When we hosted Open Farm Sunday (https://farmsunday.org/), we pointed out on the tours one of our recently sown areas of wild bird seed mix. Back then in June, all you could see were really tiny green shoots, but we assured our passengers that by winter there would be a veritable feast for birds to help them get through the hungry gap of December to March when food is scarce and they can often die of starvation.

From the picture here you can see the progress on this. The prominent lovely autumn-coloured plants you can see are quinoa. There are another 5 plant species in this mix, which include the wonderfully-named Gold of Pleasure.

We also use large bird feeders over the hungry gap which we top up as part of our stewardship scheme with Natural England.

The wild bird seed mix part of our scheme really helps us retain and attract red-listed species of birds, such as the flock of Yellowhammers regularly seen close to this patch.