SPECIES TO LOOK OUT FOR
Corn bunting
Similar to a skylark in size, our largest bunting is likewise streaky by nature, but with a hefty, strawcoloured bill. Its song is often likened to a jangling bunch of keys. The species’ population has crashed by 90 per cent since 1970, but it is still locally common in dry, open farmland, particularly in eastern England and Scotland.
Yellowhammer
This farmland bird is widespread and slightly larger than a chaffinch. The spring male, with his sunflower-yellow head and breast, brightens up many a hedgerow. His famous ‘little-bit-of-bread-andno-cheese’ song remains a familiar soundtrack across farmland in central and eastern England and eastern Scotland.
Harvest mouse
This mouse competes with the pygmy shew and pipistrelle bats for the title of Britain’s tiniest mammal. It is golden-brown with a white belly, but its standout feature is a long, prehensile tail, which helps it move through the swaying stems and flower heads of field margins. They are most numerous in southern and central England and South Wales.
Prickly poppy
You may not realise that Britain has several wild farmland poppies. Shorter than the common poppy, this species has four orange-red petals that usually only persist for a day before being shed. But the key feature to clinch identification is the club-shaped seed capsule,
Agriculture and wildlife are catered for at Hope Farm.
covered with numerous prickles. Today, this beauty is only regularly found on the chalky and sandy soils of south-east England.
Shepherd’s needle
Belonging to the carrot family, shepherd’s needle grows to 60cm when supported by the surrounding crop, but doesn’t stand out from the crowd until its seedheads are produced. These finger-like projections were described by 16th-century botanist John Gerard as “packneedles, orderly set one by another like the great teeth of a combe”.
While the spread of COVID-19 means it’s not possible to travel to these locations at the moment, we hope they offer some inspiration for days out once lockdown has ended.