Wildlife Report - April 2006

Langmead Farms continue to improve the bio-diversity on all of our farms especially on the 900 acres of organically farmed land.  All the farms will now have a 6 metre field margin which will act as a wildlife corridor which means that we will have at least 12kms of additional managed habitat.  Each year at least 400 metres of new hedgerow is planted and improved management of the hedges and copses is on-going. 

Recently constructed beetle banks will give more diversity and where they are planted across the fields they are designed to prevent erosion, particularly at Petworth. So the outlook is very positive for the development of all wildlife and wild plants on our farms.

Birds

At the top of the food chain we have the Raptors and Barn Owls which have been regularly seen on our farms at Petworth and Selsey, all using nest boxes that we have installed.  Common Buzzards continue their expansion and can be regularly seen on all our farms and have recently started nesting south of the A27.  Sparrow Hawks continue their relentless expansion at the expense of song birds and it would seem with all this competition the kestrel may eventually decline in numbers.  We have not seen the Peregrine Falcons during this period but expect them to return to the nesting site on Chichester Cathedral. 

It is pleasing to note that most of the common farmland birds are now holding their own and we have seen a marked improvement in the number of Grey Partridges which can now be seen on most of our farms and we are hoping to see a further increase in the number of Skylarks, Yellow Hammers and Corn Buntings all of which have been in decline until recently.  The numbers of Brent Geese in the area have been high but fortunately they have not been a big problem on our winter cereals this year.  The rarest bird seen on the farms was a Barnacle Goose amongst a flock of 1,100 dark bellied Brent Geese at Home Farm, Selsey. 

Butterflies

In spite of a cold January, February and March we have already seen Brimstone and Red Admiral butterflies.

Hunston Copse

This is the largest wood still being coppiced on the Chichester Plain.  During April, the bluebells will be flowering above the white wood anemonies and the yellow celandines.  Access to this copse is available via the footpath from Hunston Church and a permissive path remains open through the middle of the copse.  Further work is being carried out by volunteers and students on the coppicing and construction of beetle banks.  Additional planting in co-operation with West Sussex County Council has continued.  A lot of elder has been removed and these areas have been re-planted with hazel.

Access

Langmead Farms maintains at least 3.8Kms of footpaths on our farms some of which are also bridleways and we encourage all country-lovers to use these paths whenever possible.  As we are growing edible crops we request that all dogs are kept on a lead.  Your co-operation is appreciated.