Peak District

Now please don’t get me wrong I’m asking to learn not to criticise.
we have been up here for six days now and the weather whilst usable has been quite varied and windy at times. The views are amazing and there is stock everywhere especially sheep.
now to my questions which maybe have been affected by the weather or maybe just stupid questions
So here goes. Where are your song birds and butterflies? Have heard very few song birds and haven’t see any insects especially butterflies all week despite being out and about in nature for at least 6 hrs. Day.
here to learn
Lazy
 

bobk

Member
Location
stafford
Now please don’t get me wrong I’m asking to learn not to criticise.
we have been up here for six days now and the weather whilst usable has been quite varied and windy at times. The views are amazing and there is stock everywhere especially sheep.
now to my questions which maybe have been affected by the weather or maybe just stupid questions
So here goes. Where are your song birds and butterflies? Have heard very few song birds and haven’t see any insects especially butterflies all week despite being out and about in nature for at least 6 hrs. Day.
here to learn
Lazy
Arable farmers produce wildlife not grass farmers
 
Have you seen a conservation strip around any fields ?
Not really. But not walked an arable land to be fair. If I was to offer an uneducated guess(which is why I’m m asking) I would suggest that sheep on the scale we have seen make it hard for wildlife. No where to nest for the ground nesters and flowering plants nipped off before flowering. Am i wrong ?
 

bobk

Member
Location
stafford
Not really. But not walked an arable land to be fair. If I was to offer an uneducated guess(which is why I’m m asking) I would suggest that sheep on the scale we have seen make it hard for wildlife. No where to nest for the ground nesters and flowering plants nipped off before flowering. Am i wrong ?
No , you're spot on .
 

bobk

Member
Location
stafford
Not really. But not walked an arable land to be fair. If I was to offer an uneducated guess(which is why I’m m asking) I would suggest that sheep on the scale we have seen make it hard for wildlife. No where to nest for the ground nesters and flowering plants nipped off before flowering. Am i wrong ?
Derbyshire is a conservation area but it has an intensive farming system , it's all bollox really .
 
Derbyshire is a conservation area but it has an intensive farming system , it's all bollox really .


You're getting close to my kneck of the woods and where I am there's loads of wildlife. We have the "National Forest" .. surrounded by very busy roads with splatted wildlife on them.

Talking of which what makes small black droppings about 2 to 3 inches long ? Getting a lot of em on me lawn. Young fox ?
 

Anymulewilldo

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Cheshire
Not really. But not walked an arable land to be fair. If I was to offer an uneducated guess(which is why I’m m asking) I would suggest that sheep on the scale we have seen make it hard for wildlife. No where to nest for the ground nesters and flowering plants nipped off before flowering. Am i wrong ?
You won’t find much arable up there… the odd field of whole crop cereals for dairy cows maybe. Do you not think you would have seen more 2 months ago before the hay meadows were all cut? All around Buxton is covered in wild flowers through into June. But then the hay gets made and the sheep go on the aftermaths… just a thought…
Also it’s mid August. You’re unlikely too see ground nesters on the ground now. That’s a spring job. (When there’s long grasses for hay about)

Get out on the heather moors. You’ll see plenty of insects and wee brids up there. 👍
 

Tomo23

Member
Livestock Farmer
I'm from, and my parents still live, in the next village up in Sheen. Hopefully I'll get back one day.

I think there has been more curlews up there this year than for a few years. Parents bird feeders are always full of finches and tits of all varieties.

On the other hand, I was ploughing 15 acre on Butterton moor on the road to Onecote the other week. I was probably doing for about 8 hours, don't laugh, it was wet crappy pasture.
I didn't see a single bird in those 8 hours, not 1.
 

wrenbird

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
HR2
Why do you expect to hear songbirds? It’s August not April. It doesn’t mean they are not there, but they have established their territories, found their mates, raised their chicks, that’s why you hear the dawn chorus in the spring months.
It seems to have been a bad year for butterflies everywhere, the long, cold wet spring to blame perhaps.
 
You're getting close to my kneck of the woods and where I am there's loads of wildlife. We have the "National Forest" .. surrounded by very busy roads with splatted wildlife on them.

Talking of which what makes small black droppings about 2 to 3 inches long ? Getting a lot of em on me lawn. Young fox ?
Same here I think its hedgehog's
 

rusty

Member
I farm about 5 miles away from Hartington. We are on the Limestone plateau that stretches from just north of Ashbourne up to Buxton. It's mostly around 1000' above sea level and all classified as severely disadvantaged ground. However it's very productive Grassland with not a lot of trees and mostly quite exposed. The high ground is generally more productive than the low ground in the valleys. There is still quite a bit of dairying around. We are 320 cows autumn block calves and paddock grazed if you want to call in for a look around.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.0%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 35.1%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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