Eight hours to find and eat enough food to survive sixteen hours of winter night time darkness; starvation is the reason so many birds die during winter

Red-legged Partridge with frosty back. December Suffolk. Alectoris rufa

As the winter progresses, finding food gets tougher because berries and seeds become scarce. Birds that eat insects and invertebrates like spiders and worms have to work much harder. Buzzards are often seen looking for earthworms behind tractors working the fields in winter. By December when all the leaves have gone, finding warm shelter at night is a challenge. It is not hard to understand why much of intensively farmed Suffolk becomes devoid of birds during mid winter.

Sparrowhawk struggling to hunt in a thick winter hedge. Accipiter nisus

At Halls and Little Haugh farms, in addition to the game birds released for shooting there are very many wild birds trying to survive the winter. Birds like skylarks, yellow hammers and great-tits are joined by migrants; fieldfares, woodcock and redwings are escaping the even tougher conditions of northern Europe. Even in January and February birds are still common on the farms, especially on the 10% of the land out of production and used for game bird cover and wildlife habitats.

Goldcrest feeding in winter ash tree. Regulus regulus

The partridges, pheasants and ducks released for shooting in late summer have to be fed. The 100 tonnes of food spread on the ground and put in feeders is not only eaten by game birds; wild birds such as yellow hammers and reed buntings really benefit and can be seen in flocks on the farms over winter. Game bird shooting stops in January and on many shoots this means that feeding also stops and the remaining game birds have to find their own food or die. At Halls and Little Haugh farms, feeding continues until early summer so many more game birds survive and stay on the farms to nest naturally. The continued feeding is a huge benefit to the wild birds when natural food is most scarce.

Putting down a 100 tonnes of food has other effects on a complex natural system. An obvious effect is rats that thrive on the food. The gamekeeper, Robert, has to control the rat population and he does this by tunnel trapping and night shooting, poison is not used. Buzzards that are common on the shoot live mostly on rats as do the semi resident red kites. Catching a shot rat is much easier than a large healthy pheasant!

Robert has developed seed mixes for the game covers. Once sown, these areas are left for up to five years, and develop into dense growth that provides food and shelter, especially in the coldest part of the winter. Robert is replacing traditional maize belts with sorghum that provides more resilient cover in winter.

Game cover field, in it’s 4th year since it was planted

The hedges are allowed to grow taller and wider than on most farms and are only ever cut on one side at a time on a 4 or 5 year cycle. As a result, the hedges offer a huge food and shelter resource for wild birds through the winter.

The farms also have wide field margins, these are only cut when woody blackthorn growth gets too thick, sometimes only every two years. Again, all this thick cover provides food and shelter for wild and game birds.

Wide field margin, not cut for a year giving lots of thick protection

The many, often small but intelligent, management initiatives taken on the farms mean many wild and game birds are surviving the winter and will breed in the spring.

Healthy, well-fed birds use the cover for food, shelter and to hide from natural predators such as buzzards and sparrowhawks. This is a key reason why predators, which are common on the farms, do not cause significant problems.

I should declare an interest, I learnt about hedges at university. One of the hedges at the back of the department was at least 1000 years old and could even have been older, left over from the woods that covered Britain after the last ice age. Hedges are a window into the past and an integral part of the landscape.

Hedge 2 years after cutting, full of berries with a thick grassy margin

In Suffolk hedges are boundary markers and can help prevent soil erosion from wind and rain. On many farms hedges that were removed in the last 50 years to accommodate larger machinery have been reinstated to protect crops and topsoil and to enhance the landscape. The status of hedges is a visible indicator of agricultural policy and of the incentives available to landowners. Hedges can also be a vital resource for wildlife on intensively farmed land.

