Guest author: Rachel Richards, B-Lines Officer at Buglife

B-Lines is a network of 3 km wide, ‘insect super highways’ running through the landscape, urban and rural, running north to south and east to west. We are focusing flower-rich habitat creation and enhancement work within these corridors, creating stepping stones of pollinator friendly habitat to enable pollinators to move more freely through the landscape. Many small, solitary bees will only travel up to 300m to forage between feeding areas, so large arable fields that separate small flower-rich areas can be a barrier to their movement.  

Since the 1930s 97% of wildflower-rich grasslands in England (an area the size of Wales) have been lost, reducing the food and shelter for an abundance of wildlife, especially pollinating insects. In an effort to replace some of this lost habitat, flower-rich grassland is being created and enhanced along the B-Lines network, by individuals and organisations working alone and in partnership with Buglife. This includes community groups, councils, businesses, water boards, charities and, of course, farmers, as the managers of around 70% of the UK countryside.

Many farmers invest time and resources into supporting nature on their land through involvement in Agri-environment Schemes or by signing up to the Fair to Nature certification scheme. Within these schemes, there is an emphasis on making space for nature and on the creation and management of flower-rich areas for pollinators, work which also supports B-Lines.

James Hawkins of Warren Farm, Herefordshire is a tenant farmer and chair of Herefordshire Meadows, who with support from Plantlife, the Prince of Wales Charitable Foundation, Duke of Cornwall’s Benevolent Fund and Herefordshire Meadows has created and restored around 16ha of species rich grassland across four fields within B-Lines in just the last few years.

At Warren Farm, where environmental management is at the heart of the farm business, James’ driver to create these flower-rich areas is to help wildlife, especially pollinators, thrive on the land they manage. Some of the fields are currently within a Higher Level Stewardship agreement and will move to the species-rich grassland management options within the new scheme.  James explained that two of the fields were arable reversion and two were permanent grassland. One of the fields was “that one bad field that everyone has”, where James managed to prepare the seed bed through a hay cut and then scarifying, avoiding the need to spray it off.

Farmers often struggle to prepare a site for the creation of a wildflower meadow without the use of herbicides such as glyphosate, as understandably the regrowth of weeds can result in work further down the line. However, increasingly, wildlife-friendly farmers are trying to find ways to work without or with minimal use of herbicides and pesticides. Something which we at Buglife, fully encourage, as this results in a safe, chemical-free environment for pollinators and other wildlife.

Once the seedbed had been prepared, they used a combination of brush harvested seed collected from a nearby species-rich meadow, and commercial native wildflower seed from Emorsgate Seeds. When creating wildflower rich areas for pollinators, the most valuable areas are often those which use either native locally sourced or grown seed, as these recreate the grassland communities naturally found in their geographic area. Using local seed means that plants will be adapted to local conditions (soil, climate, pests and disease) and that plants will be used by the resident insect species which are also adapted to these plants and their flowering times.  

Slits for the seed were cut using a scarifier and the spread seed was then rolled in. Three years later, and the fields are awash with native wildflowers including Bee Orchid, Yellow Rattle, Birds-foot Trefoil, Red and White Clover, Common Knapweed, Autumn Hawkbit and Common Spotted Orchid, and an abundance of pollinators and other insects. The area is managed most years by an annual hay cut after the 15^th July. During some drier years it may be mob grazed by cattle or sheep instead of the cut.

I think you will agree that the meadow looks amazing and along with the wildlife benefits, the meadows provides nutritional hay for farm stock.

We would love to hear about similar work that other farmers are carrying out to benefit pollinators as we are writing case studies to enable farmers to inspire other farmers. Please contact us at info@buglife.org.uk to share your work, including what does and doesn’t work.

Visit Buglife’s interactive web map to see if your land is within a B-lines and please add any work you have done for pollinators on to our map. 

For guidance in creating and managing wildflower-rich grassland have a look at Land Owner Guidance – Buglife.

