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Case Studies

Campaign for the Farmed Environment: Wild flower margins, Lincolnshire

01.11.2005

Author: Nicholas Watts

Farm: Vine House Farm, Lincs

Aims:
The aim was to boost insect food for farmland birds through the summer. The farm is on peat soils in the Lincolnshire Fens.

Management:
The first margins were established 15 years ago. A wild flower and grass mix was purchased from Emorsgate Seeds. The seed mixture was 20% wild flowers and 80% fine grasses. Wildflowers included yarrow, common knapweed, wild carrot, lady’s bedstraw, selfheal, meadow buttercup, common sorrel and red campion. In addition, some flowering plants that were not in the original seed mix have established from the seed bank.

We cut them for hay in early August, as we have a market for it. Cutting and removing is important to reduce the fertility and maintain the floristic diversity. In addition, I have applied Fusilade (fluazifop-P-butyl) in the spring whenever I have considered that coarse grasses were becoming a problem in the previous summer. One margin was sprayed this year for the first time in 7 years. I also pull ragwort and spot-spray thistles with a knapsack sprayer. I did attempt to find a Shield-resistant mix that would allow me to control thistles with a spray of Shield (clopyralid) but have been unable to find such a mix.

Achievements:
Although the floristic diversity of the original mix has declined, they remain as diverse flower margins absolutely humming with insect life. Knapweed has not survived in some of the mixtures on the acid soils. Our 15-year-old margin still retains mallow, sorrel, wild carrot, buttercup, lady’s bedstraw and selfheal. Yarrow has remained particularly dominant. In one margin, we incorporated cowslip and betony, but these did not appear in the sward until 5 years and 8 years after sowing, respectively.

The range of birds that use them has disappointed me. They are used by skylarks, meadow pipits and linnets (which take the sorrel seeds), but apparently not by my corn buntings and other small passerines. It may be that they are too dense for them. As a result, I have tried uncropped cultivated margins as an alternative means of providing an insect-rich foraging habitat for birds.

I feel that they are a significantly better option for wildlife than the standard grass margins, and as such, the financial incentives for doing them should be increased to properly reflect the added costs of the seed mix and the management.

Web Link: http://www.vinehousefarm.co.uk/

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