Down to Earth - Part Three - Boosting Biodiversity
The third in a series of short films produced as part of the 'Down to Earth' project; a collaboration between Agricology, RuralPod Media and Down to Earth Media (funded by the Rothschild Foundation), which focuses on promoting sustainable agricultural practices being used on the Waddesdon Estate and beyond. The project looks at approaches being used to transition towards no/low input farming methods whilst highlighting the potential for agroecological innovation.
This film (featuring Olly Pemberton, Farm Manager and agronomist, and Chris Leach, Head of Sustainability and Conservation), focuses on nature friendly farming techniques being implemented on the estate to allow them to adapt to the changes in climate, improving biodiversity and increasing environmental resilience across the farmland. We hear about how they are working within the stewardship schemes. Activities such as widening crop rotations, making the best use of wooded areas, different ways of integrating livestock, creating wetlands and developing diverse habitats, are allowing them to reduce herbicide applications and run a zero-insecticide policy. Olly also describes new machinery and technology being used to tackle the weed burden on the estate - particularly blackgrass. Chris describes how they are working with conservation groups and volunteers to monitor wildlife across the estate and ensure the practices they carry out are making the differences they want to see.
Narrated by Ben Eagle
Find out more about the project here https://tinyurl.com/7unsm9cp/
Highlights
- 🌍 The estate faces environmental challenges from climate change.
- 🌱 Innovative farming practices like mob grazing are being implemented.
- 🐦 Stewardship schemes enhance biodiversity and support wildlife.
- 🌾 New technology is used to manage weeds sustainably.
- 🦉 Conservation efforts have led to increased barn owl populations.
- 🌲 Diverse habitats on the estate improve ecosystem resilience.
- 🤝 Collaboration with local volunteers aids biodiversity monitoring.
Key Insights
- 🌡️ Climate change is significantly impacting farming and wildlife, necessitating innovative solutions to adapt and thrive.
- 🌿 Nature-friendly farming techniques, such as mob grazing, can enhance soil health and promote biodiversity, creating a more sustainable farming model.
- 🐦 Environmental stewardship schemes play a crucial role in protecting farmland birds and overall biodiversity, linking conservation with agricultural productivity.
- ⚙️ Technological advancements in agriculture allow for more precise and sustainable practices, reducing reliance on harmful chemicals.
- 🦉 Active partnerships with conservation groups are essential for successful monitoring and boosting of species like barn owls, demonstrating community involvement’s impact.
- 🌳 Maintaining diverse habitats, such as woodlands and wetlands, is key to supporting beneficial insects and wildlife, which in turn supports crops.
- 🔄 Engaging with other farmers to showcase successful biodiversity practices can inspire wider adoption of similar approaches, promoting environmental stewardship.
Transcriptions
Like all Farms across Britain the woodston estate faces numerous environmental challenges brought on by climate change volatile weather patterns impact the soils and farming operations the warming climate also has its effects on the estate's wildlife Woodland and wider natural environment here at woodston we are changing the way we work being a little bit more Innovative by um switching away from conventional farming starting to work
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more with nature implementing those nature friendly farming techniques such as mob grazing reducing our inputs to allow us to adapt to the climate change and environmental factors that are happening around us the state's environmental schemes provide conservation benefits but also help the farming operation creating a more resilient environment for cropping we're currently in a mid-tier Countryside stewardship scheme predominantly there's buffers around HED RS and water courses as well as providing various options for Farmland birds and for biodiversity we use ab1 which is a pollen and Nector mix quite extensively for Bumblebee and we also use ab9 which is an overwinter bird food to try and feed the Farmland Birds through the hunger Gap in January February the stewardship adds a really important element for us if we just look at soil health and we miss the Farmland Birds if we miss the wider biodiversity piece on the farm we're promoting part of the picture and to have the healthiest soil going that's dead in terms of your biodiversity I I just don't see how that works and so by supporting the biodiversity with the stewardship plots that is helping us build the so organic matter by having the beneficial insects living in the margins living in the stewardship plots they can be moving into my crops meaning I don't need to spray insecticides by not spraying insecticides I'm not damaging the soil health so it's all connected the whole picture is connected it allows me to bluntly be a bit more intelligent in the way that I farm thinking a lot more about wider crop rotations different ways of integrating the livestock a lot of this is work that's been done in the past but we've sort of forgotten how to do it so we're learning or relearning all these all these techniques but we're doing it now with a lot more technology than we ever had in the past so there's a huge amount more that we can measure that we can analyze and that we can react to that that our grandfather's never had and I find that really exciting that really speaks to me for example we've introduced an inter Roo that's to try and see can we just back off slightly with the herbicides and use the Intero to take out the slack there another problem the estate is trying to tackle is black grass and OE is tring new machinery and Technology to reduce the Farm's weed burden in a sustainable way the idea of it is just a skim just under the surface so we're not doing deep cultivation it's it's a very very shallow cultivation effectively and we're just trying to upend the