S ometimes a moment of surprise has years of experience behind it. Last week as I was out in the oilseed rape fields applying a cocktail of microbe food (molasses, humates and fish paste), I had quite a shock when up went a large flock of grey partridges, a covey of 26. Twelve would be considered large, with red-legged partridges only ever appearing in pairs, but I’ve not seen 26 grey here in my lifetime.
This is testament to our nature‑friendly approach to farming, including this year planting specific margins to encourage sawfly larvae, crickets, weevils and ground beetles. These insects form the entire diet of grey partridges (and yellowhammers) during their first two weeks of life. In addition, rather than just planting overwinter cover crops and “catch” crops to mop up loose nutrients and protect the soil from the elements, I now add millet, the seed of which is a boost for older birds. The idea is to create a mosaic of habitats that connect through the landscape.
Now we have had a decent drop of rain, (almost 100mm in the space of three weeks), we have started to drill the cash crops, starting with the oilseed rape (OSR) and three companion crops that will provide natural defence to it.
We plant berseem clover that provides nitrogen for the OSR, buckwheat that scavenges phosphate from the soil and makes it bio-available to the cash crop (through something called root exudates), and fenugreek which with its curry-type odour masks OSR from a pest called cabbage stem flea beetle. Through the winter, the combination of these plants will provide almost complete ground cover to protect the growing crop from the pigeons that can laser focus in on any gaps.
Next up will be the barley crops, most of which are tolerant to barley yellow dwarf virus. This virus is spread by aphids and is exacerbated by our mild winters. Thanks to the tolerance, instead of applying an insecticide I can let natural predators feast on the pests, safe in the knowledge that even if they cannot keep up with the numbers, the risk to my crop is minimal.
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