Farmlands Flashcards
How did traditional farming aid in conservation?
It imposed a continuous low-intensity management regime for a long period of time and consistency of management allows specialist species to thrive.
What are meadows?
They are used to produce winter fodder (once hay, now mainly silage). During spring and early summer animals are kept off of meadows and the meadow is cut in the height of summer.
They contain many spring-flowering species
What is a pasture?
They are grazed intermittently all year. They mainly contain grasses and rosette plants.
What is hay?
It has to be cut when the plants have hardened in sunny weather (late June or July). It is dried baled and kept for winter food.
What is silage?
It is fermented hay, so it can be cut much earlier in the season (usually May rather than July) and this has conservation implications for many species.
What is a Lammas meadow?
It is a form of traditional meadow management in which the land was grazed from Lammas day (12th August) to Lady day (12th February) and then left for hay.
The annual hay cut removed nutrients and slowly impoverished the soil –> a very stable regime that selected for plants which flowered in spring on low-fertility soils
What date is Lammas day?
12th August
What date is Lady day?
12th February
The few meadows that remain are proceed by strange old bye-laws.
Describe a strange old bye-law that is enacted in Yarnton Meads.
The meadow is divided into 4 sections, and each year farmers with permission to graze the meadow pick an ancient wooden token out of a bag, identifying the quarter of the meadow which they are allowed to harvest and subsequently graze.
How do we know it is likely that the oldest hay meadows date back to the Roman settlement?
The correct tool for meadows is a scythe, whose blade slices at ground level while its operator stands up right. This design seems to have appeared in Roman times, making it likely that our oldest hay meadows date back to the Roman settlement.
Which species of bird is the definitive farmland conservation disaster?
The corncrake (Crex crew)
It used to be very common but since the 1950s the decline accelerated with silage production
How are the RSPB trying to conserve corncrakes?
They are trying to encourage them by paying them to farm in a more corncrake-friendly manner; cut meadows in late July (after chicks have hatched) and mow them in a corncrake-crake friendly pattern
Name the species of crow that is rarest in Britain
Chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)
Confined to coastal areas and mountainous fringes
On RSPB’s amber list
Why is the chough crow population declining?
They require, short, well-grazed rough meadows that are declining due to intensive farming.
Which mammal has declined in the UK, possibly because of intensive farming?
The brown hare (Lepus europaeus)
They have declined in number, not sure why but intensive farming doesn’t suit them.
What are the steps in “improving” a meadow? (Not really improving in terms of conservation but what farmers do)
1) Drain if needed
2) Plough it
3) Seed with Lolium perenne and white clover
4) fertilise heavily with NPK
5) Claim grant money for doing this
This gets rid of specialist species
Name three species of fungi that hate chemical fertiliser or liming
1) /Hygrocybe calptriformis/
Ballerina waxcap
2) Hygrocybe coccinea
Scartlet waxcap
3) Hygrocybe cetacea
Butter wax cap
How to make a proper hay meadow?
1) You need a large area (greater than 0.5ha) of sunny land on poor soil
2) Prepare the site (weedkiller or stripping top soil) - this needs planning permission!
3) Seed the site with conservation mix (seeds obtained from traditional meadows)
4) Add cornfield annuals mix to keep down pernicious weeds
How to manage a hay meadow?
Mow the site annually at the same time every year
You must remove the hay after mowing to remove nutrients from the soil
Name three once-common farmland birds that have decreased in population by more than 50% in the last decade
1) Skylark
2) Lapwing
3) Corn bunting
The tree sparrow population is ___% of normal due to high-intensity farming and winter cereals
3%
Name an insect that has been negatively impacted due to a decline in hay meadows. (Name two specific species of this insect as well)
BUMBLEBEES!
The short haired bumblebee is extinct in the UK now
The great yellow bumblebee is confined to the flower-rich machair of Scotland (where farms are run in a more traditional manner)
Why are hedges important?
They provide valuable biological refugees for a variety of animals
How much hedge was lost between 1946-1976?
192,000km
