Cover crops in March

We had a meeting this week to discuss the Natural England cover crop plots and the exciting plans for this year.

It is still quite amazing how many birds are feeding on the cover crops. The problem is the delay on the camera, and my reactions are too slow to picture them as they fly away from the plots. The plants are starting to renew and grow and we have been planning this years farm visits so that we can show other farmers the benefits that we have seen especially in the winter plots.

Some of the plots are alive with insects especially spiders which will be a good food source for other birds and small mammals. This will help the food web on the farm as the small mammals provide a food source for the owls which we have seen hunting this winter.

Natural England Farm Walk

Yesterday we hosted our first Natural England farm walk looking at the cover crops. There were over thirty people discussing the issues that they had had and their successes with developing wildlife areas for bees, birds, insects and the weather was with us on the day.

Vines are growing

The vines are continuing to grow and we hope to be drinking our first wine in five years time!