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For many decades at Vine House Farm, we’ve carried out large-scale feeding programmes for farmland birds and especially during the winter months. We’ve done this as part of our much wider strategy to help reverse the decline in once common species and in particular of finch and bunting, with other measures including habitat creation for both breeding and feeding. But feeding nutritious seed mixes in fields during winter has been especially successful, and we believe our efforts have inspired other farmers to do the same, and perhaps even helped to influence government policy. Therefore, given our considerable expertise and also the fact that much of the seed and grain we use is grown right here on our farm, it seemed only logical that we should supply other farmers with suitable food in bulk. We’re doing this as part of the Government’s ‘AB12: Supplementary winter feeding for farmland birds’ scheme, so let’s be clear on what this scheme is about.  

What exactly is the AB12: Supplementary winter feeding for farmland birds?

In essence, the scheme pays farmers and other land managers (e.g. gamekeepers) to provide appropriate seed mixes to farmland birds between 1st December and 30th April. The level of payment is £732 per tonne for every 2 hectares of winter bird food, and is available for Countryside Stewardship Mid-Tier and Higher-Tier, on whole or part-parcels in rotation on arable land, temporary grassland and bush orchards.

Which species of bird benefit from the supplementary winter feeding?

Virtually all species of farmland bird will benefit, but the target species the Government lists are Yellowhammer, Grey partridge, Tree sparrow, Corn bunting and Linnet. Turtle doves are also included, with this migrant species returning to our shores late April and therefore also benefiting from the seed provided. (Also note that for Turtle doves, our mixes can be used for the Government’s supplementary summer feeding scheme of ‘SP9 Threatened species supplement’.)

We offer our farm and land manager customers much more than just the product

Our mixes fully conform to the Government’s AB12 criteria, with two main options available of AB12 Supplementary Feeding Basic Mix, and AB12 Supplementary Feeding Cereal Free Mix – click here for full details of each mix and the various weight and delivery options.  

Along with our prices being highly competitive for such very high quality products, the other real benefit of buying from Vine House Farm is the bespoke advice we can provide to farmers and other land managers, based on their location and type of farm they have etc. This means that those participating in the scheme with even limited or no experience of supplementary feeding for farmland birds, can start the process in the most effective way – and including which land type and habitat conditions are best to feed the target species on. So if you’re considering getting involved in the AB12 supplementary feeding for farmland birds scheme but would like advice before buying any product, then please don’t hesitate to contact us.