of his family on the farm, which they have owned since 1960’s. Alastair runs 1,100 ewes and about 90 suckler cows on the 850Ha of pasture, within the more extensive grasslands and moorland edge that make up the farm. It was a cool evening as I drove up the farm track, overcast but not too windy. Stepping out of the car, and away form the barking of the sheep dogs, the calls of numerous lapwing and curlew were simply stunning. It reminded me of my youth walking the grazing marshes of North Kent, so many of which were drained and ploughed in the 1970’s. These days, even in Scotland, farms with good numbers of breeding lapwing
and curlews are now increasingly scarce away from the Highlands and Islands. Alastair also has breeding redshank and several fledged chicks were apparent and noisily protesting about our presence. What a great walk we had with so many birds to marvel at – over 50 pairs of lapwing, 18 pairs of curlew, 10 pairs of redshank, 13 drumming snipe and 5 pairs of oystercatchers, the place felt alive with the noise and display of these wading birds.
Alastair is rightly proud of his farming and of the birds who share his ground. He is a quiet ambassador for all that is good about Scottish farming, which is why he was a popular winner of the species champion award at the RSPB’s Nature of Scotland Awards.
As we walked we discussed why his farm is so good for the waders, which are disappearing so rapidly elsewhere. To my eye, Alastair grazes extensively and doesn’t push the land too hard. He has kept many of the damp patches, wet hollows and wet features that other farmers seem to spend their lives anxiously draining. Since taking the farm on, Alastair has improved some of the pastures by re-seeding after initially putting them into a fodder crop on which to finish some of his lambs. He does this in a sensitive way, leaving field margins and wet features un-cultivated. Above the hill dyke, several large fields are rich in wild flowers, mosses and native grasses, which are much appreciated by the cattle, and the young leveret we chanced upon which hid at our feet. Alastair is convinced that his in-bye fields have soils which have benefited from these cultivations and applications of lime and phosphate, which in turn encourages the earthworms and soil invertebrates which curlews, lapwings and other birds love. The damp areas and patches of rush or longer grass provide havens for nests and allow chicks to probe the soft ground for food. Despite this sympathetic approach, it is still puzzling why Townhead farm is so spectacularly good for wading birds as there are many farms in Scotland that appear to be managed in a similar way. With this in mind, I am particularly grateful that Alastair has allowed RSPB to undertake a Ph.D study in conjunction with The University of Stirling to investigate his farm and hopefully discover his secret formula for success. Once Heather MaCallum completes her fieldwork later this year, we hope to be able to understand how Alastair’s management helps the birds and recommend some of his working practices to others. We will also adopt some of them on our own farmed reserves so we can make them even better for these wonderfully evocative species. What a fantastic legacy it would be if, pending the outcome of the Ph.D, some of Alastair’s farming methods could be adopted elsewhere and influence a positive revival in the fortunes of some of these threatened species.
It would be great to chat to other farmers and land managers about this, and similar schemes to help struggling species like waders, on our stand at the Royal Highland Show this week. I hope to see you all there.