Deep Clough Farm is set in the heart of Bowland’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The mosaic of moorland, woodland and grazing pastures combined with the traditional style of farming means that a wealth of special wildlife thrives in harmony with our native breed livestock.
Hardy breeds such as Highland, Galloway and Blue-Grey cattle are bred to live on traditional extensive grasslands and are therefore able to digest the grasses that less hardy continental breeds are unable to do so. Also, as our climate becomes more unpredictable, native breed livestock such as our Dalesbred sheep are far better equipped to adapt to these changes than a lot of mainstream breeds.
In spring, the farm is alive with the sight and sound of wading birds such as lapwings and curlews. Lapwings in particular require short grazed fields for nesting and feeding habitat. Hardy cattle help maintain the land for these birds as they create the ideal grass structure or ‘sward’ that these wading birds depend on. If the fields are not grazed sufficiently and dominated by rushes this would result in loss of these wader habitats. The cattle also lightly poach up wet areas and ditch edges that provide insect rich, muddy feeding areas, perfect for wader chicks.
Because Lapwings prefer short grass fields they often choose to nest in silage and hay meadows. Unfortunately on many farms, nests are destroyed by machinery works such as rolling, harrowing and cutting operations. At Deep Clough, all these activities are carefully timed so that any birds nesting in these fields are given the best chance of successfully rearing their chicks. Being traditionally managed, all the meadows are cut late on in the summer, by which time all the ground nesting birds have already raised their young and moved on.
Areas of the farm are also managed under the Government’s Countryside Stewardship Scheme. The moorland is grazed appropriately to encourage regeneration of heather, the grazing pastures managed for the wading birds and walls and hedges are maintained for wildlife and landscape value.
We work closely with the RSPB’s Bowland Wader Project to ensure conditions are right for the farm’s wading birds and are also taking part in the ‘Lapwing Recovery Project’. Every spring the farm’s population of breeding lapwings is surveyed and data on habitat quality and land management is also gathered. In spring 2007, 17 pairs of lapwings were recorded on the farm, an increase of 3 pairs from the year before. The Lapwing Recovery Project will assess how different types of land management are affecting breeding success of lapwings on farmland throughout Britain. The RSPB assure us that our style of farming is definitely helping to maintain a healthy population of breeding wading birds and other wildlife on our farm!
As well as being very important for wading birds, Deep Clough supports a wealth of other wildlife. Red Grouse are just one species of bird present in good numbers on our moorland whilst our ancient oak woodlands provide habitats for scarce woodland birds such as Redstart, Pied Flycatcher and Wood Warbler.
Areas of species-rich grassland, long since lost from many Bowland farms due to intensive agricultural activity, support an array of wildflowers and rare plants such as Heath Spotted-Orchid and Dyer’s Greenweed (so called because dyers would use the plant to create a yellow dye from the flower for use on clothes and wool).
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