Biodiversity

Case Study: Sam and Claire Beaumont, Gowbarrow Hall Farm
Case Study: Sam and Claire Beaumont, Gowbarrow Hall Farm 1600 1200 Soilmentor

Case Study: Sam and Claire Beaumont, Gowbarrow Hall Farm

Gowbarrow Hall Farm is an upland farm in the Lake District, run by Sam and Claire Beaumont and their family. They returned to the farm three years ago, which had been managed intensively by a local sheep grazier since the 1990s. Nitrogen was regularly used to improve the pasture, increasing grass growth which was cut and taken off the farm. Continuous fertiliser inputs and overgrazing disrupted the natural system, leading to a decline in soil biology, biodiversity and plantlife.

Sam and Claire have been working with Caroline Grindrod of Wilderculture to develop a blended regenerative and rewilding approach on the farm, to naturally regenerate the landscape. They gradually took back parts of the farm from the grazier, bringing in a small herd of Shorthorn cattle as well as a few Cumbrian Fell ponies and Kunekune pigs. They want to grow forage without inputs, using grazing and long rest periods, while restoring soil health, building biodiversity, and producing nutrient dense food.

Previously the sheep were grazing wood pasture in the parkland in summer, allowing hay to be cut on the meadows. This system was turned on it’s head with Caroline’s help; the cattle are now mob-grazed on the meadows in summer, and outwintered on standing hay in the wood pasture and woodland in the old parkland. The small number of fell ponies and pigs remain in the parkland all year round.

Claire and Sam are using Soilmentor to monitor their soil health and get instant feedback on how their management is supporting the awakening of soil organisms belowground.

Photo Credit: Anthony Cullen

“It was amazing to see the differences in the profile between the soil under hedgerows and the soil under pasture that has been over grazed for years. I saw a clear, dark topsoil layer in the hedgerow but out in the middle of the field the soil was yellow and there were no obvious layers. Doing VESS scores has been so interesting, looking closely at how the soil crumbles and even smelling it! We can already see a huge improvement in soil structure in the fields we’re mob grazing – it’s all down to rest.

Soilmentor is a great way to monitor what’s happening with our soil as it changes – we’re excited to see how it progresses. We love looking back at photos of our soil health on Soilmentor, and it is so useful to have the exact gps locations tagged for every soil sample site.”

Below is an example from their meadows of how the soil has changed since being rested in the winter and mob grazed in the summer. The left photo was taken in September 2019, and is noticeably more blocky than the right hand photo taken in October 2020. Bobbly, crumb like soil structure is appearing as the soil biology is being fed with manure and root exudates. Long rests allow the forage to grow up tall, not only providing more feed for the cattle, but also assisting the development of extensive root networks, increasing the capacity for nutrient exchange between the plants and the soil organisms.

The farm is beginning to regenerate naturally, as the soil biology and dormant seed bank start to awaken, allowing plants that have been overgrazed and outcompeted to spring into life. “We’ve got tons of forage now and we are seeing diversity return to the meadows. There is a lot more cocksfoot grass which has dense root networks and we are even seeing docks in a new light; they are excellent at breaking through compaction layers with their deep tap roots. We were thrilled to hear the call of a curlew when we stopped cutting the meadows for hay.”

In the parkland native wildflowers like Devil’s Scabious and tree saplings are popping up in the summer. Wildlife is moving in; little burrows are littered across the rough ground, and barn owls are returning to the farm.

We recently visited Gowbarrow Hall Farm for some soil testing with Caroline Grindrod – it was fantastic to see the natural regeneration first hand, and we look forward to following their regenerative journey.

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Beneficial insect focus: Look after your beneficials over winter – Ben Harrington, Edaphos
Beneficial insect focus: Look after your beneficials over winter – Ben Harrington, Edaphos 889 500 Soilmentor

Edaphos offers agronomy services on all types of farms in all situations. Their philosophy is to improve soil and plant health, whilst harnessing the soils stored resources to their full potential to achieve a healthy, well balanced system.

Beneficial insects offer us much benefit throughout the year and help us to keep natural balance on crop pests. It is in good practice that we keep in mind when making decisions on the farm, the habitats, food sources and supplementary feeds that we need to incorporate or manage to make the most of our partners out in the field.

Biocontrol from beneficials is achievable, but habitat, food and environment need to be looked after for them to do so. If you are integrating schemes into your farming system and increasing soil health, please be aware of some of the impacts that cultivations may have on your increasing workforce out on the farm.

A good habit to be in when thinking of our beneficials is to keep in mind the SAFE approach – Shelter, Alternative prey, Flower-rich habitat, Environment.

The beetles and spiders are our first line of defence against common autumn pests such as Slugs, Aphids, Wireworm Larvae, Frit Fly and Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle. If we look after building populations of them once their environment if put into place, they will help to look after us.

