Field Strips

Field Strips are an experiment this year. In order to break up the monoculture of grass or barley of the field adjacent to my house, three sides have been planted with strips.

Photo 1 is timothy grass. This is to provide cover for voles for the benefit of owls, and hopefully skylark nesting cover, where in the open field the eggs are lost to crows, or by field rolling or spraying.

Photo 2 is a new wildflower strip near a hedgerow. This was seeded with perennial wildflowers, and over-sown with cornfield annuals such as poppy, cornflower, corn cockle, and chamomile. It is the white flowers of chamomile that dominates in the photo. It will be the following year before the perennial wildflowers become obvious, and the annuals begin to die out.

Photo 3 is a winter feed strip for the birds. It is seeded with a mixture of wheat, kale, and triticale.

In the winter this will benefit the local pheasants, my abundant tree sparrow colony, yellowhammers, goldfinches, chaffinches etc, and provide cover for wrens.