I have had a request for information regarding how to manage a 13.4 acre site for birds. The site is owned by Eaton College and is regarded as long term investment which they would eventually like to utilise as a visitor facility. The site (pH 6) has been in set-aside for a number of years and has regenerated successfully with a good number of wildflowers, insects and invertebrates such as the glow worm. They want to convert half of the site into a giant 'bird table' and attract as many birds as possible. I have advised that it would be a good idea to sow a mix of kale, cereal and quinoa and re-establish every two years. They want to leave the other half of the site as a wildflower meadow and they would like some advice on how to manage it. Does anyone have any ideas???
They also have a pond (15x20m) which they would like to manage in a way that benefits birds and insects such as dragonflies. Does anyone have any advice they would like to give on how best they can achieve this?
Your thoughts on any or all of the above issues would be appreciated.
Half of 13.4 acres is a very large area to turn into wild bird cover. Game Conservancy Trust research showed that areas in excess of 1 ha (2.5 acres) are particularly beneficial to seed-eating birds, but Entry Level Stewardship only funds plots of up to 0.5 ha. Higher Level Stewardship may fund larger plots if specific target species of HLS are present to take advantage of it (eg grey partridge, tree sparrow, corn bunting or cirl bunting) and the populations are large enough to warrant it.
Given the floristic and insect diversity already attracted to the regeneration on the set-side, it is also worth checking that the existing wildlife value of the site is not compromised by cultivating this area to establish a wild bird seed mixture.
Good idea to try to work with what you have regarding the wildflower meadow. If you cultivate to sow a new mix, you will loose the invertebrate community that has built up. Leaving a couple of meters along the margins and corners uncut will extend the availability of seeds and nectar and provide valuable rough vegetation for small mammals and insects to over-winter. Ideally the site would be aftermath grazed with livestock as dunging and trampling create important niches for seeds to germinate. If it cannot be grazed then you are likely to need to cut (and remove) vegetation again later in the year.
I agree with the comments about the Wild Bird Seed Mixture, as the Kale, Quinoa and Cereal mix is tried and tested. However, where you have the size of plot(s) that would be available here, I would strongly recommend the use of additional species such as Millet, Linseed, Camelina (Gold of Pleasure), Buckwheat and perhaps Sunflowers. All of these appeal to a more limited range of species, but why not broaden the appeal when you have the resources. The disadvantage of almost all seed bearing crops is that they are annual, so they need replanting every year. They also tend to benefit from the application of fertilizer as this increases the seed yield.
Of all the above species I have found a mix of Red & White Millet to be a most cost effective and easy to grow seed crop. It has been invariably full of small birds but the seed is now almost gone. It is a dilema as the "Hungry Gap" period could only just be starting, if the weather turned cold, and that is when these crops are most needed. Quinoa can hold onto the seed for a bit longer but even that is now getting sparse. Linseed has some longevity and the oily seed doesn't rot very quickly.
Pond Management
For general advice on managing ponds see my reply to the other recent pond question.
Ponds need litttle management and in the brief circumstances outlined, and if there was enough resources, the best approach could be to over a period of time create a series of ponds on site rather than worry about trying to create and manage one perfect pond for suitable for everything (which is of course impossible).
The existing pond is a good size and in the same area or elsewhere on site a number of different sized, shaped and depthed ponds could be made from very small shallow scrapes (as little as 1 square metre and a few centimetres deep) to larger and deeper bodies. Try to create areas of permanent water, but also ensure that there are areas that dry out on a regular basis every year and others that do so over a longer cycle. The shallow margin of a pond which dries out on a seasonal basis (the drawdown zone) is one of the richest parts of a pond where dry ground species meet semi aquatic and aquatic species ... It is an edge habitat and thus very rich , often richer than in this case the more specialist pure open water habitat.
For guidance our defintion of a pond is a body of water between 1 square metre and 2 hecatres (larger than this is a lake) which holds water for at least 4 months of the year. There are no other major qualifying conditions i.e. amount of shade, plants ......
If you have the space you can let your imagination go wild and create the most fabulous habitat mosiacs between dry terrestrial habitats and bigger bodies of deeper open water for some of the bigger wildfowl ....
Rod d'Ayala, Ponds Officer for Pond Conservation, Oxford Brookes University