Other farm practices that can help encourage and look after our beneficial insects are:

  • The use of selective insecticides (if needed) – targeted for little residual toxicity.
  • Timely application of insecticides when beneficials are less active and least vulnerable (early mornings and late evenings when pollinators are not active but before nocturnal insects become active).
  • Use of spray buffer zones to help protect beneficials and non-target arthropods. Protect habitats on the edges of fields.
  • Reducing spray drift of pesticides onto non-target areas.
  • Calibration of spraying equipment for accurate application.
  • Reduced or no-till systems. Tillage can reduce beneficial insect shelter and can injure insects overwintering in the upper layer of the soil or in plant residue on the surface.
  • Use of cover crops. Including cover crops within the rotation helps to improve soil health and can provide vegetative cover that shelters beneficials within the field and encourage movement of the insects further into the field for a wider control of pests.
  • Use of cover crops that flower. Offers supplementary feeding for the beneficials that need it.
  • Companion cropping. Works effectively by adding nutrients to the soil while providing shelter, habitat, hunting grounds and resources for beneficial insects.
  • Native field borders, hedgerows, grass buffer margins, wild-flower margins, beetle banks. All encourage beneficial insects to create a habitat and hunt for varied prey within. Beneficials generally have the capacity to move up to 50m into the field from the margins and so incorporating as many habitats around or within the field to maximise insect movement around the farm will greatly improve biocontrol from insects.
  • Rotational grazing in grassland. Can be used to promote wildflowers and promotes further insect and plant diversity.

Find out more about Edaphos

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The value of biodiversity in agriculture
The value of biodiversity in agriculture 1024 512 Soilmentor

Farmland across the world has potential to host a fantastically complex network of plants and animals, and this complexity provides many ecosystem services that we humans rely on: decomposing our waste, cleaning our water, and purifying our air. Invertebrates such as hoverflies, bees, moths and butterflies pollinate our crops, and others such as beetles, spiders, harvestmen, wasps and nematodes provide natural pest control.  

To put it in financial terms: insect pollination is estimated to be worth £400 million to the UK economy, and predatory insects providing natural pest control are estimated to be worth $13.6 billion to the US economy! Biodiversity is also linked to productivity: increased farmland biodiversity is linked to increased plant growth above and below ground.

Despite all of these advantages, farmland biodiversity is suffering huge decline – new European data suggests 76% of species and 70% of habitats related to agriculture now have poor conservation status. 

 

How to build biodiversity on your farm

Generally speaking, the best way to farm in tune with biodiversity is to imagine a mosaic of habitats across your farm – the more you variation you can create, the more you are mimicking nature’s natural state. This might mean field margins, wildflower borders, hedgerows, cover crops, multi-species herbal leys, woodland and grassland. Field margins and hedges are more appealing to wildlife when left a bit messy – if you can bear it, let your grasses become tussocky over summer and try to avoid cutting back your hedges more than once every three years to allow wildlife to establish itself amongst the branches. Land managed with varied pockets like this means your farm can become a wildlife corridor; a network of linking habitats for animals to migrate across as they move across the country!

Watching wildlife in a biodiverse field border at Eastbrook Farm

 As an example – farmland is home to over three quarters of British butterfly species – and many of these species have suffered real decline in recent years. Butterflies and moths have a complex life cycle, involving different life stages: from egg, to caterpillar, to pupa, to adult. Each of these stages require slightly different environments, and different species of butterfly and moth have different preferences on where to lay their eggs or feed on pollen. It’s easy to imagine how a monoculture doesn’t appeal to butterflies – they just don’t have the environment they need to get through their different life stages in these systems. So, the best way to reverse this is to create (where you can) a mosaic-esque range of habitats for the species on your farm.

In terms of management, your use of pesticides, insecticides and soil cultivation will also affect your farm’s biodiversity. We know that the use of insecticides and pesticides reduce plant and invertebrate biodiversity, which then has a knock on effect to the birds and mammals that rely on these species. Where there is low invertebrate diversity, there is no natural buffer of beneficial insects to control pests, increasing reliance on a chemical system, and so it goes on…

Reducing (or eliminating) usage of these chemicals can feel like a bit of a leap of faith, but building a resilient, biodiverse system is likely to reward you in the long term. If you currently spray insecticides across your whole cropping area, you can start by limiting usage to targeted areas, or choose to stop spraying during spring and summer, when beneficial invertebrates are most likely to be affected.

Plenty of homes for wildlife at this agroforestry site at Eastbrook!


This quote from John Kempf’s blog on our human-centric view of what defines a pest perfectly explains our sentiment on this:

“If we are to be stewards of these ecosystems, we must acknowledge that it is our management of the environment that determines whether these organisms express themselves as a benign participant or as a pest…

 Neither the wolf nor the rabbit is a pest. They are symbionts in the environment and are dependent on the greater ecosystems they are a part of to sustain themselves…

 If we desire them to not be present to the point of causing economic damage, we only need to manage the ecosystem differently.”

It is possible to manage pest problems by healing the ecosystem to all it’s resilient glory – and all this depends on biodiversity. (Read the full John Kempf blog here.)

Minimising cultivation of your soil will protect species living below the ground, who are also incredibly important members of your farm’s food web (see our Earthworm Engineers series for more info on this). The standing crop residue left in no-till systems is an important habitat for farmland mammals, birds and insects. Keeping permanent cover in this way (and with over winter cover crops) greatly benefits your farm’s biodiversity, as well as your soil health.

How the soil web links together! (Source: USDA Conservation Service)

We hope that our using our new Soilmentor biodiversity tool can empower you to think about how best to boost your biodiversity! Getting into the swing of monitoring which species are present on your farm is an important step in realising what might be missing, and what you might need to improve. Read how to use the tool on the biodiversity protocol page and get started recording on your farm now! 

 

 

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