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Countryman
Diary - November 2007
I await with bated breath the consequences
of the EU Agricultural Council’s decisions to stop, in
2008, payments to farmers who set aside land for nature. The
countryside, the environment and all kinds of birds and mammals
have benefited from set aside but it remains to be seen if farmers
will now bring the land into production to cover any shortfall
in income.
On hearing of the EU decree, Secretary of State
for DEFRA Hilary Benn announced a programme of environmental
monitoring of farmland through DEFRA’s Agricultural Change
and Environment Observatory (ACEO) to assess what happens on
the ground in ‘the next few months’ and to provide
a firmer basis for future action. DEFRA claims that up to 200,000
hectares of arable land in England are likely to remain uncropped
and that land in longer term set aside and many of the more environmentally
valuable areas are unlikely to be brought back into production
at short notice.
Hilary Benn said: “I welcome the assurances
given by the presidents of the National Farmers’ Union
and Country Land and Business Association that the farming industry
as a whole is committed to shouldering its full environmental
responsibilities in relation to all the land that it manages,
including land that has been in set aside up to now.”
Natural England and the Environment Agency
have warned that loss of set aside on a large scale will be bad
for the environment and biodiversity and regret there will be
no safeguards in place to ensure that the environmental legacy
of set aside is maintained.
Sir Martin Doughty, chairman of Natural England,
said: “We welcome the Secretary of State’s commitment
to seek a long term solution. We will continue to work with DEFRA
and land managers to monitor the effects of this decision on
the environment. However, the fact remains that this is a disappointing
decision which could have serious consequences for the natural
environment, particularly in the context of rising commodity
prices. An area the size of Warwickshire could return to production,
putting rare plants and threatened farmland birds at risk. With
farmers having strong financial incentives to expand their production,
the environmental benefits which set aside delivered on a large
scale could well be lost.”
Sir John Harman, chairman of the Environment
Agency, added: “In our joint document, Good Farming Better
Environment, the NFU and FUW signed up to addressing environmental
challenges. This reduction in the set aside rate will make it
more difficult to deliver. There is now a real urgency for the
farming community to work with DEFRA, the Environment Agency
and Natural England to demonstrate a commitment to caring for
the farmed environment. We call upon farmers not to plough up
at least their non-rotational set aside but manage it for the
environment as they have done for some years.”
The European Commission first introduced set
aside into the Common Agricultural Policy in 1988 as a supply
control mechanism in response to the over production of cereals
during the 1980s. Some set aside land is already coming back
into production as a result of rules allowing farmers to grow
biofuels on it.
Most set aside is managed on a rotational basis,
which can provide seed food for birds through the winter. The
remainder is non-rotational which can buffer wildlife habitats,
protect watercourses and soils, and provide nesting and insect-rich
habitat through the summer.
Seed foragers heading your way
Although it appears to have been a bumper autumn
for Britain’s fruit growers, the seed crops produced by
many trees have been patchy at best. Experts predict this will
have a knock-on effect on bird populations, with many likely
to turn to garden feeding stations in greater numbers this winter.
Evidence collated by experts at the British Trust for Ornithology
(BTO) suggests that the seed crops of many trees have been very
poor this year. The beechmast crop, in particular, has been down
in many counties and in other areas has failed altogether. Similarly,
a paucity of acorns has been noted widely and we are already
seeing the knock-on effects of this, with large numbers of jays
on the move. Equally important has been the lack of conifer seed,
an important winter food for siskins and crossbills.
David Glue, BTO Research Ecologist, commented: “Most
tree species are unable to produce large crops of seed year after
year. Indeed, there are good ecological reasons why they should
follow a sizeable crop with a far smaller one. After the large
crops of last autumn, it should come as no surprise to see such
small crops this year. This means that there will be very little
natural food around for many seed-eating birds and we will see
these turn to bird tables in much greater numbers.”
Mike Toms, BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch Organiser,
said that birds like siskin, coal tit, great spotted woodpecker
and nuthatch are significantly more likely to use gardens when
natural seed crops are low. Now is very much the time to be stocking
up on suitable seed mixes for what should prove to be a busy
winter of garden bird feeding.”
A free leaflet explaining how to attract and
feed birds, is available from GBW Feeding Leaflet, BTO, The Nunnery,
Thetford, Norfolk, IP24 2PU or by calling 01842 750050.
I receive many fascinating photographs from
readers and I have to apologise because I can’t print all
of them in the magazine due to pressure on space. But now, those
of you with access to the internet can view many of these images
on in our special Readers' Gallery section.
Apologies for moving Westcombe along the south
coast in October’s magazine. The stunning picture on page
100 was Westcombe Bay in Devon (near Bigbury Bay) not Westcombe
in Somerset.
Winners of our Barbour competition (Sep) were:
1st prize – Barbour fleece jacket and waistcoat – Mrs
S Oldham, Melton Mowbray ; runners-up – Merino cashmere
scarve – Miss R F Haughton, Stockport; Lee Phipps, Tamworth;
Humphrey Saunders, Norwich. Thanks to all who entered.
Paul Jackson |
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