Natural Capital

“Strawsons are committed to working in harmony with our surrounding environment, feeding our population with as little effect on the natural environment as possible”

Background

•The Strawson Ltd business has been involved in formal environmental stewardship scheme work for more than 20 years

•10 years of original Countryside Stewardship

•10 years of Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) and Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) Schemes

•Now implementing new 5year Countryside Stewardship Schemes (CSS) across a wide range of the farming area

•7 current CSS schemes up and running (2 more planned for 2022 start)

•364ha of land under environmental stewardship management

•A range of other self funded/voluntary measures are also undertaken

Countryside Stewardship Schemes (CSS)

•Mainoptionsutilised

•AB1–Nectar Flower Mix

•AB8–FlowerRich Grass Margins and Plots

•AB9–Winterbirdfood

•AB15–2yearsownlegumefallow

•GS9–Managementofwetgrasslandforbreeding waders

•GS10 –Managementofwetgrasslandforoverwinteringwaders

•SW1 –4-6m bufferstrip on cultivated land

•SW3 –in-field grass strips

Nectar Flower and Flower Rich Grass

•Providing habitat and food source/foraging sites for invertebrates (including wild pollinators) and birds

•Field corners, small fields, field margins

Winter Bird Food

•To provide food resources for farmland birds, especially in autumn and winter

•Turtle Doves present on main Bilsthorpe site.  Specific mix to encourage these is being used alongside more general winter feeding mixes

2 year legume fallow

•To deliver food for farmland wildlife such as pollen and nectar for pollinators and invertebrate chick food for farmland birds. It will also provide rotational reduction of blackgrass

•Sown legume species (e.g. clover, vetch) with and without grass

•Replacing rotational cropping for 2 cropping years

Management of wet grassland for overwintering and breeding waders

•To provide suitable habitat for wintering wildfowl and wading birds on wet grassland.

•To maintain or restore wet grassland for breeding wading birds through provision of feeding habitat and a suitable sward structure for nesting.

•Snipe identified as present on this area

Cover cropping

•Over winter cover cropping integrated into cropping system

•Soil structuring on stronger land

•Soil cover/’armour’ to retain moisture on lighter land

•Legume species’ for nutrient capture

•New investment in direct drilling technology to utilise cover cropping for subsequent direct drilling of combinable crops

Hedges and Woodland

•Significant hedgerow, and woodland areas across farmed land, as well as hedgerow and in field trees.

•Hedgerow management –

•biennial cutting; sympathetic management for each farm

•Hedgerow planting

•Hedge laying/coppicing where appropriate

•Woodland management –

•Treeplanting–2 hectares new woodland planted recently

Farmland Birds

•Lapwing nests where identified are marked and field operations planned around these