Farming Talk: Improving the environment for our wildlife

There are many ways we endeavour to improve habitat for wildlife and farm birds in particular.

We are lucky enough to have one of the most southerly grouse breeding grounds in the UK at the Stiperstones. Heather burning is a traditional, if these days unusual, way of maintaining nature's equilibrium, controlling heather and enhancing the breeding grounds for grouse.

During the crisp and balmy days we enjoyed in March a group of people from local shoots, through the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, set off to burn heather on the Stiperstones. This is work we have undertaken in collaboration with Natural England, which also undertakes heather burning, but, as with most things, is limited in resources available.

It wasn't a roaring success, but then perhaps that was a relief for the local fire service! We achieved some good swathes despite the fact that burning heather can be as temperamental as lighting any fire. And certainly our timing at the end of the season and before the current rainy season could not have been better.

We heard a dozen calling cocks. They may not all enjoy married status or even civil partnerships, however we hope most will breed successfully so that we can continue to enjoy their sight and sound on the Stiperstones.

The sight of swallows is always a heartwarming one. My first was observed on Easter Day, April 8. The GWCT has recently identified that hemp, commonly associated with marijuana, is not only becoming a profitable crop for growers as it has many commercial applications such as the manufacture of car body panels and eco-housing, it has become one of the fastest growing biomass crops producing up to 7.5 tonnes per hectare per year. It is also a highly prized crop for swallows and whitethroat.

The study investigated the wildlife benefits of growing hemp compared with oilseed rape and field beans – two other commonly grown field crops. It revealed that all three crops were used by birds as habitats for gathering food during the nesting season, but hemp was also used as a roosting site by swallows before their southward migration at the end of the summer.

And as the swallows arrive in the GWCT are harnessing ground breaking satellite tagging technology to view the journey of 12 woodcock from various locations in the UK to Russia, Scandinavia, Finland or the Baltic States. Their extraordinary 3,000 km journey back to their breeding grounds is revealed at www.woodcockwatch.com

Many of Shropshire's woodlands are now carpeted with bluebells, wood anemones and wild garlic – all can be seen at Upper Shadymoor Farm, Stapleton, this Sunday, where a bluebell and lake side walk offer a charming picture of the countryside, with miniature ponies, lambs and deer.

There is also a chance to see one of the latest farm diversifications and countryside pursuits of 'glamping'.

Tim Main is chairman of the Shropshire branch of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust