Conservation and Wildlife

[Flick of the Elbow]

I’ve tried a few searches but there doesn’t seem to be a thread that covers this. I hope you don’t mind me starting a new one.
I am prompted by wanting to share a fascinating interview with Roy Dennis made by the BBC Scotland Outdoors podcast. Dennis was involved in the safeguarding of the returning ospreys in the 1950’s and has played a leading role in UK conservation ever since, most recently in the re-introduction of sea eagles to the Isle of Wight. He has some very interesting things to say about land usage and conservation.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p093tblr

 

[biggs682]

We all need to try harder and do our bit to help things improve .
I for one love to see animals when i am out riding and there is nothing better than riding along a country lane with an owl for company

 

[annedonnelly]

There is lots you can do even if in just a small way. Radio 2 have a competition this week around children designing a bee-friendly garden. Even if you've only a balcony or window box you can plant a few pollinator friendly plants. And have water for birds/mammals to drink.

 

[mudsticks]

There is lots you can do even if in just a small way. Radio 2 have a competition this week around children designing a bee-friendly garden. Even if you've only a balcony or window box you can plant a few pollinator friendly plants. And have water for birds/mammals to drink.

Yes, urban and suburban area can be real havens for wildlife with the wide diversity of plants and habitats found there .

So long as things are allowed to grow.

Compared with a lot of the sterile chemically sprayed monocultures found out in the countryside

Of course if you don't want heavily sprayed monocultures out here in the countryside you need to support farmers like me who don't use chemicals and who integrate their cropping alongside wildlife.

In fact the buglife is essential in keeping soil and crops healthy..

Ideally food production shouldnt be separated out from nature.

They can work alongside each other really well - it just requires a bit of system redesign, and of course support in terms of where and how people buy their food .

I’ve tried a few searches but there doesn’t seem to be a thread that covers this. I hope you don’t mind me starting a new one.
I am prompted by wanting to share a fascinating interview with Roy Dennis made by the BBC Scotland Outdoors podcast. Dennis was involved in the safeguarding of the returning ospreys in the 1950’s and has played a leading role in UK conservation ever since, most recently in the re-introduction of sea eagles to the Isle of Wight. He has some very interesting things to say about land usage and conservation.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p093tblr

It was good to see lots more areas of regenerating native trees in the Highlands last week.
Theres still a long way to go , but things seem to be moving in a better direction.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

One of the things I hear about now is about managing land for carbon. It seems to be becoming quite a thing.

 

[mudsticks]

One of the things I hear about now is about managing land for carbon. It seems to be becoming quite a thing.

Yes especially through things such as peat bog restoration. Esturine mud, and many other obscure and wonderful things.

But even us productive farmers can help through minimal tillage, and deep rooting pasture for example..

This is why grazing herbivores can be very good for carbon sequestration..
Their natural actions help build soil.

This is why 'go vegan' to save the planet is an oversimplified inaccuracy.

Grazing herbivores were always here farting and belching methane, and CO2 but their output was balanced up by the greenery, and plant roots they encourage.

Plus their dung supports soil life..
Its a natural cycle.

What isn't natural is vast amounts of fossil fuel being burnt for industrial scale agriculture, animals cooped up in feedlots and being fed arable crops produced by petrochemical based herbicides and pesticides.

I mostly produce veg, but I also rotate chickens round the farm who graze green manures and crop aftermath.

We also make biochar- from the windbreak trees when they need lopping, that locks carbon permanently into the soil, as well as providing a matrix of 'homes ' for soil life of all sizes..

There's quite a lot of us quietly beavering away at all this out here.

Dismissed as 'Ludfite Cranks' "All muck and Magic" for years..

But we've been doing it long enough now to show it works - it always did - but the big ag chemical lobby had far more money to promote their wares , and persuade farmers down that route..

Hopeful the tide is turning towards 'a better way'..
Feels hopeful right now, and it's long overdue.

I'll be representing my organisation at this event in a couple of weeks.

https://groundswellag.com/

Lots of shiny new kit being demo'ed of course, which makes it all look a bit 'hi-tech'
But the basic principals of soil care are timeless

 

[biggs682]

Well done @mudsticks we need more local farmers like you

 

[mudsticks]

Well done @mudsticks we need more local farmers like you

Thanks..

