BIODIVERSITY
Mission
We recognised that Nature and farming has long been at odds and that needed to change. We adapt through shared learning with our neighbours and work collectively across the landscape, the cumulative impact of each of us making changes delivers a mosaic of habitats that will eventually lead to ecosystem recovery. It will take time, making a start was critically important, sharing our journey is vital to help others build confidence that this is the right path.
The challenge
Reducing the carbon impact of our farming methods to the point of Net Zero is challenging, farming sustainably whilst maintaining our food production output is the single biggest challenge we face. Doing this whilst restoring biodiversity can be viewed as an impossibility without wrecking the financial stability of the business, but what we are transitioning towards at Climping is a landscape where Soil, Water and Air quality improvements are the catalyst for nature to return and the emerging economy of nature based payments will underpin our bottom line.
Decline on The Land
Wildlife in the UK is in Trouble
The UK has lost almost half of its biodiversity since the 1970s. Much of this is caused by loss of habitat to commercial farming and construction. 72% of UK land is managed for agriculture. 8% of land is built on.
15% of species are threatened with extinction and 2% are already extinct.
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The Natural History Museum reports that overall 41% of species have declined. Of these, 26% of mammals are at risk of extinction and 22% of bird species have declined. Some animals have fared badly. Hedgehogs and turtle doves have declined by 95% and 98% respectively.
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Biodiversity loss is particularly acute where the land meets the sea, at Climping the land is fragmented by roads and railways and squeezed between the settlements of Littlehampton and Elmer.
Decline in The Sea
In Sussex, an extensive kelp forest once stretched along more than 40km of the coastline between Shoreham-by-Sea and Selsey Bill. Tragically, by the start of the 21st Century, over 96 per cent of the kelp bed had disappeared, bar a few small patches including at Climping. Having survived huge storms for centuries, the kelp didn’t return after the storm of 1987, following years of trawling and other human pressures decimating the seabed, which kelp depends on to colonise.
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Overfishing and wastewater discharges along with sediment dumping and marine aggregate harvesting have all contributed to the eco-system loss.
Weald To Waves
In 2020 James Baird clubbed together with 6 other partners and the Weald to Waves ambition was born.
Nature cannot survive in fragments.
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They established a network of farmers, land managers, councils, researchers, wildlife charities, schools, gardeners and community groups who are together establishing a nature recovery corridor from the High Weald to the Sussex coast and revived seas, encompassing over 20,000 hectares of contiguous habitat.
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The Bailiffscourt Estate at Climping is a vital component and so it is necessary that farming practices are adapted to nature friendly farming methods. It is right that this land is thought of in terms of its valuable contribution to ecosystem restoration and carbon sequestering opportunities.
How Do We Manage Change?
First we had to identify the problems.
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Soil problems​
When we looked closely at our soils we found them to be hard worked and degraded, dull and lifeless. We had become used to an over reliance on chemical solutions for crop benefit that had a damaging impact on soils, compounded by our plough based system.
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Water Issues​
Our soils lacked organic matter which acts as a sponge to retain water and prevent them drying out during prolonged dry spells.
With over 17kms of watercourse criss-crossing the estate there are plenty of opportunities for diffuse pollution to access wetland habitats.
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Air Quality
Emissions from diesel burning machinery and from nitrogen based fertilisers can be powerful air pollutants, bad for contributing to climate change and public health.​
Our Solutions,
Our Adaptations
Soil Health Check​
Soil analysis confirmed low worm counts and low soil organic matter SOM; this was somewhat unsurprising considering our practices of baling straw for export and intensive ploughing regimes.
Soil biodiversity is the variety of living organisms within a soil, a complex web of bacteria, fungi, Mycorrhizal Fungi, protozoa, potworms, springtails, nematodes and earthworms.
Good soil health is essential for sustainable agricultural output.
Soil biodiversity contributes to ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling, water filtration, pest control, carbon storage, and soil stabilization, all important for human well-being and crop production.
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Our Soil Strategy
Following years of exploitation restoring the health of our soils needed planning and forethought studies concluded that attacking the problem too quickly could shock the system, severely damaging agricultural output; this needed to be a transition.
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We began by ceasing straw baling, instead choosing to chop and incorporate all crop residues. In the seasons that followed we slowly introduced organic matter, mushroom composts, wood processing waste and sewage sludge from waste water treatment works. We now keep soils green all year round to capture nutrients that would otherwise leach away during winter high rainfall periods.
Watercourse Buffering
​Alongside every watercourse we have introduced 5 metres of species rich habitats specifically to contain any diffuse pollution. These buffers are vital for aquatic health, we do not mow these so they have become important habitat for winter feeding finches and hunting grounds for kestrels by day and owls by night.
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We have built in building bio-filters to treat our chemical spray washings; previously heavily diluted washings were applied to land, compromising water quality.
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We are trialling techniques to reduce our chemical inputs, this work is ongoing and involves us working with nature to provide alternative solutions such as predatory and beneficial insects that reduce our reliance on insecticides that can damage aquatic environments.
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Liquid fertilisers can be precisely placed in precise quantities reducing risks of run off to watercourses.
Our minimum tillage cultivations and soil organic matter upsurge has resulted in freer draining soils that can absorb greater quantities of water; it makes sense to hold water in the land.
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Air Time​
We have been successfully trialling undersowing wheats with micro-clovers which can capture nitrogen from the air and slowly release it to the crop. This results in us reducing our reliance on artificial nitrogen fertilisers.
If we do apply artificial nitrogen it is now coated in inhibitors to ensure it is taken up by the plant and not released into the atmosphere by volatilization.
By switching away from ploughing we have reduced our hours spent cultivating by over 600 hours per year, each of those hours involved a tractor emitting exhaust fumes into the atmosphere.
Challenges
Degradation of agricultural
soils
​Loss of abundance and diversity in flora and fauna
​Drained wetlands and over-managed watercourses
​Vegetation deficit caused by post-war hedgerow and woodland clearances
​Detachment from surrounding landscape - Fragmentation
​Broken
eco-systems
Opportunities
Transition to regenerative agricultural practices through farmer-to-farmer learning networks
Climate adaptation through restoration and regenerative land practices
Hedgerow and woodland scrub restoration
Restoring marshlands – sustainable farming in rewetted areas
Establishing partnerships with marine and terrestrial stakeholders
Creating / expanding ecological corridors
Habitat Creation
Opportunities
Heathland and shrub
Individual trees
Woodland and Forest
Coastal grasslands
Sparsely vegetated land
Wetland (including salt marshes)
Rivers and Lakes
Habitat Enhancement Opportunities
Arable field margins
Other Lowland mixed deciduous woodland
Other neutral grassland
Maritime cliff and slope
Coastal vegetated shingle
Hedgerow (priority habitat)