Roland’s love of the English
A three-legged stool is the perfect metaphor for practical conservation. To reach equilibrium, a balance of food, habitat and predator control must be provided and maintained if you are to improve and keep a vibrant population of wild game. Weaken one of the legs and everything becomes decidedly wobbly — remove one, and it all falls flat on its face.
In late January, at Flea Barn, we sited a number of new feeders on parts of the farm that historically held grey partridge pairs or where we have undertaken habitat improvement with these mercurial birds in mind. While it is simple best practice to frequently move supplementary feeders provided for pheasants and farmland birds — thereby lessening the opportunities for rats — this is not true for greys. Once paired up, they strongly heft
