Following 18 months of drought conditions, we have had the wettest April since we bought the farm. This has been welcome news for our crops, which are looking much better for it, and for the environmental features we established last autumn: wild bird seed mixtures to feed our birds this winter and pollen and nectar mixtures which should support high insect numbers over the next 3-4 years. The consistent heavy rain will probably have affected nesting success of our ground-nesting birds quite badly, and we have had much higher chick mortality in our starling population. This has probably been more down to the cold temperatures than the wet conditions. Whilst the rain finally filled our bunded ditches up to levels that we normally expect to see at this time of year, it was short-lived as levels have fallen again quite rapidly over the relatively dry conditions in the last few weeks.
Out on the farm, lapwings are back in our spring beans. Rarity of the spring so far was a bee-eater flying over, seen whilst taking a lucky group around the farm.
Visitors to Hope Farm will now be able to see the scale of our success in boosting wildlife populations, whilst maintaining yields and improving profits as soon as they walk through the farmhouse door. The highlights of our 13 years at Hope Farm are now on display around the meeting rooms. At the moment, this will be reinforced when touring the farm, with the constant sound of singing skylarks: May is a good month to see the farm at its best, in terms of nesting bird activity. Later in the summer, we should see the benefits of our pollen and nectar mixtures and flower-rich margins, bringing in big numbers of bumblebees and butterflies. Through the autumn and winter, the wild bird seed mixtures provide the focal point for another wildlife spectacle, feeding the vast majority of our yellowhammers and other seed-eating birds.
If you are a member of a farmer club who wish to visit Hope Farm, please contact our Farm Manager, Ian Dillon at ian.dillon@rspb.org.uk.