Wildlife Benefits of dd

[Badshot]

Bloody great beetle in the bean Field.
I can see how it's unlikely he'd survive much cultivation.

 

[N.Yorks.]

Bloody great beetle in the bean Field.
I can see how it's unlikely he'd survive much cultivation.

Slug killer??????

 

[Badshot]

Slug killer??????

Reckon he'd have a go at a rabbit. ........

 

[britt]

I see lots of mouse hole in arable fields, which must be good for the owls. I wonder if mice eat any pests or favor any weeds.

 

[martian]

I see lots of mouse hole in arable fields, which must be good for the owls. I wonder if mice eat any pests or favor any weeds.

We used to get excited seeing the occasional barn owl patrolling our six metre margins...now there are many more of them and they check out the whole field, there are mouse and vole holes all over. Kestrels are having a good time on them too. We are seeing many more birds of all shapes and sizes which I put down mainly to us not using insecticides...the whole food web benefits. There's a charm of goldfinches about a hundred strong, hanging about our herbal ley. They don't just eat thistle seed, but seem to like pecking away at chicory as well.

You could say that's all very nice, but it doesn't pay the bills, but I think having all God's creatures in abundance keeps the system ticking along nice and cheaply: there's much less need for spraying or pellet spreading. No-till and no insecticide means lots of ground beetles and hardly any slugs, we haven't spread any slug pellets for a long time now. It feels like the whole farm is moving more in sync with nature, which makes our lives much easier as well as more enjoyable

 

[robs1]

Not used a slug pellet since 2012, most drowned I think but dont see any damage at all, also not used any bydv sprays for good few years but did use deter, stopped that three years ago, hopefully there are enough beneficials about but no doubt one day will get hit badly by it

 

[yellow belly]

we have plenty of wild life in lincolnshire some good some a problem
an abundance of deer red fallow muntjack and roe
hares are thriving due to the abundence of food in the covercrops (they always suffered when every one had no green in fields between july and early october )
sparrow hawks buzards red kites daily sightings so now classed as comon
the chichory game plots and nector and bird seed plots can have hundreds of small birds
lapwings nest on the spring crops less this year but that could be due to thousands of extra acres of spring crops an fallow this year
an abundence of crows and pigeons cover the slugs one of their targets but plenty of weather spread barley
at ground level the worms and insect life that benefits of undisturbed soil has to be seen to be believed
compare deep cultivation with 2 to 3 passes of a press with just a drill and plenty of crop debris
no insecticide for 5 years or more does help some field have had no insecticide for 20 years

there are less rabbits than at any time in my living memory (mid 1960s )

 

[Brisel]

My old boss in Dorset has just shot 80 brace of grey partridge that weren’t there before... admittedly there has been a lot of game keeping involved along with lots of other beneficial features like conservation headlands, wild flower margins and seed bearing plots but DD and more spring crops with cover crops beforehand have contributed significantly to this outcome. Lots more brown hares, lapwings, skylarks, linnets, yellowhammers, corn buntings and turtle doves are a few of the many other species that have benefited from the change of policy.

 

[Surgery]

Extended hare coursing season !

 

[Bury the Trash]

My old boss in Dorset has just shot 80 brace of grey partridge that weren’t there before...

Well they arent there now either are they ...