All photos are credited to James Hawkins.

Author: Kevin Rylands, Fair to Nature Advisory Development Officer

Did you know Fair to Nature is helping to conserve one of the UK’s rarest plants? Large Venus’s Looking-glass Legousia speculum-veneris grows at only one site in the UK. This farm carefully manages the field as part of their Fair to Nature Farm Plan, annually cultivating an arable margin to create an open, herbicide free, wildflower spectacle.

Last year, when undertaking the Fair to Nature habitat audit, there was a very good display with at least 375 flowering plants but in other years perhaps only half a dozen plants flower. To protect such a small population from disaster, e.g. a stray contractor boom, fire etc, Fair to Nature worked with the farm and Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) to ensure some seed was harvested and conserved in case something were to go wrong on site.

This happened in the autumn of 2021, and Kew’s staff and volunteers made a great collection of seed, which has now been processed, counted (all 11,504 of them) and stored in the MSB’s subterranean Sussex vaults at a balmy -20C.  Not only that, whilst on the farm Kew took the opportunity to also collect seeds from the nationally scarce and rapidly declining Corn Spurrey Spergula arvensis with 14,241 seeds in cold store awaiting future conservation opportunities.

Author: Shelley Abbott, Fair to Nature Facilitator

This June the RSPB agriculture team attended the Groundswell regenerative agriculture show and conference, held in Hertfordshire, UK. It’s the 6^th year of this show and the second time we’ve attended and it’s grown in just that one year! Over 5,000 people attended this year’s show and it not only attracts farmers but also policy makers and influencers, as well as lovers of sustainable food. At its heart though, Groundswell is a farmer led show for farmers, exploring the ways of working with nature to grow food in a sustainable way, and that includes being profitable.

The event was founded by the Cherry family on their mixed farm in Hertfordshire and was born out of frustration at the lack of agricultural events that talked about soil health. The family farm went down the route of no-till in 2010 to improve the soil so the events that focussed on tillage were no longer applicable. At the exit to the carparking field stands an up-ended plough, signifying the journey from the days where ploughing the land to prepare for the next crop was common-place to nowadays where minimum tillage (min-till) or no tillage (no-till) are becoming the norm. We know more now about the biology of soil, the ecosystems that thrive within it, the carbon that can be locked up by those ecosystems and the significant benefits that healthy soil an bring to the crops that grow in it.

The theme of our stand at Groundswell this year was ‘Nature supporting farmers’, focussing on beneficial invertebrates, soil health and resilience, and nature underpinning food production. Pollinators and soil health are key to a farm’s success and our message was to strengthen farmers’ understanding of the various ways of working with nature on their farms to ensure the best outcomes for themselves and the environment.

The stand featured the main projects that the team is working on. The Farm Wildlife 6 key elements* reinforce much of the work of the RSPB agriculture team. If parts of all 6 elements are present on a farm, there is a good chance that farmland biodiversity will thrive there. Being based on these 6 key elements, the Fair to Nature Standard is a way of certifying the work for biodiversity and demonstrating nature-friendly farming to customers. Hope Farm is our own example of practising what we preach, embracing the 6 key elements, being a member of Fair to Nature and trialling ways of working with nature to achieve the desired outcomes. The Volunteer Monitoring of Farm Wildlife project is helping farmers to monitor the impacts of their nature-friendly farming by matching them up with trained volunteers who carry out bird, bumblebee, butterfly and pollinator surveys.

Over the two days at Groundswell, Bex Cartwright, from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, and RSPB Agricultural Advice Project Manager Catherine Jones, demonstrated how to carry out a UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme FIT Count, a simple 10 minute monitoring of pollinating insects visiting certain flower types within a quadrat.

We were also signing visitors up to our Farming E-news, a quarterly newsletter showcasing the RSPB’s work in the agricultural sector.

As usual, our handy tractor cab guides to farmland birds proved popular with visitors seeking to find out what birds are visiting their farms and what habitats those birds favour.