Hedge next to wild bird mix margin, year round wildlife food

Food and shelter are the key benefits for wildlife, older hedges are usually a richer resource but equally important is how the hedge is managed. Left uncut a hedge quickly becomes a row of trees, of less value and shading crops. In Suffolk hedges are managed using large tractor mounted trimmers, the job needs to be done quickly, usually in late summer between harvest and sowing winter cereals. Hedges produce fruit, berries and nuts during the summer. If the hedges are trimmed in September all this food is destroyed. On many farms regular trimming produces a neat tidy non shading hedge with virtually no food value.

Lower hedge with young oak trees allowed to grow through

Ideally hedges should be like mini woodland edges with a grassy wild flower margin with a thick woody food rich barrier. This is the aim of the hedge management at Halls and Little haugh farms. Hedges that run east west can be allowed to grow relatively tall while those growing north south are kept shorter as they shade the growing crops. Trimming is done on a 4 or 5 year cycle and only one side of a hedge is trimmed at a time so even on a trimming year one side of the hedge is providing food. On trimming years the hedge is cut back hard, this produces vigorous thick growth in the following spring. The profile of the hedge should be an inverted U or V shape. Also dotted down the hedge some shoots are left to grow into trees, there are many Oak trees like this at Halls farm. In the autumn this provides work for the jays, these colourful birds plant about 4000 acorns each and try to remember the locations but many acorns are not retrieved germinating into oak saplings round the farm.

Hedge cut back hard on one side, first year of management cycle

The hedge margins are allowed to remain thick; grass seed heads are left un-mown providing food for birds and small mammals. A recent analysis of the bones content of Barn owl pellets at Halls farm showed that scarce and vulnerable harvest mice are often caught as food. Harvest mice live in the margins between crops and hedges weaving their delicate little nests from living grass above the ground.

The only possible downside to the way hedges and field margins are managed at Halls and Little haugh farms are that the field edges look untidy compared to neighbouring farms. The upside far out-weighs this with the hedges providing food and shelter year round to wildlife, even allowing threatened species like the harvest mouse to thrive on intensively farmed arable land.

Sunday was warm with a cloudless blue sky, I tried to make the most of it, as the forecast for the rest of the week was “changeable”. Autumn is coming.

To end the day I went to see what was happening in the old hay meadow behind the straw barn at Halls Farm. The meadow is surrounded on three sides by thick hedges with old oak trees, the cut grass has grown strongly through September. The meadow slopes to the west so keeps the sun until it sets.

Watching from a corner at first it was deserted, the screeching of jays broadcasting that I had been seen. They soon relaxed and resumed their task of picking and planting acorns to feed on during the winter. Jays are meant to remember where the acorns are placed but the many oak saplings on the farm show that not all are retrieved. Behind me in the hedge a flock of more than 40 long-tailed tits flitted past me calling to each other, a sure sign that summer is over.

The sun dipped lower and a dog-like muntjack deer came nervously out of the hedge bottom, the reason for caution was clear when I spotted it had a fawn with it.

Muntjac deer side look at dusk. October evening Suffolk. Muntiacus reevesi

I then had a surprise, sitting in a hole between the straw bales in the barn was a barn owl. In the low sunlight it drifted over the meadow and caught a vole on the second circuit, back to the gap. Five minutes later the owl reappeared and another vole was caught. The barn owls living in the straw have had a second brood of 4 young, the adults have had a busy year.

Barn owl hunting the meadow, evening sunlight October. Tyto alba

As the sunlight became rosier hares started to appear to feed on the grass. Some slipped through the hedge into the meadow, but others just appeared. They must have been lying low in their forms unseen by me. The light dimmed and the hares became more active, the males looking for responsive females. One unresponsive female seemed to be feeding her leverets, although I could not be sure. The hares knew I was there, most kept their distance but a few did not care or were curious. One came within 5 metres, creeping and eating before losing it nerve and bouncing off.

Brown Hare eating in a hay meadow. October evening Lepus europaeus

Before the light failed there were more than 15 hares in the meadow. As I retreated back to the car, bats were coming out of the barn to make the most of the autumn insect life before the temperature dipped.

