Silage Making

Silage making

Orkney has far fewer mammals than the Mainland - no moles, badgers, foxes etc., but more than makes up for that with the birdlife and the unique Orkney vole. We make one cut of silage on approximately 300 acres each year over a period of about a month. This is all done to protect the birdlife as much as possible.

We have been part of environmental schemes to encourage wading birds and corncrakes for about 20 years. This means we make silage later in July /August after the birds have finished nesting. Most of the fields are grazed by sheep earlier in the spring then laid up for silage. We mow the fields in a way to allow chicks to move to safety and leave margins around the edges of the fields.

 

Raking silage

 

Owls, lapwings and hen harriers all live on the farm Photographs taken by neighbour Keith Hague.

Farm Map

Our farm was ploughed out of the hill in around 1858. Many of the fields are 20 acres with drystone dykes around the fields below the steading. We have approx. 388 Ha with roughly 100 Ha rough grazing (pink) and the rest permanent pasture.

 

Map of New Holland Farm, Orkney

Over many years of environmental habitat schemes we have planted trees, established corncrake cover, and made ponds.

We now have a network of corridors of dry ditches and rough grassy tracks connecting the hill to the stream, ponds and other habitats around the more productive fields.

The following images are taken from some of these pockets of nature .

Creating pockets of wildlife habitat across the farm

One of the ponds we dug and planted with trees. These are almost 30 years old. Moorhens, Oystercatchers, Tufted duck, and Mallard live here. Flag iris and marsh marigolds by Cott Burn.

Sheep briefly grazing wetland by the stream to control grass and rushes and increase biodiversity. Trees in the background around 15 years old!

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