Our aim is to
Increase Floral Diversity
Our front field was typical Devon sheep pasture – a dense green sward of grass, almost no floral diversity at all.
We used diggers to scrape the turf off over large areas. The turf was used to create banks into which we planted native hedgerow and tree species. The stripped areas were then left, apart from the fact that we sowed some yellow rattle seed.
Removing the turf removed the grass and thatch in one go and allowed any seed in the soil or any available from the surrounding hedgerows to germinate. This is how parts of our Front Field look now.
Three years later, the dense green sward of grass is unrecognisable – your land could be like this too.
We have also been able to use livestock to disrupt the pasture by bringing in animals for short periods (six to eight weeks) i.e. mob grazing. We wanted variety in our land, so in the central part of the front field we brought in Shetland sheep, then Tamworth pigs and finally Red Ruby Devon cattle to disrupt the grass.
The Tamworths in particular were very effective! We sowed a local provenance seed mix after they left, but unfortunately it suffered in the drought conditions of 2022. Despite this, the semi-improved sheep pasture was no more.
Lastly, in the back field, we also took in the Red Ruby cattle in order to break up the vegetation. They proved very efficient at it and appeared to love the variety of food on offer. They munched willow and soft rush and trampled down big tracts of bramble, creating gaps in the vegetation and lots of edge habitat where things tend to live.
Find out more
Increasing Roughness
Planting & Natural Regeneration
Pond Creation
Wet Ground