THIS spring, as I walked around the field behind our home on the Dorset/Somerset border, I was excited-very excited. I have toads in places where they have never been before and barn owls in my nesting box.
As a retired gamekeeper, I have mixed views about the current trend for 'rewilding' Instead, I think it's far better to 'farm Nature', by putting in place the many requirements that flora and fauna need to thrive. After 40 years of looking after land and manipulating habitats essentially to increase numbers of wild game birds-I am well aware of the immense benefits that this management brings to wildlife. However, there are gaps in this approach and a lack of continuity that breaks the lifecycle of many creatures, as well as crops that only fulfil part of their needs for a short period. In so many cases, Nature is in conflict with other land uses, such as agriculture, as he who pays the piper calls the tune.
My last two keepering jobs were Holkham in north Norfolk and Langholm in south-west Scotland both massive and marvellous privately owned estates that are rich in wildlife, but not without their issues. Therefore, when we moved to the West Country six years ago, my wife, Paula, knew I would go stir crazy if I had no land to play with. Fortunately, we bought a lovely property, in a small hamlet near Sherborne, with a 32-acre paddock.
The field had been grazed by a local farmer ever since the previous owners' daughters gave up their ponies. It's surrounded by intensive dairy and sheep farms, which are sadly bereft of a lot of wildlife, as so many hedges have been grazed out. What's more, the livestock needs a lot of grass, which creates a bland monoculture that's regularly doused in slurry and cut numerous times for silage-if it's not grass, it's maize-none of which is great for the birds, bees or wildflowers.
Esta historia es de la edición August 03, 2022 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición August 03, 2022 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
