The doctor will see you now
As we rumbled across the 1,000-acre shoot in Wiltshire of which Dr Mike Swan is custodian, it was obvious the undulating arable land had been rehabilitated with new woodland, planted by the estate owner in collaboration with the GCWT.
The woods have been designed with shrubs, clearings and areas that are ideal for rearing game. We headed into his main wood, running alongside which was a strip of cereal for brood-rearing cover, then a strip of Bright’s Pheasant & Finch mixture, then a strip of canary grass and finally, mid-height sorghum with phacelia thrown in.
Much of the original planting harks back to the old days of set-aside. Coming out of the wood we flush some mallard off a pond.
“We decided to put a pond in but being on chalk we needed a waterproof lining,” he explained.
“Butyl was obvious but we were considering a Countryside Stewardship and the adviser said butyl wasn’t natural. We thought lining a hole with clay in the middle of chalk downland wasn’t exactly natural, either. The estate owner decided he couldn’t be bothered with being held back.
“The stewardship scheme is great but we wanted to do lots of other additional works and initially they wouldn’t buy into