The meadow is small, only 2 or 3 acres lightly managed and of no economic value but invaluable as a natural home and place of wonder.

Brown Hare low and close in a hay meadow. October evening Lepus europaeus

Last week we were walking the dog at Halls farm. We reached the hedge at the top of the field but instead of following the usual path to the right we turned left, a new route that would eventually lead back to the car via the butterfly hedge I wrote about in the summer. 100 meters from where we turned there is a large old oak in the hedge, the hole in the oak was dotted with white fluffy feathers. This was clear evidence of a new Barn owl nest on the farm.

Barn Owls, watchful waiting in an Oak tree. July evening, Suffolk. Tyto alba

This means that at least 5 pairs of Barns owls have nested at Halls and Little Haugh farms this year and more than 15 young Barn owls need somewhere to hunt and live. As soon as young owls are old enough to hunt the parent birds drive them away from their hunting territory. Being a young Barn owl is tough, even in a good winter more than half will be dead by spring.

Young Barn owls need to find their own hunting territory and somewhere to shelter when not hunting. Most of the old barns in Suffolk have been converted into houses and there are not enough holes in old trees to go around. Fortunately large parts of little Haugh farm are suitable hunting areas for Barn owls, these potential territories are probably not occupied because of lack of suitable homes.

So over the last 2 weeks we have put up 14 new owl boxes. The new boxes are in pairs quite close together. When Barn owls are preparing to breed in late winter the male is excluded from the nest, the second box gives him a place to shelter close to the female.

Newly errected Barn owl box

Of course it is very unlikely that Barn owls will occupy all seven pairs of boxes. However, the nest boxes are also ideal for Tawny owls, Little owls and Kestrels. Stock doves have also really benefited from the boxes that have been erected all over Suffolk.

The new boxes will be monitored as part of the Suffolk Community Barn Owl Project as a licence is needed to check boxes occupied by Barn owls. It can take more than a year for new boxes to be used for breeding. I will carefully check the boxes and report back here how the new homes are being used.

Errecting Barn owl box in Oak tree

A wood pigeon is often sitting on the fence by our backdoor even though we are walking in and out only a few metres away. Pigeons are also happy to sit eating under the bird feeder when we are in the garden, even the dog does not scare them. However the same birds will fly away instantly when they see us outside the village.

Wood pigeons are clever, adaptable and learn from each other. They can breed most months of the year, vary their diet depending on what is available, and are very mobile. Many pigeons in the large winter flocks in the East of England have come over from Europe. They come for two main reasons; oilseed rape and milder weather.

Wood Pigeon flock moving to the next field

Oilseed rape is an important break crop on arable Suffolk farms. It is sown just after harvest, often in late August, and grows slowly all winter before shooting away in the following spring. The growing rape plants are a favourite winter food for pigeons and a flock can strip a field of rape to bare stalks in a few days and seriously effect the crop yield at harvest.

Young Wood pigeon learning to eat acorns from its parents

From late August gas-powered bangers appear in rape fields and for nearly 9 months of the year much of Suffolk resounds to their repeated bangs. During autumn the pigeon population is small and damage to rape seedlings is low. The local birds have learnt that the bangs are harmless. They, and most wildlife, ignore them and even the really big guns used to deter birds roosting in woodland are ignored. These canons resound like artillery across the countryside in the early morning and evening. The main effect is to scare walkers, horse riders and wake up late sleepers.

As winter starts to bite the large flocks of pigeons start to come in from Europe in search of food and warmer weather. These migrants mingle with local birds, quickly learning that the bangs are annoying but harmless. If the pigeons move at all they  just fly gently over to the next field of rape to feed. The guns alone lead to more crop damage, as the birds need to eat more to power their flight between fields. Extra guns and bangs have no deterrent effect any more.