The awareness is building, I'm cautiously hopeful.

Food, and farming, and climate change, and ecology, and social justice, it's all tied up together.

I'm glad to say there's a big upswing in youngsters who see all this, and who want to follow in my muddy boot prints .

They just need a bit of help in some cases to get their hands on the land, and get on with it.

 

[annedonnelly]

Well done @mudsticks we need more local farmers like you

And consumers need easy ways to purchase from them. Ideally through local shops stocking the produce.

Farm shops/farmers markets are great but tend to involve travel. We need to make produce more available so that when someone needs to nip out to the nearest shop 'cos they've run out of potatoes the local stuff is available. Not pre-packaged stuff that the big supermarkets have held the farmers to ransom over.

 

[Drago]

Yes especially through things such as peat bog restoration. Esturine mud, and many other obscure and wonderful things.

But even us productive farmers can help through minimal tillage, and deep rooting pasture for example..

This is why grazing herbivores can be very good for carbon sequestration..
Their natural actions help build soil.

This is why 'go vegan' to save the planet is an oversimplified inaccuracy.

Grazing herbivores were always here farting and belching methane, and CO2 but their output was balanced up by the greenery, and plant roots they encourage.

Plus their dung supports soil life..
Its a natural cycle.

What isn't natural is vast amounts of fossil fuel being burnt for industrial scale agriculture, animals cooped up in feedlots and being fed arable crops produced by petrochemical based herbicides and pesticides.

I mostly produce veg, but I also rotate chickens round the farm who graze green manures and crop aftermath.

We also make biochar- from the windbreak trees when they need lopping, that locks carbon permanently into the soil, as well as providing a matrix of 'homes ' for soil life of all sizes..

There's quite a lot of us quietly beavering away at all this out here.

Dismissed as 'Ludfite Cranks' "All muck and Magic" for years..

But we've been doing it long enough now to show it works - it always did - but the big ag chemical lobby had far more money to promote their wares , and persuade farmers down that route..

Hopeful the tide is turning towards 'a better way'..
Feels hopeful right now, and it's long overdue.

I'll be representing my organisation at this event in a couple of weeks.

https://groundswellag.com/

Lots of shiny new kit being demo'ed of course, which makes it all look a bit 'hi-tech'
But the basic principals of soil care are timeless

Much as it pains me, I find myself agreeing.

The UN reckon thqt the world has barely 4 decades of production left in the topsoil, yet people are calling for less meat and dairy in the name of cutting g carbon. Thats all fine and dandy, but properly managed the livestock is better for the soil than anything and doing away with it is a dangerous step.

Its like tree planting. Sounds great, ties up carbon...but they forget to mention that mass reforestation at the wrong latitudes can affect atmospheric albido is such a way as to actully increase the greenhouse effect. Oops.

Messing with one thing invariably foxtrots up another, so when the peace hippies tell us to stop eating tofu because it is endangering the habitat of the lesser spotted amazonian dwarf ant, we must shake our heads sagely before acting, and not blindly rush out to inadvertently do something that will instead kill the topsoils ability to sustain biological life.

 

[mudsticks]

Much as it pains me, I find myself agreeing.

The UN reckon thqt the world has barely 4 decades of production left in the topsoil, yet people are calling for less meat and dairy in the name of cutting g carbon. Thats all fine and dandy, but properly managed the livestock is better for the soil than anything and doing away with it is a dangerous step.

Its like tree planting. Sounds great, ties up carbon...but they forget to mention that mass reforestation at the wrong latitudes can affect atmospheric albido is such a way as to actully increase the greenhouse effect. Oops.

Messing with one thing invariably foxtrots up another, so when the peace hippies tell us to stop eating tofu because it is endangering the habitat of the lesser spotted amazonian dwarf ant, we must shake our heads sagely before acting, and not blindly rush out to inadvertently do something that will instead kill the topsoils ability to sustain biological life.

Dont worry the stinging sensation subsides after a while.

Thing is with diets, and farming systems, different things are appropriate depending on region.

There's no 'one size fits all' approach

'Good' dietary choices will come with a large dollop of "Well it depends"

Tofu eating isn't 'wrong'.

