Farm set-aside

[Dave McCormick]

Since living on a farm I have noticed (and my dad who is a farmer tell me to) we have seen an increase in number of butterflies due to farm set aside land. But next year, that is to be gone and all of fields used for growing things.

I have noticed an increase in butterfly and bird life due to having these lands, like more small/green-veined and large whites, more Orange-Tips and ringlets and meadow browns etc...

Since next year this part of fields will be done away, wonder how this will effect some species? Just like to know.

[Gruditch]

I'm afraid that if your farm set aside goes Dave so will the butterflies. We have a 11 acre set aside just 300 yards away, it has been set aside for 3 seasons now, and the number of butterfly speices has this year risen to 23, but if you look over the hedge to the next worked field nothing!.
In my oppinion farm set aside works better when the strip around the field edge variaty is used. This can link up many fields and can be used as a wild life corridor, and is more effective than a single isolated field.

Gruditch

[Bryan H]

Dave,

Why will the set-aside land be gone next year?

Is it a case of funding being withdrawn?

Bryan

[Dave McCormick]

Think this is to do with crops being grown, they want farmers to use whole field, not just keep a bit aside. Not 100% sure yet, but I think its to do with using whole fields to grow things instead of setting aside a bit of the field.

[Matsukaze]

Set-aside fields can be good for butterflies - I found Brown Argus and Small Copper breeding in one with plenty of docks etc earlier this year. Set-aside strips at the edge of fields I find tend not to be, as they are usually dominated by coarse grasses. A few browns and skippers will use these as foodplant, but invariably there is nothing for the adults to nectar on, so populations are very low.

[Gruditch]

Set aside fields are good, but tempory. As I said we have 23 species in the set aside next to us. But when the farmer decides to put the plough back in to it, thats it everything gone. If you sit on somewhere like Broughton Down, and look out over the landscape you will see Danebury Hill, Stockbridge Down, Farley Mount, and Isle of White Hill all butterfly hot spots, but all isolated by barren farm land. If all farm fields had a strip of set aside it would help conect these isolated hot spots. I fear that all set aside will be gone soon anyway, as farmers are keen to use all their land as fuel crops become the next big subsidy .

Gruditch

[Chris]

I've often wondered, driving up and down the motorways, who is responsible for the planting and upkeep of motorway verges?

More often than not, the verges are planted with small trees or are grassy but mown regularly. Wouldn't it be great if these habitats that link sites miles apart could be managed for butterflies and other animals to provide the necessary corridors to allow isolated populatoins to travel form one site to another?

To give an example, I recently drove down to Winchester to see my little brother pass out (in the military sense!!) and was impressed by the verges along the A34. They seem like they could be transformed into absolutely perfect habitat for a lot of our blues and fritillaries.

Does anybody know of any instances where the motorways are managed for butterflies? Are there restrictions/regulations on the land that prevent this? Would the highways agency be happy to let volunteers do this work?

Regards Chris

[Gruditch]

Well I've just been told that the wonderful set aside next to us is going as of next year We had 23 species this year, I think it will be interesting but probably very sad, to see what turns up next year. B@@@@d politicians

Gruditch

[George]

Hi - I wonder how much set-aside is worth for farmers. I have just been looking on the DEFRA web site and there is confusion of documents about this subject. If you look at the guidelines (54 page booklet) it must be very confusing.

Don't we just need some simple guidelines to follow! Like don't cut down hedges or remove boundaries (have discovered that it is illegal to do so without written consent - but then once they have been removed it is too late).

Or do we need to put pressure on Mr Brown and his short sighted government to stop destroying the countryside - in 30-40 years are we going to be saying "haven't seen a butterfly for years".

What a depressing thought! I am sure it will not come to that but it makes you wonder where we are heading doesn't it?

[Martin]

in 30-40 years are we going to be saying "haven't seen a butterfly for years".

I, for one, will have left the country by that stage!

Martin.

[eccles]

On the grass verges thing, there is a small but seemingly stable population of small blue surviving in the grass verges around the Bath Park and Ride car park at Odddown. Kidney vetch is everywhere, so much so that it may have been done intentionally. There are so many roadside verges and traffic islands that could be put to wildlife use with just a little imagination like the one at Odddown.

[Matsukaze]

Just a thought - I have no problem with governments spending money to conserve wildlife, but I do wonder if set-aside, and agri-environment schemes in general, are the best way to go about it. The effect appears to be to make relatively common species a little more generally distributed than they already would have been (the only actually rare butterfly to be found on farmland now is the Brown Hairstreak). Perhaps if the money that has funded set-aside were to have been given to the likes of the RSPB, Butterfly Conservation and the Wildlife Trusts, considerably more might have been achieved with it.

[Matsukaze]

Eccles

The kidney vetch was seeded intentionally. I have been buying wildflower seed from Emorsgate Seeds http://www.wildseed.co.uk and their brochure has a photograph of some of the seeded area at Odd Down in it.

Agree about the roadside verges though often it requires measures to reduce the fertility of the verge - just a mile south of Odd Down along the A367 the council cleared scrub from a section of south-facing bank last year. The scrub regenerated to the extent that they have just had to re-clear the area. Nutrient-poor substrates are better but people look at you strangely if you suggest spreading tons of chalk in banks along the side of road verges. Busy roads are not perhaps ideal in any case as vehicle exhaust acts as a fertiliser (excess nitrogen I think) and encourages lush plant growth, which crowds out some butterfly foodplants.