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Thanks for the feedback on the sunflower strip alongside the Watton Road opposite the crematorium…… we like them too.

More importantly, the birds like them too.

This sunflower strip is an initiative we began about 3 years ago to provide additional biodiversity and, most importantly, late season food for non-migratory birds like finches (especially), blackbirds, robins and a variety of resident species. It’s been a success and so, each year, we have replanted hundreds of sunflowers.

Sunflowers are high in fat, have thin shells and so are easily accessible for birds and they keep their seeds high and dry for an extended period when other food sources are getting thin.

We also think they look attractive, which is a view we know some local people share.

Yesterday, trespassing youths set fire to one of our fields, burning 5 acres and destroying 70 metres of hedging.

 

The fire brigade and we rushed to Swangleys after an emergency callout to a field on fire yesterday afternoon.  Only through the quick response of Herts Fire & Rescue and through a stroke of sheer luck was our neighbouring farmer’s field of wheat – ready for harvest – not also destroyed.

Our direct experience and that of other local farms is that dry weather and school holidays bring field fires, set by youths trespassing where there is no public right of way.  These fires can have a devastating effect on farms financially, can threaten neighbouring properties and always tie up considerable Herts Fire & Rescue resources which are not then available for saving lives elsewhere.

In addition, this particular fire destroyed 70 metres of hedging we planted around 3 years ago as part of our drive for increasing biodiversity on the farm.  Our farm does not need hedges – we have no livestock to contain – and instead we plant hedges entirely for the wildlife that they bring.  That hard work and money spent on this stretch of hedge is now lost and we will need to start again if we are to replace the lost hedge.

For our neighbours this could have been a catastrophe.  We have sent our thanks to Herts Fire & Rescue for their help and would like to say another thankyou to anyone who phoned in the emergency on 999.  Thankyou for that – your prompt action prevented this turning into something even more damaging..

 

         

 

 

Some of the local community have asked about the enormous mound of “soil” we have been building up on Swangleys Lane next to Baines Spring – the small wood near Baines Lane.

This mound forms an important part of Swangleys’ move towards more sustainable farming practises.  We already carry out numerous environmental initiatives – many local people will be familiar with the km’s of hedging we have planted, the dozens of trees, the bird seed borders to some fields etc but possibly less aware of other initiatives such as skylark plots. Most people will not be aware that we have already moved from habitual full ploughing to what is known as “min till” where – in order to preserve the soil microbiome and structure – ploughing is largely replaced with a less invasive cultivation.

 

This spring we are introducing a very significant programme – the start of a move away from total reliance on artificial fertiliser.  Crop-growing land needs fertiliser, but the normal agricultural source is artificial fertiliser made from gas (which is an oil industry product) and mined mineral rocks and therefore carries a high carbon footprint and so, in the long term, is unsustainable. It is not viable at this time for Swangleys to entirely move away from artificial fertiliser, but we are taking a very significant step this year.

 

The mound of “soil” on Swangleys Lane is entirely comprised of natural compost which has been made out of the contents of people’s brown bins.  After collection, your brown bin garden waste is sorted, cleaned, chopped and then naturally composted over the course of a number of months.  By the end of that process, compost can be spread on fields to not only replace artificial fertilisers and therefore dramatically reduce our carbon footprint but also increases the organic matter in the soils and encourages the vital microfauna to flourish.

 

This type of compost is not without its issues for us and we will also need to alternate it with other sources of natural fertiliser in order to provide the soil with what it needs, but it is a big step for us and we will be monitoring the results closely.

 

So, to answer the question that we have been asked, the pile of material on Swangleys Lane is approximately 1,200 tonnes of a total of 2,200 tonnes of natural matter that we will be bringing to Swangleys this spring and integrating into the soil.

 

We carried out another litter-pick on Watton Road a couple of weeks ago – from the crematorium all the way back to Knebworth itself.

All that strip of land next to Watton Road is owned by Herts Highways, but the endless supply of litter thrown from car windows is not picked up by the council – so we do it when we have a chance, just to keep the area looking better. This is especially because we have attended services at the crematorium in the past and feel it’s a tiny favour that we can do to improve the experience for families in slow moving convoys of cars heading to the crem. We also litterpick Swangleys Lane as it’s near the farm entrance.

 

What we find on Watton Road is that the waste is almost exclusively takeaway food containers and drinks bottles discarded from moving cars at the first opportunity after leaving the built-up area of Stevenage.  It’s a thankless task and I’ve noticed that new litter is already taking its place, but it is something we will continue doing when we get the opportunity.

Weather permitting, we are going to be starting harvest at Swangleys later this week.  This year the entire agricultural part of the farm is dedicated to growing beans, which have now wilted off and reached the dryness needed for harvest. The remainder of the farm is used for environmental stewardship initiatives that you might have noticed in the fields locally.

Harvest is THE crucial moment in the calendar for us as a farm business and is when our entire year’s labour and investment in the land is finally converted into a saleable product. It’s also a major operational challenge and involves coordinating the arrival and assembly of multiple combine harvesters plus articulated grain trucks, tractor pulled grain wagons and all the people, fuel , spares and other resources needed to get the entire farm harvested in just a few days. All of this activity is carried out by external farm contractors and 2024 will be the first harvest at Swangleys by our new contractors – who began work for us in autumn 2023.  Although relatively new to Swangleys, they are extremely experienced and competent.

 

So, please bear with us while this job is done – there will be a short term spike in the number of large vehicle movements around Knebworth, Woolmer Green and Datchworth, along with dust and noise from fields while they complete this essential and urgent task.