Farmland

Much of our countryside is farmed, whether as arable farmland with crops such as wheat, barley, rape and potatoes, or as grazing land for sheep and cattle. But lots of wildlife makes it's home there too.

Farmland supports a huge range of wildlife especially where field margins include hedges and strips of rough grassland next to fields for growing crops. Farm ponds, old trees, patches of scrub, small woods and boggy areas also creates more space for wildlife on farmland.

Some changes to farmland in recent decades, such as larger field sizes, destroying hedges, filling in of ponds and the ploughing up of old flower rich meadows have led to loss of wildlife. Intensive farming which uses many herbicides and pesticides also makes it difficult for wildlife to find food, shelter and breeding sites on farmland.

Did you know?

Flowers such as common poppy, corncockle and cornflower were probably first introduced to Britain by farmers thousands of years ago in the Neolithic. Their seed was mixed in with the grain that the first farmers brought with them to plant. Today with the use of modern herbicides they are much rarer. You can still find common poppies but corncockles and cornflowers have nearly died out in the wild in the UK.

Wildlife to look out for:

Birds: barn owls, little owls, grey partridges, red legged partridges, pheasants, skylarks, lapwings, rooks, carrion crows, woodpigeons.

Plants: hawthorn, blackthorn, elder and dogrose within hedgerows and flowers such as common poppies, thistles and docks along field edges.

Mammals: rabbits, hares, moles, weasels, stoats, mice, shrews and voles.

Minibeasts: bumblebees, butterflies, ladybirds, and beetles.