[quote 3ormorecharacters]@Scrowy permanent pasture is not a 'natural look' for land. It's an artificial habitat which is actually very damaging to local wildlife. Farming in this country has been in decline for a long time, hence land like this being sold off. There's no point in keeping it dormant when it could be repurposed in a way which promotes native wildlife and sustainable living.[/quote]
I know it's popular to slag off modern farming and blame it for all natural ills but on hill farms in the uplands of the UK there is a rich abundance of wildlife BECAUSE of farming practices not despite them. In other types of non upland systems farming policies and subsidies are now geared towards the encouragement and protection of wildlife.
Permanent pasture has been identified as important in the sequestration of carbon.
I can walk out of my door and depending on the season can see/hear numerous species that are 'at risk' but are as common as flies round here. We have been overrun with hares, voles, newts and shrews this year, in summer we can always hear curlew, lapwing and cuckoo we regularly hear the screech of long eared owls and little owls and see barn owls and bats swooping silently. There are woodpeckers on our bird tables and red squirrels running along our field walls. I've seen more hedgehogs this year than I've ever seen before.
We maintain dry stone walls, traditional hedges, woodland and field margins for cover for wildlife, we leave making hay until the wildflowers have gone to seed.
Other than when we check our animals the wildlife is largely left in peace, we aren't there disturbing it for hours on end by growing veg, mowing the grass, sunbathing etc.
But yes, it's the farmer's fault for having sheep and cows grazing (which by the way creates the environment for flies/worms etc as feed for small birds and some mammals) and not the urbanisation of the countryside through building on farmland, the gravelling over of gardens. It can't possibly be the huge numbers of cars on the road and litter and pollution (including light pollution) and the allowance of predator numbers to go unchecked.
We haven't stopped farming any differently this year. So I wonder what's been different about this year that's allowed a wildlife explosion?