Collaborative reserach projects
The Buzz project
The Buzz project is a five-year research and technology transfer study established by the Farmed Environment Company with sponsorship from Syngenta, Unilever and Defra. Scientific evaluation is being carried out by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. The project aims to provide a network of sites to demonstrate practical and effective techniques to enhance farmland bio-diversity whilst maintaining farm profitability.
The Northmoor Trust is working closely with both organisations to research the biodiversity benefits and agronomic implications of enhancing farmed environments particularly in terms of field margin creation and management, within field winter food provision for farmland birds and demonstrating this to farmers and advisors.
Monitoring will focus on the key biodiversity indicators of sustainable agriculture identified by DEFRA and other organisations, including birds, bumblebees, butterflies, beetles and arable plants.
For more information about the project please contact the Farmed Environment Company or Dr Richard Pywell at CEH.
Environmentally sustainable techniques to establish and manage wildlife seed mixtures
The recently announced Entry Level Agri-environment Scheme and the revised Countryside Stewardship Scheme contain new prescriptions to promote the abundance and diversity of birds on arable land. This includes establishing mixtures of seed-bearing crops to provide a succession of winter food resources for birds (WM1). Experience suggests that common agricultural pests such as flea and pollen beetle are likely to pose a serious threat to the successful establishment and yield of any wildlife seed mixture containing Brassicaceae species (eg. Fodder radish) or linseed.
This project will formulate and test environmentally sustainable guidelines for the establishment and management of these wildlife seed mixtures and demonstrate these techniques to RDS Project Officers, agronomists and the farming community.
The Northmoor Trust is working in partnership with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the Farmed Environment Company on this project which is funded by Defra.
Dispersal of weed seeds by farmland birds
Rachel Holmes a former PhD student at Reading University who was funded in part by the Northmoor Trust investigated the implications of bird feeding ecology for weed seed populations. How seed depletion by birds impacts upon seed populations has implications for both the understanding of weed ecology and farmland bird conservation.
Ecology of rare arable flowers
Emma Pilgrim a former PhD student at Imperial College, Silwood Park investigated the ecology of rare arable weeds with an aim to providing recommendations for the conservation of these plants.
At the Northmoor Trust she explored the effects of seed addition and disturbance on populations of Rannunculus arvensis and Myosurus minimus.
Undersown legumes as a trap crop for slug pests in winter wheat
Andy Brooks a former PhD student at Harper Adams University College, conducted a field based investigation at the Northmoor Trust to compare the effectiveness of undersown red clover and molluscicide in their ability to reduce the amount of slug damage to winter wheat.
He assessed:
- The effect of undersown red clover and molluscicide treatments on slug populations and the associated damage to wheat and legume plants
- The differences between undersown, molluscicide-treated and control plots on invertebrate populations
- The competitive effect of undersown red clover on the establishment and yield of winter wheat.
