Whitburgh Farms (UK
Whitburgh Farms is located in Midlothian, just south of Edinburgh, Scotland. This is traditionally a stronghold for Grey Partridge in Scotland, along with much of the east coast, though numbers have declined dramatically here as for most of the UK.
The area included in the PARTRIDGE project is just over 500ha and is dominated by cereals (wheat & barley) and oilseed rape. The team at Whitburgh (one owner, one farm manager (plus 2-3 tractor drivers) and two gamekeepers) have been managing the land sympathetically for Grey Partridge for many years now. Since joining the PARTRIDGE project, the amount of Grey Partridge habitat on the site has increased to approximately 5% of the farmed area – still short of the 7% targeted by the project. These habitats include beetle banks, hedgerows, grass margins and cover crops – including the novel mix developed by GWCT and Oakbank (a seed merchant in the UK) for the PARTRIDGE project.
"After many challenges in getting the new PARTRIDGE cover crops established, we now have some impressive examples providing excellent cover for Grey Partridge"
It has not all been plain sailing here, with some challenges to establishing crops successfully at Whitburgh. As a result of this as well as due to problems with weeds, the farm decided to replace much of the wild bird seed mixes previously sown with a game crop during 2020. This included mustard, phacelia, fodder raddish and canary grass. In addition to this, some of the remaining wild bird seed mix blocks were topped and a pollinator mix was sown to provide additional chick-foraging habitat.
It has not all been plain sailing here, with some challenges to establishing crops successfully at Whitburgh. As a result of this as well as due to problems with weeds, the farm decided to replace much of the wild bird seed mixes previously sown with a game crop during 2020. This included mustard, phacelia, fodder raddish and canary grass. In addition to this, some of the remaining wild bird seed mix blocks were topped and a pollinator mix was sown to provide additional chick-foraging habitat.
Whitburgh PARTRIDGE block (photo: Fiona Torrance)
The next steps at Whitburgh will include continuing to keep a close eye on the cover crops to maintain the high standards required to make a difference to the Grey Partridge, continue the annual monitoring programme so we can record the response of farmland wildlife to the changes made during 2020, and increasing our ‘outreach’ activities to share our experiences with as wide an audience as possible (Covid-19 dependent).
Project calendar for Whitburgh Farms
For more information please contact:
Fiona Torrance
Farmland Biodiversity Advisor
Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust
Email: ftorrance@gwct.org.uk
Phone: 07979 894173
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