Sharing Good Practice - Farming and Nature 18/5/18 ... · Sharing Good Practice - Farming and Nature 18/5/18 ‘Recording Nature on the Farm’ Teyl de Bordes . Farm Manager Whitmuir
29
Sharing Good Practice - Farming and Nature 18/5/18 ‘Recording Nature on the Farm’ Teyl de Bordes Farm Manager Whitmuir Estate Selkirk @whitmuir1
Sharing Good Practice - Farming and Nature 18/5/18
‘Recording Nature on the Farm’
Teyl de Bordes
Farm Manager Whitmuir Estate Selkirk
@whitmuir1
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Welcome to this power point with some extra information for online viewing.
Not in Lamancha! Not organic or perfect….
Presenter
Presentation Notes
We are often confused with the other Whitmuir Farm at Lamancha near Peebles. It is organic and has a restaurant, shop & visitor centre. It is run by Farmer Pete (Richie) who is involved with Scotlink who produced the information, a few weeks ago, that of a 1000 people in Scotland questioned for a poll, 77% want farmers to be paid for improvements to Nature & Environment.
Whitmuir Farm
Presenter
Presentation Notes
We are a 176 ha mixed farm. The grazing is let to a neighbour. Arable is in hand but with use of contractors. 4 holiday cottages and agri-environmental scheme income are important to make the books balance.
We have a history of taking part in environmental schemes like ESA, RSS, LMO, AECS …
Presenter
Presentation Notes
In early schemes there was very little detail needed to claim payments as this early ESA form where we got away with leaving questions unanswered!
Rapidly increasing demands for data on biodiversity changes
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Soon more detail was required. But as you can see we still did not have to have seen any changes. We did not record enough to be able to have a view on changes. It started us on a road to record more details of biodiversity on the farm.
Quest for data started with plants & moths
Presenter
Presentation Notes
We started with recording plants and moths. Some we did our selves but we also had the help of volunteers. Especially with groups like grasses which I struggle with.
I started with 5 orchids on farm, management changes have resulted in 4000+ now
Presenter
Presentation Notes
At the time we had very few orchids. Changes in grazing patterns and fencing off species rich sections has helped the orchids take off.
92 species of birds recorded
Presenter
Presentation Notes
We have recorded lots of birds with the help of volunteers from FWAG, RSPB, BTO and SOC. Sadly we no longer have Curlews nesting. Lapwings are hanging in there but we do a lot to keep them happy.
My first job was in the ‘intensive’ Dutch dairy industry
Presenter
Presentation Notes
When I was young and living in the Netherlands it was legal to eat Lapwing eggs at the start of the year. So I am partly to blame for their crash in numbers…….
Some of them we know very well…….
Presenter
Presentation Notes
We have had one friendly pair of Oystercatchers nesting on out hay shed roof for the last 9 years. I collect the chicks from the roof for the parents each year. Sadly we have never managed to get the chicks into adulthood as yet. Luckily the parents live to 40 so we have another 20 years to breed 2 replacements.
Some just visit in winter
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Some birds like Starlings drop in some winters to roost in the reed bed at Whitmuir Loch.
Winter bird feeding (an excuse to drink)
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Apart from Winter Bird seed plots we also do supplementary feeding.
Monitoring & ringing by BTO volunteer
Presenter
Presentation Notes
We have a very active BTO volunteer who does a lot of research and ringing on the farm which provides brilliant data.
LABMAG Spring & Autumn counts
Presenter
Presentation Notes
The Lothian and Borders Mammal Group do a spring and Autumn count of small mammals on the farm using 60 live traps.
Large amount of data – how to make sense?
Presenter
Presentation Notes
We have more small mammal data than most sites in Scotland. It is not always easy to make sense of it all.
Just over 600 species of fungi
Presenter
Presentation Notes
With the help of both paid and volunteer mycologists we have now managed to find over 600 species of fungi. Including one that had not been named when we collected it, It was since named from one collected in Finland and has now been found on other Scottish sites.
Some good species – no protection
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Sadly there currently is no protection for these fungi on the farm. No environmental schemes deal with this important group.
130 Lichens, 112 Mosses & Liverworts
Presenter
Presentation Notes
With the help of specialist volunteers we have also managed to look at Bryophites.
251 species Moths (42 micro 209 macro)
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Moth recording has been mostly done by me with the help of others with some of the more difficult species. We often show pictures of these moths on our Twiiter account @whitmuir1.
Presenter
Presentation Notes
On Twitter we also came across a lot of information of EC trials in Result Based payment schemes. I have taken a keen interest in this subject as I believe this is going to be a thing in the future of payments for farmers.
Results-based payments in a nutshell:
Presenter
Presentation Notes
These slides are from presentations made to a EC meeting in Brussels March 2017. There is a huge amount of data available for those interested in this subject. Sadly I do not have the time to go into any details here.
3 EC funded pilots in England, Romania & Spain/Ireland
Presenter
Presentation Notes
The Romanian Hay meadow RBP trial are of interest to us too.
Some Romanian lessons apply to us too.
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Some of the habitat management there is not to different from some of the smaller holdings / crofts up north. Also applicable of Machar on the Islands.
Natural England & Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority run 3 year pilot
Presenter
Presentation Notes
There is a lot of information available online with some very informative newsletters from the trials in England. Staff from NE & YDNPA have been very helpful with my research on this subject.
“Interestingly, some of the farmers have expressed concerns that the incentive to achieve maximum results for the winter bird food could push them towards using more chemical inputs than they perhaps feel comfortable with in an environmental scheme. Especially where pesticides are used to control pests in a winter bird food plot and it is adjacent to a pollen and nectar mix whose aim is to encourage pollinators.” from RBAPS Newsletter 3
Presenter
Presentation Notes
There is interesting data coming from the trials in England. I have no time to go into any detail but I thought the above was very interesting. This will need looking at if payments schemes are based on scoring systems.
An Irish farmer’s example showing the influence of scoring on payment rates.
Presenter
Presentation Notes
This slide from the presentation of an Irish farmer shows the importance of scoring on payments. Interesting is also that he is enthusiastic about the scheme but still is moving to a guaranteed payment scheme for the next 5 years.
In the Netherlands large AEC collectives operate
Presenter
Presentation Notes
The Dutch cooperative AEC collectives are also of interest. It is a lot cheaper to administer for the government (only about a third of the normal cost) There is great variation between collectives. There is one in Groningen with nearly 85% participation where as the national up take is only about 16%.
With thanks to the following for help in preparation of this presentation
Presenter
Presentation Notes
I could not have done without the fantastic materials and support from these orginisations.
Social Media
• Twitter: @whitmuir1
• Facebook : Whitmuir Wildlife
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Follow us on social media to keep up to date with things on the farm. Thank you for your interest and time.
