After the former Top Gear star made environmental changes like wider hedgerows and new ponds, Jeremy Clarkson has transformed Diddly Squat Farm into a haven for birds, with 45 species now recorded compared to the average farm’s 27.
Jeremy Clarkson has shared a poignant moment from his time on Diddly Squat Farm that left him feeling “sad”. The former Top Gear host, who purchased a thousand acres of land including Curdle Hill Farm in 2008, was disheartened by the lack of birds at his Chipping Norton site.
A tenant had previously taken over the farm, but Jeremy took over as owner when they left in 2019. Clarkson’s Farm, a well-known Amazon Prime Video series, chronicles his foray into farming.
Since starting to farm six years ago, Jeremy has expressed his regret over the alarming decline in bird numbers. He stated in a column for the Sunday Times magazine that “the sad state of things was obvious when I first purchased Diddly Squat because their numbers have fallen by more than 60% since 1970.” The skies were completely empty when I went for a walk.
The TV personality, who had a desire to change things, decided to start farming seven years ago. He continued, “It made me sad, so when I started farming the land seven years ago, I made the decision to take action.” I widened the margins around the fields’ edges and stopped trimming the hedges away from the roads.
According to Jeremy, farmers are required to leave between four and six metres around the edges of fields. However, he chose to leave 10 in some areas to foster a healthier environment for the birds, even though it meant producing less food, reports Gloucestershire Live.
Along with that, Jeremy also constructs ponds across Diddly Squat. He humorously admits that because he “loves using diggers,” but also believes that it will provide a source of water that could aid in the return of farmland birds.
Later, Jeremy reached out to bird expert Hannah Bourne-Taylor for advice and planted “wildflower strips” around the farm to encourage insects as “tasty snacks.”
Hannah, who once caused controversy by expanding a trip to Ghana by 84 days because a bird nested in her hair, encouraged him to make more changes at Diddly Squat, including planting “all kinds of things with Latin names.”
However, the dry weather prevented the flowers from actually growing. She also advised me to rent a digger and build more ponds because birds don’t enjoy traveling, according to Jeremy.
For instance, “a corn bunting rarely straddles more than a mile or so from the hedge where it was born.”
The former Grand Tour winner claims that Hannah eventually discovered 45 different bird species at Diddly Squat, compared to the typical farm’s 27, he claims.
Whitethroats, goldfinches, buntings, and skylarks were just a few of the species that Jeremy’s farm found. He claims that he was pleased to see his efforts paid off despite the fact that the majority of the birds were “small and boring.”
Source: Mirror
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