black grass expose its roots to the Sun so they dry out and the plant dies off we go through the crop any number of stages but really before grow stage 31 is about as late as I'd dare push it currently on the farm we are standing still against black grass this machine we hope we think will give us just a couple of extra percent of control so we can start decreasing the amount of black grass on the farm to use this machine it's one operator one tractor so it's relatively minimal labor requirements you can drive it using the rtk guidance if you've got it which is accurate to within a centimeter or two but we've actually found better results driving it by ey I think that this machine is a great example of where we are trying out a bit of Technology without committing a huge amount of resource to it it's the same approach with arable cropping with the livestock with the environmental piece with the biodiversity net gain we're trying to achieve on the estate we're looking at what technology we can deploy how we can realistically invest try it out see what works and then when we find something that works we can jump in with both feet so the biodiversity on the estate across the board has uplifted but in particular we created a new Wetland about four years ago and we now have 124 the last count different species of birds down there it's got that designated as a local Wildlife site which is a nod to the rough family themselves who began the process all those years ago under Charles Rothchild who lobbied Parliament to create protected places for wildlife Waton estate includes diverse habitats of Woodland wetlands and farmland by improving by diversity across the different habitats the team believed that the estate will be more resilient and prepared for future environmental challenges trees disease we're not getting those cold cold Winters which would have held back disease or or put a stop to things like that and I think climate change is a real challenge in the weather patterns that we're having I think the Woodland itself is a complement to the Farmland it's something that myself and Ollie have discussed in the past in terms of those beneficial insects they're not going to live on your maze crop or your your wheat crop they need somewhere else to live and that will probably be your Woodland but they'll be using that to hibernate in the winter they'll be using your crops to go out and feed on in terms of your your pests that are out there they'll be going out there so the woodlands are a vital part of the ecosystem that you need around you to be able to grow good crops we have a zero insecticide policy here because it is essential that we have insects we need those for all the other di biodiversity that is around whether it's the birds feeding on thect the mice feing on the insects whether it's the pollinators it's you know it's it's just a no-brainer over the last couple of years Chris has been bringing together local conservation groups to survey the biodiversity and help the estate improve habitats volunteers here on this date are absolutely crucial to my job I couldn't do it without them these are the guys that are out there at night until 2:00 in the morning collecting data on moths on their weekends going out and collecting data on birds once a month I've got guys that come out and collect data on water samples right across you know as part of um a wider volunteer network um and they're just they're just absolutely crucial Chris is partnering with a number of conservation organizations working with volunteers to understand species across the estate the overall aim is to boost biodiversity and increase environmental resilience so that the data that we get from monitoring the owls uh so that would be the age of the aisles themselves how far they travel and also the number numbers of chicks in the nest and how successful the year has been so when we started the project barnow across the county were in quite wasn't very many of them around and because of land owners getting involved with us and sponsoring boxes barnow had now come off the Amber list so it's successful what we do so it's really important to get land owners and Farmers on board with what we do and then demonstrate that what it's actually successful and it works see if there's any pellets in the Box and there's lots of barn pellets here so the data that we get from doing the monitoring is then fed back to the British trust for onthology so we can work out Trends and then we can also demonstrate that by working with land owners and Farmers the success of what we do we've installed five flight Inception traps across the estate we are now kind of at the end of the season for flying insects and now we need to to get them down see what we've got and send off results to uh to an expert um to assess what kind of species we [Music] have it's actually really exciting to be a part of what's going on I think Chris has been wanting to do this for a while but he's just needed to have the right kind of people to know how to get this off the ground and how to get it happening so um yeah it's yeah I think we're on the precipice of some good good results so it's really useful as a conservation group we've allowed this Corridor of grassland and scrub for reptiles to help breed and be successful along this route so here we've had one grass snake which is very successful for this season and hopefully we'll find more um The Following season [Music] I think other Farmers tend to be very interested in what we're doing here because we are trying it we are not necessarily leading the way but we're certainly trying stuff that a lot of people have written off we've got a really fortunate position on the estate where we aren't cropping to the middle of every hedge R we're not having to plow up every corner we can dedicate areas to biodiversity and we're making a real difference and maybe others will will see what we're doing like it and do the same so there's huge huge wider implications to what we're trying to do we have to put back we have to look after what we've got so that in another 100 years in another 200 years there will still be people here enjoying this estate as I do
