18/02/2022
https://www.facebook.com/238808776149857/posts/5263431523687532/?d=n
With the news full of doom and gloom, we thought we would share something positive.
We have been working together with the RSPB for nearly twenty years here at Ardross. One of the projects focuses on the fairly nondescript corn bunting.
For those of you who don’t know what a corn bunting is. It’s the largest of all of the buntings and typically sits perched on top of wires or posts. We quite often see them on the very top twig of the small bushes in our garden. It’s brown with a creamy breast and has a short, strong beak.
They prefer open farmland in the summer and in the winter they can be found in stubbles, root crops, weedy fields or in stock/farmyards. They flutter then they fly, typically with their legs dangling.
Sadly like many birds now, the corn buntings are on the red list, critically endangered.
Since the early 2000’s a number of farms in the East Neuk, including us, have been working hard to protect and enhance the corn bunting numbers, along with other ground nesting birds. We leave stubble over winter, plant wild bird seed strips and try not to blanch when we see weeds in our veg field.
We are over the moon to say that numbers of corn buntings on our farm have increased from 78 in 2002 to 173 in 2019. 2020 data isn’t out yet however early indications look like the numbers are very exciting.
Not only have our plots of wild bird seed helped however, Yvonne from the RSPB thinks it’s most definitely to do with the direct drill.
We’ve been direct drilling at Ardross for nearly a decade now. It’s really hard being early adapters of new technology/ideas (in any business). People are sceptical, don’t understand, crops don’t do as well or do better for reasons unknown. You need to learn quickly and brace yourself for criticism.
Dad was sure this was the way forward, the improvements in soil were easily seen, the sand stopped blowing and something in his instincts convinced him this was the right path to be on. It’s news like this that makes it all worthwhile.
Don’t get us wrong, we aren’t perfect. We have so much still to learn and a lot still to change. However, we are just one of many farmers already on this path. We are sharing and learning together. Improving and changing. Reading more than ever before, absorbing data and trialling new ideas. Around us the soil is growing, the birds are returning and we can hold our heads up a little higher knowing we are on the right path.
What role are you playing in the climate change story? We would love to hear your positive stories
