Bog Myrtle & Peat

When the deluge of woodcock descended last year and the skies were filled with fluttering stripey bodies, the Chayne showed itself to be a real hotspot. At night, the fields were filled with bustling silhouettes, and it was easy to spot the birds as they flew out to feed on the darkening. After having put so much work into the woodcock strip, I am now branching out into new areas in the hope of enouraging these fantastic little birds to spend more time on the farm.

The Chayne is made up of three small farms linked together by an old dirt track, and around each tiny gathering of stone buildings, reasonable pasture is still grazed and enjoyed by the ever present sheep population. Each year, rushes creep further and further into the grass, but in the meantime, these little patches of green are what is keeping the sheep alive. The furthest farm has the most grass, and it was on these fields in November that the main woodcock migration landed.

Woodcock like soil loaded with nitrogen because it in turn provides excellent habitat for worms. Keeping sheep on the farm around the year ensures that the soil is kept topped up with fertilisers, and the wet ground all around is perfect for wading birds with probing beaks. When we drove through the fields in December, it wasn’t unusual to find over a dozen woodcock feeding in the space of two or three acres, and so it is there that I have decided to concentrate my efforts.

Spotting that an area of rough bracken bank has been completely encircled by a drystone wall, I went in for a closer look. For some reason now lost in the mists of time, a decision was taken to enclose this stony outcrop and plant it up with half a dozen oak trees. Two hundred years later and the oak trees are still going strong, but the local plant life has been utterly smothered by bracken and it is a fairly barren spot. Having stepped in with thirty silver birch trees, six rowan trees and a handful of scots pines, I hope that this corner of the Chayne will become a nice little wood over the next few years. It is surrounded by bogs, forestry and open pasture – on paper it’ll be perfect.