The farm and its wildlife<<

Wildlife has always used farms for dood and shelter. But in the last 50 years, modern farming practices have forced many of hese animals to find new homes.

Birds

Farm building provide both permanent and temporary nest sites for many species of birds, especially swallows and house martin. The predatory barn owls use barns and other large buildings for both roosts and nest sites. But these birds are becoming rare as a result of the reduction of the small mammal population on which they feed. Also, many barns have recently been converted into housing.

Shrubbery provides food and shelter for a avariety of birds. Colonies of crows nest in tall trees, favoring elm and oak, which are also home to pigeons and doves.

Once common, the partridge's numbers are now declining in areas of large-scale farming. Crop stubble bruning after harvest, the use of pesticides, and the loss of natural shrubbey are all contributing factors to its decrease.

Mammals

Farmers once widely considered the rabbit to be a pest, even though they used the animal's skin and ate its meat. But today, rabbits are again becoming common on farms. and foxes still live around edges of farms, where they scavenge and feed on rabbits and chickens.

Small mammals such as the comon shrew are becoming rarer in open farmland because of habitat loss. The use of huge harvesting machinery also kills many field mammals, including the harest mouse. This rodent is now more commonlt seen along roadsides, where the vegetation that it need to survive still flourishes.

Insects

In spite of the heavy use of chemicals in modern farming techniques, insect life remains abundant on farms. Just beneath the surface of cultivated soil are worms and various species of beetle.

Cockroaches are common in farm buildings. Beetle larvae eat cereal crop, while the adults cause damage to fruit trees.

Plants

outlying farm shrubbery contains a variety of trees and bushes. Many hedges mark land boundaries that have existed for hundreds of years. Shrunnery provides protection from the wind for the fields. But it also supports hundreds of plant species that provide food for the butterflies of this habitat. Small mammals use te shrubbery to hide from their predators and to build their dens.

In spite of the widespread use of chemicals, large equipment, and new harvesting methods, some wild-flowering plants surive and even flourish from year to year. For example, poppies and daisies add bright splashes of color to the landscape.