Could your farm provide space for skylark plots?

An opportunity has arisen for local farms to create skylark plots within winter-sown cereal crops, helping to provide valuable breeding and foraging habitat for this increasingly threatened farmland bird.

The Cluster is helping to identify farms that may be interested in taking part and to put interested farmers in touch with the relevant contact to find out more about the opportunity and what would be involved.

Why skylark plots?

Winter-sown cereals can become increasingly dense as the season progresses, making it more difficult for breeding skylarks to find suitable nesting habitat and places to forage.

Skylark plots are small, unsown areas created within the growing crop, providing open areas that give skylarks easier access to feeding and nesting habitat.

Research cited by the RSPB has found that providing skylark plots at a density of two per hectare can increase skylark breeding productivity by around 50%.

What is involved?

For this particular opportunity, farms are being sought who can provide suitable land for six skylark plots each year, within at least 3 hectares of winter-sown crops.

The plots are relatively straightforward to create. At drilling, the seed drill is simply lifted or turned off for a short distance to leave an unsown area of approximately 16–24m² – for example, lifting a 3m-wide drill for around 6–8 metres.

Once established, very little additional management is required and the plots can generally be managed alongside the rest of the field. Where possible, avoiding fertiliser, herbicide and pesticide applications directly over the plots can further increase their value for foraging birds.

Suitable fields should:

• be planted with winter-sown cereals or another suitable dense crop each year;

• be at least 5 hectares with an open aspect, or at least 10 hectares if bounded by trees or woodland;

• allow plots to be positioned centrally within the crop and at least 24–50 metres from field boundaries; and

• be available to provide the skylark plots for a 10-year period.

  
  

The plots would be recreated each autumn as the crop is drilled, with ecological monitoring undertaken in years 2, 5 and 10.

For this opportunity, spring-sown cereals and wildflower meadows are not being sought, as ecological advice is that skylark plots are most beneficial when created within winter-sown cereals and other dense crops.

Interested in finding out more?

If you grow winter cereals and think you may have a suitable field, please get in touch with us.

At this stage, we are helping to identify potentially interested farms. We can then put you in touch with the relevant contact, who will be able to provide further information and discuss what taking part would involve.

To register your interest, email: contact@cotswoldfarmers.org

farmland bird event - places still available

We still have some places available for our Farmland Bird Event on Friday 18 September.

Join us for a practical morning exploring how to support farmland birds through habitat management and how different approaches can align with agri-environment schemes.

Hosted by Sam Phillips at Macaroni Farm, the morning will include a farm walk to see a range of habitat enhancements in action, including Sam's FiPL project, alongside contributions from guest speakers Anna Field and Noah Walker from the West Oxfordshire Farmland Bird Project.

Places are limited – find out more and book your place.