PARLIAMENT OF FOWLS

This is a complicated time of year for the wildlife of arable farms. What was a bountiful countryside will have changed dramatically over the past few weeks, with harvest and then autumn cultivation.

For the finches and buntings, an endless food supply of spilt grains and weed seeds has just been buried, and life can be surprisingly hard.

All good keepers know that now is a critical time in terms of feeding the pheasants and partridges, but it is also important for the wider wildlife. The wheat that we feed to our game, whether spun from the quad or through hoppers, is a help, but lots of small birds that have bred well because of our good gamekeeping really need other things. So now is the moment to start putting out a little extra. Small offerings of a blend of millet, linseed, rape and mustard will cater for a wide diversity of seed-eating songbirds.

For wild birds such as the reed bunting, life can be tough at this time of year