Every year here at Vine House Farm we sow wild bird cover as part of the Countryside stewardship scheme. It consists of several different seeds but there are two plants that I have sown that retain their seeds well and they are kale and fodder radish. This year during the cold weather in January I went round most of the plots of wild bird cover and counted all the birds that I saw. Of the fifteen wild bird covers, I counted a number of species on eleven of them, one did not have any birds on when I visited and there were three that I did not visit. Total counts were:
2050 Linnets
610 Chaffinches
330 Reed Buntings
335 Skylarks
150 Greenfinches
130 Goldfinches
120 Bramblings
50 Yellowhammers
70 Stock Doves
1100 Wood Pigeons
Linnets were feeding exclusively on the kale and fodder radish seeds.
Chaffinches were feeing on the fodder radish seeds and at 3 places feeding on additional food I was supplying daily.
Reed Buntings were feeding on bird food I was supplying daily.
Greenfinches were feeding on kale, fodder radish and bird food I was supplying
Goldfinches were feeding on burdocks that I grow in the field margins.
The Skylarks were feeding on the green leaves of the kale and rape.
Yellowhammers and Corn Buntings were feeding on food that I was supplying daily.
A few Bramblings were feeding on fodder radish but mainly on food that I was supplying daily.
Stock Doves were feeding on the kale, fodder radish and rape leaves in the wild bird covers.
Wood Pigeons were mainly feeding on the green leaves but some were also feeding on food that I was supplying daily.