We had a good number of visitors to our stand over the two days, lots of farmers but also other innovators in regenerative agriculture and policy influencers.

Those of us staffing the stand also got the opportunity to attend some of the 120+ talks and demonstrations that took place, including Dung Beetle safaris, the practicalities and benefits of cover crops, discussions on agroforestry, on climate friendly farming, on supply chain opportunities, on the National Food strategy one year on, on Nature Positive farming by 2030.

*The Farm Wildlife Partnership advocates that to help farmland wildlife the most, it is best to implement advice from these 6 key elements: existing habitats; field boundaries; wet features; flower-rich habitats; seed-rich habitats; and the farmed area.

All images are the property of Shelley Abbott and Fair to Nature.

Author: Kevin Rylands, Fair to Nature Advisory Development Officer

Spring is on the march, moving on a SW-NE axis through the UK at roughly 2mph a day. This measurement is based on the first dates of natural Spring sightings including Swallows, frog spawn, Orange-tip butterflies and Hawthorn leaf and bud burst. For some the omission of Snowdrop or Primrose from this list might seem strange but the presence of the Swallow is universally accepted.  A widespread species it is seen as a harbinger of Spring throughout the Northern Hemisphere.

It is well known a single Swallow does not make the summer but it takes a hard soul not to be lifted when the first one returns to the farm, twittering away perched on a wire or hunting insects low over a pond. It is this latter behaviour, especially in autumn, that lead to the theory they hibernated in mud below the water, reawakening with the arrival of Spring.

To us this idea may seem daft and far-fetched, but the truth is more amazing than the myth, these little bundles of feathers, weighing less than an AA battery (unladen), migrate on a 12,000 mile return trip to southern Africa. Not only have they been feeding around elephants and giraffes a few weeks previously, they then return to the same farm, with 44% of pairs reoccupying the same nest!

The use of the same nest may be linked to good feeding nearby, those breeding on farms with livestock rearing larger broods, but the mud and saliva build requires an average of 1,300 trips to gather enough material, therefore, it is well worth repairing last year’s nest rather than starting again. This also allows them to save energy for the hectic process of raising young; once they have hatched they must bring back up to 8,000 insects every day over the next three weeks, before the chicks are ready for their first flight. With up to three broods a year, each pair provides a valuable service in natural pest control.

How can nature friendly farmers help these aerial feeders?

Swallows and other aerial feeders, such as Swifts and House Martins, traditionally nested in cliffs, caves and hollow trees, but they have adapted to the human environment and now the vast majority make their nests in and around buildings.

These birds spend most of their lives on the wing, catching insects in the air, and drink by swooping low over water. Whilst Swallows and House Martins do perch up, often on overhead wires, Swifts usually only ever land when they are nesting, even sleeping and mating in the air. Although they have many similarities the Swift is the odd one out being more closely related to hummingbirds!

There are many ways nature friendly farmers can help these birds, providing insect rich habitats and accessible nest sites are key, but other small actions, such as ensuring a supply of wet mud and even providing nest boxes or platforms can make the difference, if droppings are a concern, place a plastic bag or other barrier under the nest.

Swifts need a clear approach to any nest site but will also use a single specially designed nest box under the eaves or even built into a building as long as there is substantial clear drop, ideally at least 5m, beneath the front of the box.

For more information on these species please see:

Swallow https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/swallow/

House Martin https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/house-martin/

Swift https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/swift/

Telling Swallow, Swift and House Martin apart

These species can be difficult to separate, especially when hawking insects against the sky but this video helps explain what features to look out for – https://www.bto.org/develop-your-skills/bird-identification/videos/bto-bird-id-hirundines-and-swift

Image credits: 

Swallow on barbed wire fence – Ben Andrews/rspb-images.com

Swallow on cable – Chris Gomershall/rspb-images.com

Swift nesting tower – Shelley Abbott/RSPB