I recently read the very good book 'Wilding', by Isabella Tree, describing what had been done on the Knepp estate, which I enjoyed and was fascinating. It also made complete sense how the simple bio-science was explained (although I''m not sure how their recent White Stork breeding program fits into the concept and it wasn't covered in the book).
The idea of introducing more nature always appeals. So can I envisage any element of 'Wilding' here at home ?, well not really to be honest, however, I am keen to get as much wildlife as possible into the property and I'm sure Hannah and Adie already have a head start as they appear to have been rewilding their bedrooms for several months now, although the sort of wildlife that inhabits teenagers bedrooms is not the sort I'm aiming to attract.
The pond introduction proved one thing, that if you improve an area however small the wildlife will turn up on its own, and the amount of success with amphibians, damselflies and dragonflies are the notable visual signs that this worked. If I embark on a more serious attempt with a focused project to introduce or encourage more wildlife, it has to be a bit at a time.
The plot overall is 5 acres, not tiny, but limited to what animals can be used for browsing and therefore what can be sensibly achieved on this scale. Currently the garden at the front of the house is being slightly reworked with one half new flower beds and the other with strips of the grass left and introduce some wildflowers... and then the fields.
Until now we got the fields cut a couple of times a year and the hedges cut once a year. This was largely without any purpose other than keeping things neat, with no real regard to timing or looking at the effects of any wildlife. We toyed with the idea of letting a local farmer graze his sheep over the fields and he reckoned that introducing 20-30 sheep alongside our 2 useless beasts would be suitable for the size of the fields... I was not so sure and could see this going horribly wrong so turned down the offer..
Instead, this summer I decided to look more closely at the insect life in the fields and to see which wild flowers appeared naturally, mowing only a couple of paths. In June and July there was a big increase in Butterfly numbers, in what was a good year generally, I've recorded 19 species this year. The moth night I had at the end of June was also enlightening to an incredible number of species. Grasshoppers & Crickets have been abundant and my baseline of mammals are Fox, Badger, Roe Deer, Bunny Rabbit and too many Grey Squirrels, as regard the small rodent species I have no idea and would like to find out, but the Tawny Owls have done well this year and small mammals must form part of their diet. .. I will focus next year on trying the wildflower approach to Field 2 and 3 listed below, the ones that the sheep don't use. So currently I would divide the property into the following areas.
Area 1 - house and garden including barns and chicken pen -about 1 acre
Field 1 - closest to house and used by the 2 sheep - about 1 acre
Field 2 - with the Alder Copse - about 2/3 acre
Field 3 - largest field but heavily sloped - about 1 acre
Field 4 - small with Stables - about 1/3 acre
Area 2 - woodland edge to run-off stream - about 1 acre
I found the followng flowers in fields 2 and 3 over the Summer
Relatively abundant
Meadow Vetch or Birdsfoot Trefoil
Knapweed
Hoary Plantain
Yarrow
Buttercup
Red Clover
One or 2 plants
Tufted Vetch
Marsh Woundwort
Figwort
Mallow
and too much of what you don't want such as creeping thistle and dock,
SO a vague plan has hatched to see whether I can slowly encourage more of the nectar-bearing varieties, without a wholescale burning and replanting.
I have recorded 95 species of bird in the 8 years we have been here (which includes flyovers), 19 Butterfly Species, currently about 80 moth species , but that was just from 1 night. Mammals it is under 10 species of the larger mammals, as well as Fox , Badger and Roe Deer, I have had 1 sighting of Weasel and occasional sightins of Muntjac Deer but I have not focussed on rodents and have never seen a Hedgehog here. I have had both Pipistrelle and Noctule bat.. so I consider this the baseline from which to measure any changes.
It is obvious that the whole place needs more management than just letting things grow wild and it is really too small to consider introducing roaming buffalo herds, so I will look to do small bits, so clearing some leaving... and see where we end up.
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| Field 2 |
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| Field 3 |
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| Field 2 again |
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| Marsh Woundwort |
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| Roesel's Bush Cricket |
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