There is a field of barley growing near Salcombe Regis. There is nothing apparently remarkable about that, but this crop is remarkable for two reasons, it is specifically for thatching and its perimeter is a haven for nature.
Much is made these days about wild flower meadows and their importance for promoting a healthy balance of nature including for pollinating insects, but meadows are only one part of the mosaic that makes up our floral and faunal diversity.
Just as important and just as threatened are the communities of wild flowers and their associated animal species that have evolved and adapted to arable farming where the soil was ploughed annually. As the names suggests, the bright blue cornflower is not really at home in a meadow, nor are corncockle, corn spurrey and corn marigold.
These four delightful flowers, and others such as poppies that are adapted to ploughed land, are annuals, they have to flower and set seed within a few months ready to be ploughed in to start over again next spring. This quick flowering response is why they are included in so-called meadow seed mixes, they give the buyer a quick bang for their bucks. What the seed companies do not say is that they will probably not flower the next year, even if they have set seed. The seeds are sat on the surface waiting for the plough to plant them properly.
The pressures on modern farmers to increase food production have squeezed out many of these annuals because they are of course weeds in a crop. Only now are people waking up to the problems being caused by this decline. Nature is an interdependent web and the decline of the ‘weeds’ is having a knock on effect on other species including our birds and invertebrates including insects, ones that are natural pollinators and others that feed on the pests that also afflict the crops.
Many farmers are now heeding calls from organisations such as Devon Wildlife Trust which has asked farmers to create and manage cultivated field margin strips. These areas are cultivated at the same time as the main crop area but no crop is sown. The strips receive no fertiliser or pesticides other than spot-treating ‘injurious weeds’ such as creeping thistle if needed.
Given the chance, the wildlife is responding. Populations of wild flowers are appearing from the natural seed banks still dormant in the soil. Insects and other invertebrates are spreading along these linear nature reserves. Bats and once common farmland birds are hunting the insects.
The small sacrifice of potential cropping ground is actually balanced out. Research has shown that fields with such ‘wild’ margins need fewer interventions because they have fewer pests feeding on the crops, they are being eaten by increased populations of natural predators such as spiders and ground beetles.
As well as being home to wildflowers and their associated insects, the uncropped field margins provide buffer strips between farming operations and sensitive habitats such as watercourses and hedgerows.
The Salcombe Regis barley field is just such a case. There is a margin around the perimeter up to three metres wide that was ploughed but not sown with barley. I walked along it the other day with the landowner and I was thrilled to see more than thirty plant species including field forget-me-not, common centaury, wall and common field speedwell, scarlet pimpernel, corn spurrey, field madder, cut-leaved crane’s-bill, cudweed and common fleabane. The air was buzzing with hoverflies and there were bumblebees and ladybirds busying themselves. The really noticeable element was the number of butterflies tracking up and down the strip. It was a true delight and an eye-opener to the landowner.
Below is a list of all the wildflowers surveyed in the barley field. And below that some photos of the plants found growing in the field.
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