With field work up to date my attention has turned to farm maintenance. We have a number of willow trees along water courses on the farm, which after a certain age/size seem to a have a tendency to fall into fields and onto fences. A good day was had processing wood into three piles, bonfire, wood burner and some tucked in a corner left to rot down, providing an important habitat for invertebrates, sometimes its good not to be too tidy!
The field corners that we have put down to maize and sunflowers have provided excellent shelter and food for various wildlife across the farm since the summer. With the sunflowers appearing to be an early favourite with not a seed left in any of heads. I thought we should supplement these areas as they were now established feeding points with some standalone feeders. A trip to Perdix just up the road for some excellent custom bucket feeders which I filled with a blend of seeds, made for a pleasing sight as I continue to pass by on crop checks to see them in use.
It is so important to look after our farm in a way that allows wildlife to thrive and by making small changes, we can literally watch the results grow!
The sunflower proved a popular choice being picked clean, whilst the maize provided a longer lasting source of food through the winter
Throughout their life the sunflower and maize plots have provided ample shelter and resources for our farms wildlife
We selected odd corners of fields and unusual shaped strips to put down to wildlife reserves
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