Wild bird options in stewardship can attract a payment of up to £475/hectare
Wild bird seed mixtures located alongside maize will benefit both game and farmland birds
Whilst shooting in the Cotswolds recently it struck me how significant a contribution a well planned stewardship scheme can make to a shoot. This particular farm shoot had entered into a Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement within Natural England’s Environmental Stewardship scheme and had used options such as wild bird seed and nectar flower mixtures to improve the habitat for farmland birds.
Clearly such features benefit shooting interests too but only when they are carefully considered and implemented with thought and expert advice. Historically, at this shoot, the first drive used to show twenty or thirty good quality pheasants from a narrow spinney planted with hazel coppice. Since the HLS scheme, a block of 5 acres of wild bird seed has been planted to the rear of the belt and 2 acres of nectar flower mix planted at the lower end. The bird seed plot has made an excellent holding and driving cover, with over 200 pheasants being steadily flushed along with clouds of numerous farmland birds showing that the block has made a real difference. The nectar flower mix (a blend of flowers and legumes to feed bees and other insects through the summer) provides an excellent brood rearing opportunity along with first class ‘entertainment cover’ for young poults as they leave the release pen.
So what, you may say? Well this farm is receiving £475/hectare every year for each plot of land in these options. Constraints aren’t placed on how this is used in terms of shooting, (as long as common sense is applied) so it makes serious financial sense. Clearly such a scheme does not suit everyone and can sometimes be difficult to get into. However, most farms in England can simply apply for the more basic Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) agreement which can offer similar options.
Wild bird seed mixtures are not everyone’s cup of tea and many game managers have had mixed experiences of them but when carefully implemented alongside conventional game cover crops they can be a huge asset. Wild bird seed mixtures do hold game well through the crucial period from release to the beginning of the shooting programme. They are also fairly straightforward to manage. Kings ‘Campaign Mix’ contains triticale, linseed red, white and reed millet and complements maize blocks very well by providing valuable warmth and flushing cover. Such mixtures comply with ELS and HLS, can be sprayed to keep weeds at bay and provide an abundance of small seeds for pheasants, partridges and numerous other farmland bird species.
Now is the time to take a careful look at the opportunities available from stewardship schemes on your shoot. In doing so you could find a way to offset costs, improve your shooting and most importantly enhance habitats for a host of farmland birds as well.
Picture Captions
Clark KCAM1 b – Wild bird seed mixtures located alongside maize will benefit both game and farmland birds
Buckminster wbsm – Wild bird options in stewardship can attract a payment of up to £475/hectare
