Farms at: Wetwang near Beverley
Farm size and type: 400 acres predominantly arable
Produces: Feed wheat, malting barley, oilseed rape, vining peas and seed potatoes
Other features: 20 acres of rough grassland dale and pasture; a small number of native Jacob sheep
Environmental Management: Ten years in Countryside Stewardship Scheme. Entry Level Environmental Stewardship Scheme now involved in both Entry Level and Higher Level Scheme. 20 acres managed directly for the benefit of wildlife
Environmental management features: Wide grass margins; low input grassland; extensive tree planting (2000), planting pollen and nectar mix, wild bird cover, Skylark Plots. Five acres of over-winter stubbles followed by fallow. Seven miles of hedges cut every two years.
Bird species benefitting from the farms environmental management: Lapwing, Grey Partridge; Yellow Hammers; Tree Sparrow: Skylark: Red Kite: Marsh Harriers and Peregrine Falcons.
Other species on the farm: Badgers, foxes, roe deer, stoats, weasels and brown hares.
Barn Owls
As part of his environmental management work Phil has put in place specific measures to encourage barn owls, joining the Wolds Barn Owl Group. Specific measures include:
a network of interlinking uncultivated margins around fields to provide hunting ‘corridors’
establishment of four special nest boxes in different locations around the farm
availability of food (mice trapped on the farm) fed in the granary during adverse weather conditions
Other measures include restricted use of rodenticides on the farm to try and ensure barn owls do not become unintended victims. Phil mainly uses instant kill traps. Where rodenticides have to be used, if specific problems occur, these are used in a very targeted way.
As a result he has seen barn owls thrive on the farm – in the first year that nest boxes were available the first pair fledged three chicks.
The farm had a massive set-back in 2012 when the very adverse winter decimated his barn owl population. Unable to hunt in the wet weather, Phil found a number of dead birds in the fields.
He has seen at least one Barn Owl hunting again in his fields and hopes the population will recover.
“I have really enjoyed seeing barn owls ‘born and bred’ on the farm reaching maturity and thriving,” he said. “It was heart-breaking to find them dead in the wake of two bad winters, but I hope that the measures I have in place will help encourage them back and help them recover.
“In many ways my farm is not special. It’s not huge and it is not a wildlife ‘sanctuary’. It is a commercial arable business producing cereals such as wheat and barley, oil seed rape and potatoes. But it is home to a lot of different birds and animals and I welcome them.”