I recently attended the FWAG silver pintail awards for Gloucestershire.  It was a very interesting evening which highlighted the many simple but very effective ways in which every farmer could incorporate some simple management options alongside their normal farming activities to have an incredible benefit to some of our more secretive wildlife species such as hazel dormice, harvest mice, water voles, bats and the ever-declining hedgehog.

Rough grassland, field margins with areas left uncut regularly and good hedges with plenty of growth underneath and hedgerow trees and ponds were all discussed as vitally important habitats to support healthy populations of small mammals.  Bankside vegetation along streams and ditches was also discussed as an important element.  These small mammal populations are an important food source for some of our most loved and iconic farmland species such as the barn owl, so if you are providing good quality habitat for these small mammals it will increase the biodiversity of your farm with a wide range of other species feeling the benefit.

All of these habitat management options can be funded through the Mid and Higher Tier countryside stewardship schemes and these schemes can be tailored around your farm and what you want to achieve.  We are seeing great success on many of the farms in the schemes.  This year we submitted 46 Mid-Tier applications, and this equates to £2,327,310 worth of payments and £895,058 in capital items for our clients.

If you wish to discuss what you could do to improve the biodiversity on your farm and the payments you could receive to support this, please contact Natasha at natashajames@fcgagric.com or your local FCG office.