A North Somerset village is buzzing with excitement, thanks to rare species spotting activities sparked by the biodiversity-enhancing initiatives of Yeo Valley Organic’s home farm.
July 2023 saw the Yeo Valley Organic’s management team trading board meetings for a more hands-on experience. Their task? To sift through cowpat in search of glossy black dung beetles, a byproduct of dairy farming. While this might seem less than appealing, it is a key part of Yeo Valley Organic’s commitment to regenerative agriculture.
Yeo Valley Organic’s cattle thrive on pesticide-free, organically-grown pasture, creating a habitat that also attracts dung beetles. These insects are now aiding the company in evaluating the impact of its regenerative approach. Alongside skylarks, adders, and hazel dormice, dung beetles are one of the four indicator species being monitored at Holt Farm, Yeo Valley Organic’s home farm in Blagdon, North Somerset.
Yeo Valley Organic’s farm development manager, Will Mayor, emphasizes their desire to produce food in harmony with nature, without damaging biodiversity. Their aim is to foster biodiversity throughout their fields and hedgerows. To set a baseline for this, they are conducting a comprehensive survey of the farm’s existing biodiversity.
Ecologist Patrick Hancock has been instrumental in creating a long-term biodiversity survey, using these four species as key indicators. In addition to dung beetles, he selected skylarks, hazel dormice, and adders to measure the company’s progress towards biodiversity.
Hancock’s findings have spurred significant interest within the company. Employees began sharing photos of wildlife they spotted, asking Hancock to identify them. This increased engagement with nature quickly spread to the wider community, with enthusiastic locals contributing their own sightings to the group and logging their finds on the iNaturalist wildlife identification app.
Local resident and wildlife enthusiast, Mark Sumpter, is one such participant. His involvement in the project has transformed his perspective, making him more attentive to the myriad creatures hidden in plain sight during his walks.
Hancock’s method of conducting the survey involves establishing a network of transects throughout Yeo Valley Organic’s landscape. These transects traverse varied habitats, from established woodland and agroforestry plantation to lowland areas. Throughout the year, he walks these routes to record the presence of his chosen indicator species.
Yeo Valley Organic’s approach towards balancing food production with nature can be described as ‘land sharing’. This stands in contrast to ‘land sparing’ where specific areas of land are left to nature while the rest are farmed intensively. They aim to show that farming practices can coexist alongside and even support biodiversity, rather than compete with it.
The indicator species aren’t the only ones Hancock spots during his surveys. He often observes fieldfare and redwing, both winter thrushes, and even rarer sightings such as merlins, short-eared owls, and corn buntings. His walks are often joined by local resident and amateur photographer Matt Pluchino, whose garden overlooks Holt Farm. From his home, he’s been able to observe a rich variety of birdlife and other wildlife.
Pluchino echoes the sentiments of many locals when he says, “Sometimes it feels more like a nature reserve than a farm.” This is a testament to Yeo Valley Organic’s commitment to biodiversity and the positive impact their initiatives are having on the local community and wildlife alike.
