Farming and Conservation on the North Downs - Mark Howard Hurdles, Conservation and Firewood
Working high where the chalk ridge of the North Downs begins to peter out I watched a red kite hang almost at eye level, holding station on the up-draft with occasional movements of its unmistakable forked tail. A passing buzzard was lazily buzzed by the kite before it moved off to join a companion further up the valley. As the buzzard and kites moved away a Kestrel entered stage left and searched a nearby hedge. From where we worked the hangers of east Hampshire could be seen quite clearly with Butser Hill a shadowy bump on the far South Downs.
Later that day closer to home, with the light fast fading at least a thousand starlings rose and fell, I had witnessed my very own murmuration! For the last 20 years I have seen the decline of many farmland birds, vast flocks of lapwings and golden plover flew over the autumn fields while we ploughed and drilled, now reduced to a trickle as the mixed farmland gave way to intensive arable, starlings numbers also plummeted and the last time I heard the ‘rattle of keys’ of corn buntings was at least 6 years ago. So to see a large flock of starlings really has given me hope that as arable techniques change as I described in my earlier blog, so bird numbers will start to increase .
It’s December the 7th and the day temperature is still in the mid-teens. It’s been a grey and dull beginning to winter, and here in the south although the rainfall has not been constant, the ground conditions feel as though the water table is high. This has meant that access to several sites has become impassable for vehicles. So I am yomping in with rucksack, tools and fuel. Four man days left to complete reducing the holly population in one wood then back to the hazel coppice which thankfully I can reach by vehicle.
Later that day closer to home, with the light fast fading at least a thousand starlings rose and fell, I had witnessed my very own murmuration! For the last 20 years I have seen the decline of many farmland birds, vast flocks of lapwings and golden plover flew over the autumn fields while we ploughed and drilled, now reduced to a trickle as the mixed farmland gave way to intensive arable, starlings numbers also plummeted and the last time I heard the ‘rattle of keys’ of corn buntings was at least 6 years ago. So to see a large flock of starlings really has given me hope that as arable techniques change as I described in my earlier blog, so bird numbers will start to increase .
It’s December the 7th and the day temperature is still in the mid-teens. It’s been a grey and dull beginning to winter, and here in the south although the rainfall has not been constant, the ground conditions feel as though the water table is high. This has meant that access to several sites has become impassable for vehicles. So I am yomping in with rucksack, tools and fuel. Four man days left to complete reducing the holly population in one wood then back to the hazel coppice which thankfully I can reach by vehicle.
RSS Feed