Nor is, eating the products of pasture fed livestock 'wrong' Its a lot more nuanced than that

I've spent a couple of days this week, at a gathering attended by several hundred sorts of farmers, and food system folk.

There are many different approaches to tackling all these issues, on all sorts of scales, and levels.

I think it's generally agreed that industrial scale, oil based approach to food and farming is part of what's fecking up the planet.

More holistic, soil building, whole system, and more nature friendly approach is beneficial.

Getting politicians, and the general consumer to comprehend all this complexity, can be tricky, though.

People want simple answers..

There are none.


But I think we're getting somewhere..

Too sloooowly, of course for many of our likings , but progress is happening, on , and even in the ground .

There were a couple of robots there, as well for those keen on that sort of tech 🌾

 

[oldwheels]

Yes especially through things such as peat bog restoration. Esturine mud, and many other obscure and wonderful things.

But even us productive farmers can help through minimal tillage, and deep rooting pasture for example..

This is why grazing herbivores can be very good for carbon sequestration..
Their natural actions help build soil.

This is why 'go vegan' to save the planet is an oversimplified inaccuracy.

Grazing herbivores were always here farting and belching methane, and CO2 but their output was balanced up by the greenery, and plant roots they encourage.

Plus their dung supports soil life..
Its a natural cycle.

What isn't natural is vast amounts of fossil fuel being burnt for industrial scale agriculture, animals cooped up in feedlots and being fed arable crops produced by petrochemical based herbicides and pesticides.

I mostly produce veg, but I also rotate chickens round the farm who graze green manures and crop aftermath.

We also make biochar- from the windbreak trees when they need lopping, that locks carbon permanently into the soil, as well as providing a matrix of 'homes ' for soil life of all sizes..

There's quite a lot of us quietly beavering away at all this out here.

Dismissed as 'Ludfite Cranks' "All muck and Magic" for years..

But we've been doing it long enough now to show it works - it always did - but the big ag chemical lobby had far more money to promote their wares , and persuade farmers down that route..

Hopeful the tide is turning towards 'a better way'..
Feels hopeful right now, and it's long overdue.

I'll be representing my organisation at this event in a couple of weeks.

https://groundswellag.com/

Lots of shiny new kit being demo'ed of course, which makes it all look a bit 'hi-tech'
But the basic principals of soil care are timeless

When I was an agric student in the late 1950's there were attempts being made to encourage livestock farmers and in particular lowland sheep farmers to plant deciduous trees at a very low density in grazing land.
I have no idea how this worked out as I left farming soon after and got immersed in malting and distilling.
A friend who keeps a small number of sheep was very annoyed when Forest Enterprise felled some trees on the edge of his property. He used them [without permission] for winter shelter for his sheep.

 

[mudsticks]

When I was an agric student in the late 1950's there were attempts being made to encourage livestock farmers and in particular lowland sheep farmers to plant deciduous trees at a very low density in grazing land.
I have no idea how this worked out as I left farming soon after and got immersed in malting and distilling.
A friend who keeps a small number of sheep was very annoyed when Forest Enterprise felled some trees on the edge of his property. He used them [without permission] for winter shelter for his sheep.

Yes silvopasture, and agroforestry are experiencing an upswing in interest again.

When I was at ag college in the late eighties it was full steam ahead chemical approach.

Soil was just a substrate for standing plant roots in, while you fed plants from a bag.

Your farm was just a 'factory floor'i i got laughed at for talking about organics, or soil biology

Heartening to see farmers my age now competing with each other for 'how many turtle doves' 0n their farms now, rather than, how many weeds they've obliterated with chemicals X y and z..

 

[annedonnelly]

I've enjoyed listening to podcasts from the Nature Friendly Farmers network. It's good to hear that so many are attempting to work with nature and their environment.

 

[mudsticks]

I've enjoyed listening to podcasts from the Nature Friendly Farmers network. It's good to hear that so many are attempting to work with nature and their environment.

They were there too.
I mean it's not like loads of us weren't already going on about all this stuff for decades..

But at last were no longer so easily dismissed as the 'loony green fringe'.

It's quite something when defra comes knocking on your door for input , rather than us bug loving tree huggers, trying to get a hearing from 'the suits'

..