Save wild flowers

By Catherine Keena

Most farmers know where primroses grow on their farm. These well-known and loved wild flowers are a welcome sight each year on field banks and hedgerow margins. Sprays kill such wild flowers. Fertilizer and slurry also will. When spreading fertilizer, keep it out of field margins. Tillage margins by watercourses have been increased in REPS4.

Field margins

These are strips of rough grass around field boundaries of all types, whether hedgerows, stone walls, watercourses, banks or permanent wire fences. While primroses are not in every field margin, they all provide valuable habitat for wildlife. They provide food, shelter, breeding and corridors of movement. A variety of rough vegetation provides seeds for birds, cover for small mammals and nest sites for ground nesting birds.

On all REPS farms, field margins extend to at least 1.5m from boundaries. Do not plough or allow fertilizer, slurry, spray or spray drift in field margins. In REPS4 tillage fields adjoining watercourses, a 3m uncultivated margin must be maintained and pesticides must not be applied within.

Field margin options

If you have chosen REPS options involving field margins, remember to increase the distance. Option 3A increases grassland watercourse margins to 2.5m. Option 4C increases grassland field margins or nature corridors to 2.5m. Option 9C increases tillage margins to 3m. REPS4 increases tillage margins by watercourses to 4.5m in this option.