Golden Yellow to Brown

The palette of Suffolk changes from golden yellow to brown over a few weeks in August. Farming is constantly searching for ways to become more efficient and profitable. At no time is this more obvious than harvest, far fewer fields are now left into autumn as stubble. Of course, this affects wildlife that had to adapt to these changes.

Early August fields in Suffolk

Harvest is the busiest time of year on an arable farm. From July the main income of an arable farm is standing out in the fields and needs to be harvested at the right time to maximise the value of the crops. The main challenge is the weather but people and mechanical breakdowns have to be managed as well. Oil seed rape is usually the first crop to ripen followed by winter barley, oats and then wheat.

Robert harvesting oats at Halls Farm Norton. August Suffolk

Long sunny days are ideal for harvest because the grain and seed have low moisture content.  Drying grain after it has been harvested is a major expense in wetter summers. Many farmers also try to speed up harvest and the drying process by spraying crops with herbicide. This is very common with oil seed rape, as often the seed will be dry and dropping from the plants before the thick stalks are dry enough to go through the combine harvester.

In Mid Suffolk the most important crop is wheat as it thrives on the heavy clay soils and provides the main income of most arable farms. The best price can be obtained for milling wheat that is used for making bread flour. Growing milling wheat means doing every thing right for the 10 months it is growing in the field and being lucky with the weather, not least having dry weather at the optimal harvest time. Wheat that is harvested late can lose protein levels and is then classified as much less valuable feed wheat.

Cultivating a stubble field, late July Suffolk

The rapid change from yellow to brown happens for several reasons. The most important crops in Mid Suffolk are mostly sown before the winter. If these can be sown earlier they can get well established before the winter weather and are ready to grow strongly in the spring. Preparing the seed beds early allows post-harvest weeds to be controlled early and soil-conditioning chopped straw to be cultivated in. Winter cereals and rape are sown early to take advantage of the late summer and autumn rain. And, of course the newest tractors and cultivators are so large and powerful that the previous days harvested fields can be cultivated the following morning while waiting for that day’s crops to dry for combining.

Seed eating birds used to depend on stubble fields for food into the winter. Large flocks of birds like House Sparrows and Linnets would eat spilt grain and weed seeds. Modern combine harvesters hardly miss anything and most efficient Suffolk arable farms are almost devoid of seed eating birds in late summer and autumn, village gardens and town fringes are where they live now.

Roe Deer in tall summer flowers at Halls Farm, early morning August Suffolk.Capreolus capreolus

Halls Farm and Little Haugh are an exception to this. Stubble is left longer because all of the oat straw is baled and removed which takes time. But the main difference is that much the 5% of land that is not in production is sown with a seed-rich mix of plants that are left all winter, principally for the game birds shot on the farms. Flocks of Skylarks, Yellow hammers, Linnets and other seed-eaters, including scarce tree sparrows, thrive all winter on the food and shelter provided by the small percentage of land not used for arable production.

Seed rich bird mix at Halls farm Noton

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