Helping to knit together a green Jersey

Jersey Royal potatoes - can only sold as such when grown on Jersey!

I spent the day on Jersey yesterday, discussing ways to progress their new Stewardship scheme that only came into being in 2005. Jersey Royal potato growers are keen to “green up” the way they grow this important and profitable crop on the island, which covers 18,000 vergees (2.25 vergees to the acre!) of land each year. Much of the crop is grown under plastic and the earliest seed potatoes (and therefore most profitable) are planted on southern facing slopes in December and January and harvested in March! This can then be followed by a spring sown crop, meaning that much of the land is annually double cropped.

The key problem is that the island is only 9 by 5 miles and has a population of 100,000 – so land is really at a premium. They also have more cars per capita than any other country in the world!! Add to this the vital grassland area, kept in place to produce the other well known produce of the island – delightful Jersey cows (25 herds of around 3,000 head) and the milk, cream and ice cream that come from them and you begin to see that conservation can easily get squeezed out! Oh, also don’t forget tourism of course – that is pretty demanding too!

Anyway, we hope to trial some new ideas to see how they fit in with the rotation of crops and other demands on the land. If everyone is up for it, and they certainly seem to be, I’m sure the wildlife can be catered for as well as everything else!



A Jersey cow on Jersey - such pretty animals!

Conservation course held at new university



Royal Agricultural University

I spent today at the Royal Agricultural University teaching the “Biodiversity section” of the 3 day course in BASIS certificate in Conservation Management. Many of you will know this establishment as the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, but it has recently gained university status and has changed its name!

There was a great bunch attending the course – Professionals, students and even someone from the island of Jersey! They were all very keen, full of questions and I hope got a lot out of the day. They particularly enjoyed getting out onto the University farm to talk practicalities of conservation and how to successfully integrate it into a modern farming system. I’m sure that such a sparky lot will do just fine when they take the exam - lets hope so!

Is yoghurt making any good for birds?

A very early start today, as I was doing a bird survey for Yeo Valley farms in Somerset – yes, that’s right the yoghurt makers!  They farm organically and are interested to know what birds are to be found on the farms they manage and also if over time the numbers are increasing because of the way in which they farm.

I must say that they do appear to be a tremendously forward thinking company – full of ideas and projects, and certainly engage with their market – in other words you and me! If you take a look at their website – I think you will get what I’m saying in an instant!!

Traditionally, British farmers have not been great at dealing with the public, however, what with farmers markets and farm shops opening up and “open farm Sunday” being such a success, to mention just a few projects - I think things are really changing now.

Over time we shall see if the wildlife in the Yeo valley is prospering too!

Noisy birds up at the "crack of sparrows"!





Urban Blackbirds work long hours

You only have to stand still for the briefest of moments on any busy city street, to realise that the whole world seems to be in one massive hectic rush! Now it appears that it is not just human “townies” that are burning the candle at both ends – birds are too!! New research from Glasgow University has revealed that city birds wake up around 30 minutes before dawn, while forest birds start their day as the sun rose. What is more, city birds stay up later too, meaning their day is lengthened by about 40 minutes.

The team said its research added "to a growing consensus" that towns and cities "have a profound effect on the internal clocks" of both humans and animals.

Another report from scientists at Aberystwyth University found male great tits in 20 UK towns and cities sang at a higher pitch to be heard above the man-made noise. Project scientists said the urban great tit reacted to man-made noise by raising the pitch of its song, but in quieter rural locations a few miles away the pitch was found to be lower.

When the calls of town birds were recorded and played back to rural birds, they did not react quite as they should! The researcher said "They were less aggressive and not quite sure what to make of it. It was like the city birds were speaking a different language. Likewise, we found city birds didn't understand the lower rural pitch."

Thank goodness I live in the middle of nowhere – I’m off for an early night!

City Great tits have to shout to be heard!



A cathedral full of flowers!



"Wildflower meadow" in Winchester Cathedral

Flower drum - ready to play!

I went to Winchester cathedral’s festival of flowers today and really enjoyed the enormously diverse mix of flowers on show. Walking through the main entrance you were instantly hit by the aroma of sweet smelling blooms, with scent wafting from strident, strong coloured “firework” like displays, through to the more typically restrained English country garden arrangements, with their calming, gentle pastel colours.

Some displays were extremely clever, such as those inspired by Timpani or kettle drums containing a plethora of brightly coloured flowers in a concave fashion, with two large “Pom-pom” headed Allium drumsticks lying casually on top, inviting someone to play them!

Pleasingly, right in the centre of the cathedral had been created a “wildflower meadow”, unfortunately not using native wildflowers, but nevertheless reminding us all how nature can quite happily compete with the best of our cultivated floral displays.

As I wandered slowly around the different displays, I couldn’t help eavesdropping on some of the conversations taking place in rather hushed tones. Before long, it became apparent to me just how deeply people love flowers and how certain plants conjure up distant memories and bring forth little stories. Just one example of many overheard snippets came from a mother and her teenage daughter who on seeing a tumbling display of white “Avalanche” roses remarked, “Oh, doesn’t that remind you of granny’s walled garden! How funny it was that she always invited us all to tea every June without fail, because she wanted us to admire her roses!” The mother then added “White roses were always her favourite - she had them in her wedding bouquet and on her coffin”. Then after a pause “wouldn’t she have loved this festival”.

The natural world is perhaps more significant to all of us than we realise and flowers in particular I think, are an important symbolic link to our past. Although technological gadgets appear to engage most people’s attention nowadays, in evolutionary terms this is a very, very recent occurrence and I believe that for most, a strong connection with the environment still lies just beneath the surface.         

          

Spaghetti grows on trees - most of us know that don't we?

"I didn't know that pasta grunted dad!"

Ok, I’ve only just come across this survey a week after it was released – but hey – I’ve been busy! Anyway, it doesn’t matter if it is a week, month or year late – it still makes for pretty shocking reading. The British Nutrition Foundation surveyed over 27,500 children across the UK and asked them all about the food they eat. Yep, you’ve guessed it – their knowledge on this subject is dreadful!

Almost a third (29%) of primary school children think that cheese comes from plants, and nearly one in five (18%) say that fish fingers come from chicken. I’m not quite sure how to react really – “FISH” fingers – I would have thought there was just the tiniest clue in the name!      

The good news is that the study found that almost 4 out of 5 primary school children had visited a farm, which is a good start, however it goes on – and I quote - “Through this survey one in five (21 per cent) primary school children and 18 per cent of secondary school pupils told us that they have never visited a farm. This may go part way to explaining why over a third (34 per cent) of 5-8 year olds and 17 per cent of 8-11 year olds believe that pasta comes from animals.” How very depressing. We once all roared with laughter at the BBC's April fool joke about spaghetti growing on trees, but I suspect it wouldn't even raise a smile today. 

Michael Gove, the education minister, just yesterday announced radical changes to the exam system in England, but it appeared to be all about algebra and Shakespeare – important subjects of course – but what could be more vital than the very stuff that sustains us all, food and water? We must surely give water, food, farming and the environment a much, much higher priority in the educational curriculum. If we realistically hope that the children of today, have any chance of overseeing a sustainably managed world in the future, we all need to act now, including Mr. Gove.