SUN, 20 JUN, 2021 – 17:00AOIFE WALSH
Thinking about the world outside of the field by managing its margins can have a very positive impact on nature and contribute to the improvement of biodiversity on Irish farms.
Field margins are important habitats and networks for nature and they provide corridors for the movement of wildlife and a place for native flora to flourish, without impacting on productivity.
Aoife Walsh, Teagasc, and UCD MAIS student highlights some of the key actions that farmers can take to ensure that field margins are retained, maintained, and enhanced for farmland biodiversity.
“Field margins are easy to manage strips of naturally growing vegetation that are found along the edge of fields beside linear features like hedgerows.
“Field margins are extremely valuable biodiversity habitats that are structurally different from what you might find in the centre of a ryegrass field.
“They are comprised of a variety of plants, including naturally growing wildflowers and grasses that produce flowers and seeds which benefit seed-eating birds like the House Sparrow, the Linnet and the Yellowhammer and pollinators like Bumblebees and solitary bees who avail of pollen and nectar from the margin’s flowering plants.
“Field margins facilitate the movement of wildlife throughout the farming landscape, acting as a highway for nature and providing cover for small mammals like shrews and voles, in turn providing owls with an ideal hunting ground.”
Field margins require some management in order to optimise them as habitats for biodiversity, Aoife adds.
Grazing
In grazing situations, field margins should be fenced off to exclude livestock. The area that is fenced can range in width with wider margins providing more room for biodiversity.
This action will further enhance the structural diversity of the margin by allowing vegetation to flower and go-to-seed.
“Margins should be cut in autumn after plants have flowered, at least once every three years, and this will prevent the vegetation within the margin becoming too rank or turning into scrub.”
Space
In addition, a minimum space of 1.5m between the main field crop and the base of the surrounding boundary should be maintained when spraying, cultivating, and applying fertiliser, urges Aoife.
“Increasing the width of field margins reduces the need for sprays as the space created will allow for a hedge cutter to mechanically control any encroachment.
“Blanket spraying under the wire should be avoided as this will lead to the removal of plant diversity. If chemically controlling noxious weeds (ragwort, thistle, docks, male wild hop, common barberry, and wild oats, as listed under the noxious weed act) targeted spot spraying should be practised.
“As is the case with spraying, cultivation also leads to the removal of field margin habitats.
“Maintaining a minimum distance of 1.5m out from the base of boundaries when cultivating will ensure that an area of margin remains undisturbed allowing the existing diversity to continue to flourish.
- Aoife Walsh, Teagasc
Leave a Reply