 |
Nature and farming can live in harmony. Devereux Wootton
was once a farm and is now being run as a nature reserve. Farming
and wildlife works very well side by side on this farm in the Welsh Marches. | | Devereux
Wootton - nature and farming in harmony. Photo - Patrick Wrixon. |
Working farm
 Devereux
Wootton in Herefordshire is a working, commercial farm, a mixture of arable crops
and sheep.
This 500-acre arable and stock farm successfully combines game
management with a Stewardship Scheme to the benefit of the shooting and farmland
bird conservation. It is farmed by Patrick Wrixon, Chairman of Herefordshire
Farm and Wildlife Advisory Group. You might think this is a place where
only prices and profits matter, but that is not the case. Patrick Wrixon
runs a successful farm, and does plenty to bring in and support wildlife. Lapwings,
Curlew and Snipe were once common in Herefordshire, but changes in farming techniques
have led to a reduction in their wetland habitats. Now a new scheme aims
to turn nine hectares of former arable land into a wetland habitat to attract
wildlife back to the site. Bird habitat  The
farm has one of the largest arable stewardship schemes in the West Midlands with
13 miles of now well-established field margins producing a good habitat for Yellowhammers
and other important farmland birds.
This is a mixed farm with a whole variety
of habitats including arable and grazing fields, orchards, woodland, and hedgerows. There
are numerous birds of prey, and a range of farmland birds that in other parts
of the country have been in decline. Plus in the autumn, there's a brilliant
berry bonanza. It's a great location for the public to explore with five
miles of paths and bridleways which have been opened up for walkers, cyclists
and riders. Buzzard buzz  Visitors
can see how well Buzzards are doing in this farmland habitat.
These birds
are reappearing all over the place and are now the commonest of all our raptors.
The whole area known as the Marches has the greatest density of Buzzards
in the UK and there are plenty here on the farm. Buzzards doing so well
partly because they are great opportunists, and very adaptable. They will
take fresh road kills, or strike live prey as large as rabbits, pigeons or ducks...
or settle for worms in the field. In the autumn the wet weather brings
worms to the surface, providing easy and nutritious food. Despite the fact
that they are so common, it is still a thrill to see them riding the thermals
almost without a wing flap - poetry in motion! Hovering
Kestrels  Another
bird of prey we almost take for granted is the Kestrel.
It is best known
characteristic is its hovering motion - the bird keeps its head and eyes perfectly
still whilst it flaps almost motionless above the ground. The bird is very
familiar because of its habit of hunting by the roadside where its prey, small
mammals, thrive in the undisturbed grassland on roadside verges. Their regular
appearance along road verges has given it the name "motorway hawk" and
lead people to believe it is very common. But actually it has been declining,
probably due to intensive agriculture which destroys the habitat for this bird's
main food - voles and mice. However, on Devereux Wootton Farm there is good
news for Kestrels and other birds that hunt small mammals like owls - because
here they have brought back the rough areas of grassland that voles and mice love. By
leaving six metre wide margins at the edges of fields and sowing them with a mixture
of grass species, the farm has effectively planted 30km of motorway verge, crowded
with small mammals. Vole spotting  Voles
are one of the many small mammals to be found on the farm - look out for voles
runs, pathways amongst the tall grass that the animals use.
These creatures
are very difficult to see - they are very nervous as they have lots of predators. The
Bank Vole is very cute with a reddish coat and compact body - it is found all
over UK in field margins, woodland and hedgerows. It also features heavily
in the diet of many predators including owls, weasels and foxes. Also look
out for the Yellow necked Mouse, a large and impressive mouse similar to the Wood
Mouse but bigger and heavier. This mouse eats seedlings, buds and fruit,
and it occurs only in southern England, locally in Wales and along the English
Welsh border. It is particularly inclined to visit human habitation with
the onset of winter and urge to seek sanctuary around harvest festival, resulting
in the name 'church mouse'. Great hearing and sense
of smell...  The
style of farming at Devereux Wootton means that the farmer leaves field margins,
replants trees in orchard, puts in wild bird seed mix plots, and plants hedgerows.
Sometimes
flocks of hundreds of small birds taking full advantage of the feeding stations
including Goldfinches, Greenfinches and Linnets. Recently harvested sunflowers
are also great for producing home grown bird food. In the meantime plenty
of seed left over for local birds. Herefordshire has some of the best hedgerows
in the country in terms of the extent, size and their age. One cannot underestimate
importance of these hedgerows as havens for wildlife.
Birds feed and
nest in them whilst small mammals use them as roads getting from one place to
another. Blooming orchards  The
farm planted new hedges three years ago, and in autumn they are covered in berries
including rosehips, hawthorn berries and sloes.
Rosehips are used to make
rose hip syrup which is great for vitamin C - a cup of rosehip pulp provides more
vitamin C than 40 fresh oranges. During World War 2 the Ministry of Health
initiated a scheme for voluntary collection, and rosehip syrup was given to children.
Hawthorn is perhaps the most abundant berry in the autumn. These
small bunches of dark red berries make a moderate jelly, but dry fruit need long
simmering with a few crab apples to bring out juices. Herefordshire is
famous for its orchards but sadly though many have been grubbed up. The
farm, however, maintains its orchard and the apples are harvested to make cider.
But plenty are also left rotting on the ground, providing great food for
Redwings and Fieldfare which visit in winter from Scandinavia. Under
the Mistletoe  Festooning
many of the apple trees is mistletoe whose berries start to emerge in the autumn.
Once again the Welsh/English borders are its heartland. Mistletoe
needs a mild humid climate as well as lots of trees with soft bark into which
its sticky seeds can be deposited by berry eating birds. It is a partial
parasite photosynthesises some of its own food but takes minerals from its host
tree. The Mistletoe tradition one of last surviving remnants of plant magic
- everyone knows the custom of kissing under Mistletoe.
Looking at the
plant it seems to have an unearthly vitality in a tree that has lost nearly all
its leaves. It isn't hard to imagine how became one of the most revered
plants of early herbalists. Credited with having great powers, divining
treasure, keeping witches at bay and more mundanely protecting the crop of the
tree on which it grew. Photo credits Devereux
Wootton images copyright and courtesy of Patrick Wrixon. Mistletoe
image courtesy and copyright of Getty Images. Kestrel
copyright of RSPB Images and Sue Tranter. | 
