Last winter you might remember us blogging about a new arable plot experiment we were trying. It served three purposes (i) to enable us to grow winter feed for our sheep to eliminate the biosecurity risks of bringing food over from the mainland (i.e. rats and mice) (ii) to provide winter stubble for chough (they will feed on spilled seed during tough winters) and (iii) to provide additional habitat for foraging finches (in particular linnets which are red listed in Wales)
Step 1 in the process back in January (good line that!)
We weren't sure how thing would turn out given the stony nature of the soil and the lack of additional nutrients.The good news is things have gone better than expected! After a successful growing season which saw the weather favour us with lots of rain and warmth we started by cutting corn the traditional way and made stooks which are being used by skylarks, linnets and a host of autumn migrants. Next we started harvesting the fodder turnip crop which will act as sheep feed this winter. We will store them indoors and use it when required. In the meantime the sheep will be turned into the arable plot to browse the smaller turnips that are still growing along with the kale. This will ‘pep them up’ before the rams are introduced for a few weeks in November. After that the additional feed will help keep them in good condition through to lambing.
April: planting complete - deer and rabbit electric fence being tested (they did the job!)
June and things are coming on nicely
The wild bird mix option has been a huge hit with linnets. We had 66 pairs nesting this year (up from 46 two years ago) with up to 300 birds feeding on the ripening seed heads during September and October.
July saw the wild bird mix flowers at their peak
.....which come September attracted hundred of linnets to feed on the seed heads
Harvesting has all been by hand with volunteers and staff getting stuck into scything corn in September and Lisa and I undertaking the back breaking work of turnip picking over the past few days. It’s all been well worth it and a great way to keep fit!
With a nod to traditional methods the oats and barely were cut and stooked by hand!
Not a bad harvest considering there was no fertilizer or nutrients added to the soil. This lots should keep the sheep happy over winter and a few might even make their way into the odd stew!