Wood pigeons are clever and do learn, but they are not super intelligent; they learn slowly and their default behaviour is to fly away fast from unexpected danger. Gas guns can be effective if they are introduced later in the winter when the large flocks arrive. Kites that imitate birds of prey are very useful if moved around the rape frequently. Close to my village a Peregrine falcon has been a frequent winter visitor and the ultimate deterrent. The peregrine clears the pigeons within a 1 km radius when he is sitting on his pylon perch. Sparrow hawks also heavily target pigeons during the winter scattering them when they swoop over a hedge.  Encouraging walkers also helps, the pigeons never know if the walker might have a shotgun.

Peregrine on Suffolk Pylon, the ultimate Wood pigeon deterrent

Wood pigeons are a major pest and need to be managed. However, over reliance on gas guns is becoming increasingly ineffective. A more random mix of human deterrents and encouraging natural predators is more successful in protecting vulnerable winter rape fields. But at the moment the incessant banging in parts of Suffolk increases and the bird brains are winning out.

It is like a tidal wave opening before me. Early in the morning when I drive down the farm tracks Red-legged partridges run ahead and fly low to get out of the way, in the mirror I can see them come back onto the track.

Red-legged Partridge pair, morning disagreement feather in beak. August Suffolk Alectoris rufa

At Little Haugh and Halls Farms nearly 30,000 Red-legged partridges are released in late summer and autumn along with thousands of pheasants. These game birds arrived in late spring when they were a few days old and have been raised in large outdoor pens round the farms. More than 5% of the land on both farms does not grow any crops and is managed to provide food and shelter for the game birds. This contrasts with most Suffolk farms where nearly all the land is cropped. Of course, most of these birds will be shot over the coming months.

Pheasant pair, early morning, September Suffolk. Phasianus colchicus

A gamekeeper manages the shooting at Little Haugh and Halls Farms; a student gamekeeper and other people help him at busy times. During the summer the main work of the keeper is raising the young birds in the pens. The “drives” where the birds are shot later in the year also have to be managed over the summer. Bird feeders are placed round the un-cropped land, seed rich plant mixes are sown, hedges and trees are managed to encourage the soon-to-be released birds to stay on the farms. When the birds are released they are provided with daily food and water around the drives so that they do not wander off into neighbouring farms. The keeper is also responsible for running the shooting days and the safety of people on the shoot.

Muntjac deer emerging at dusk. September evening Suffolk. Muntiacus reevesi

You maybe surprised to be reading about shooting and gamekeepers and think what has this got to do with wildlife? Well, the answer is in the numbers; at least 4 pairs of Barn Owls, 3 pairs of Buzzards, a resident Kite, breeding Hobbies, flocks of Yellowhammers, Skylarks, Snipe and Lapwings, a large Brown Hare population, and Otters. I could go on and have not even mentioned the rich insect fauna including butterflies and bees. The wildlife on Little Haugh and Halls Farms rivals that on many dedicated wildlife reserves in Suffolk.

Barn Owls, watchful waiting in an Oak tree. July evening, Suffolk. Tyto alba

The answer to the seeming contradiction between conservation and shooting and is simple. Wildlife increasingly has two big problems; nothing to eat and nowhere to live. Birds and most animals must be able to eat most days. On much of the intensively farmed land there is often nothing to eat for weeks, this leads to starvation and death. Most farmland now has very little shelter or breeding places for birds or animals, most potential wildlife homes are mown or sprayed out of existence. Many farms are effectively wildlife deserts.

Brown Hares three at nightfall. August Suffolk. Lepus europaeus

There are compromises, if you are a fox on these farms life is dangerous. Deer, especially Muntjack, are shot because of the damage they do to woodland, and Roe and Red Deer are controlled as well. Wood pigeon are shot all year round as in most of Suffolk. However, the land that is devoted to shooting also provides food and homes to a rich diversity of wildlife in numbers not seen on the vast majority of farms. It has to be said as well that the interest and passion for wildlife by the owners of Little Haugh and Halls Farm are a major factor in giving wildlife somewhere to live and enough to eat all year round. If purpose-bred game birds are shot, this is a compromise I can live with.

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