If you saw me wading around with my camera,in a field of weeds on Wallasea this morning, be assured that I hadn't finally lost the last of my marbles! That large, untidy, and rather wild bit of land that you pass on the way to our car park is actually a very important place - our 'wild bird cover' area.If you've been here lately, you'll hardly have missed our noisy, jangling corn bunting population, sitting on every post, and the vivid flash of yellow wagtails who like to colour co-ordinate with our yellow signs and gates. These farmland birds are among many red-listed birds that the RSPB is working hard to help with the Essex Farmland Bird Project, local farmers and our recently developed area on Wallasea.Wild bird covers are a mix of seed-bearing crops that are left to provide a food source for seed-eating birds through the winter rather than harvested. Different birds have different seed preferences, and mixtures are tailored to the needs of target species in the locality. Cornbuntings and Skylarks love cereal stubble and unharvested seed crops.When grasses and herbs are left ungrazed or uncut long enough, it allows them to produce a number of benefits to birds. They provide seeds, large, long-lived insects, and develop a structure that can be used by nesting birds. Leaving uncut margins around mown grass fields or fencing off areas in grazed pasture can also provide such habitat. These insects are an important food source for birds, especially when collecting food for chicks. Many farmland birds such as the song thrush, sparrows, finches and yellowhammer favour feeding at the margins of such fields. Our current seed mix is one of pollen and nectar plants, to attract insects. I can certify it works, as it is full of butterflies and bees this morning as I write - alas my photography and lack of time meant I couldn't quite capture it, so you'll have to come see for yourselves!
The Essex farmland bird project is being run by our favourite local Spaniard,Francisco Vargas-Bianchi - otherwise known as Frank. Frank is monitoring the development of our patch and will no doubt use it as an example for farmers and landowners that he helps to make their own land as wildlife friendly as possible.Further afield this week, the RSPB has discovered that countryside wildlife is under yet another threat.Birdsong in the UK and European countryside could fall silent unless secret plans to scrap funding for wildlife-friendly farming are averted.The RSPB is concerned that the European Union is considering scrapping payments to farmers to protect vulnerable species on their land. The RSPB estimates that the future of some of the UK’s most-loved farmland birds will face an uncertain future, or even extinction, if these plans are realised.If you would like to step up for nature today, please click on the link below, read a little more and join our campaign. Simples!
http://campaigning.rspb.org.uk/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=13&ea.campaign.id=10495
I've gone wild on Wallasea!