A Week on the Estate: Festival Begins, Pollinator Conference & Respecting Nature

At South Ormsby Estate, we want to improve biodiversity and create a sustainable rural economy in the heart of the Lincolnshire Wolds. We’ll be talking to the Pollinator Awareness Conference about the harm done to our insects and birds by the widespread use of manufactured chemicals. We believe that to secure a sustainable future for agriculture, we need to take a step back and learn to farm without relying on fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides. With this in mind, we’ve taken the opportunity to look back at what we’ve achieved so far:

• We’re in conversion to organic status for animal and arable produce throughout 2022 with a view to being fully organic by the end of the year.
• We’re proud to be accredited by the Pasture for Life Association and we apply the principles of regenerative agriculture. Our young Lincoln Red cattle live and graze outdoors all-year round and we’ve applied a rotational paddock system akin to natural mob-grazing. Since we adopted this pattern, the thick sward has done wonders for our biodiversity, attracting bugs, butterflies, moths, small mammals, birds and bats in abundance.
• At the heart of the regenerative vision is the knowledge that soil is a complex living system. By extension, a wider ecosystem of flora and fauna – humans included – depends on the health and biodiversity of the earth beneath our wellies. Our standing hay grows deeper roots in its fallow year, improving water retention and preventing water run-off. The roots also build up sugars in the soil, nourishing the bacteria and fungi that will fuel future plant growth without synthetic chemicals.
• Ours is a low-carbon model. We eschew the use of insecticides and petrochemical fertilisers. Feeding our young cattle on standing hay also means we can avoid cutting and turning hay and wrapping it in plastic.
• According to Estate records, we had 170 fields in 1888 and 96 by 2018. Modern agriculture took its toll on hedgerows and we’re working hard to reverse this trend. We planted 5km of new hedgerow between 2019 and 2021 and we’ll plant another 1.1km this year. Established and new hedgerows will serve as wildlife corridors, both hosting and spreading biodiversity.

• Our established hedgerows are maintained by plashing, a time-honoured way of forming strong, long-lived and biodiverse boundaries that are a boon to wildlife and impenetrable to livestock.
• We set aside arable field margins for the specific benefit of pollinators and wild birds. The margins are sown with a robust and diverse mix including red fescue, common bentgrass, corn poppy, cornflower, yarrow and birdsfoot trefoil. As well as providing an organic feast for pollinators, plots brimming with unharvested, seed-bearing plants are an all-year-round food source for traditional farmland birds that have been severely affected by intensive agriculture.
• The Saturday Club have also done their part for our feathered friends, assembling and installing 150 nesting boxes across our parkland in time for spring. Last December, Richard Doan of Lincolnshire Birding counted, “400 fieldfare, 80 redwing, 42 blackbird, 80 yellowhammer, 150+ tree sparrow (!), 1,200 linnet, 10 brambling, water rail & 8 bullfinch” on a walk around the Estate. These figures suggest a substantial recovery for farmland birds in our area.
• We grow our own fresh produce in the Hall’s Walled Garden, and we’ve helped establish community vegetable plots with the help of hard-working local volunteers.

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* Banner image courtesy of LH_4tography via Flickr CC.