We work with several farmers in the area, and we have forged really good relationships with them all. Our longest relationship has been with the farm manager, Tim at Brewood Park Farm, and we are delighted to announce that he has now become a Global Ambassador for his "no till" farming technique. Essentially this means maintaining the integrity of the soil structure and the biological mechanisms that promote plant growth. So he does not plough the fields, nor does he use pesticides or fertilizers. As a result he is able to make his arable farms both nature friendly and financially viable.
Tim's reputation is growing both here and worldwide. As a result he is regularly invited to speak to groups of farmers nationally including Ireland; but this has now progressed across the globe!
During the early part of this year BPF was visited by farmers from Poland and Ukraine to learn more about the nature friendly technique. He was also was invited to give a talk at Westminster to Politicians, Bankers and Investors. He was then invited to Denmark where he provided farmers with advice on moving to a no till strategy. A few weeks ago he was in Australia having been invited by the Aussie Government to give numerous talks, radio interviews and newspaper articles across the country to convey his passion in making farms nature friendly.
Most recently, Tim has been invited by the Turkish Government to give talks to farmers and politicians in that country this autumn.
We are so lucky to be on this journey with Tim, and it's really satisfying to know that he uses our ringing data to support and promote his nature friendly farming technique.
We would like to congratulate Tim on his success at convincing more and more farmers that farming can be profitable, while still benefitting nature which, in the end of course, is a benefit to us all.
WELL DONE TIM!!
Team members have been busy again this week. This morning Paul put on a training session for our newest trainees which was superb. Almost 100 birds meant there were plenty of birds to practice on, most of which were Blue and Great tits, providing excellent opportunities to learn how to extract these from mist nets.
Elsewhere, Kevin and Jenni, both caught our first and second Marsh Tits of the year. The ID of Marsh v Willow tits causes many headaches ( unless the bird calls -- which they don't often do in the hand). However, recent studies especially by ringer Richard Broughton have uncovered a really useful and simple ID feature.....
Kevin's bird was an adult female
Jen's was a juvenile. They both show a little white spot/smudge on the cutting edge of the upper mandible, near to the head. This is a cast iron feature, which Willow Tits don't have.
Kevin was operating a site for the first time this year and he had a good selection of mainly migrant warblers. I thought I would show this picture however, because seeing this bird in the field can sometimes cause a problem for the unwary....
It's the same size and shape as a Goldcrest, but there is no colour on the top of the head.......yet! It is a juvenile Goldcrest, which has a very bland head in the early days after fledging--the typical marks on the top of the head come through over the next few weeks.
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