Wildlife Choice at J.W.Busby & Partners, Leicestershire

John Busby and his family work closely with our supplier Berryworld to supply top quality strawberries to Tesco.

Their 500-acre farm in the Midlands practises a four-year rotation to produce strawberries and a range of arable crops such as wheat, barley and oilseed rape.

The farm has made great progress, under the UK Government’s Countryside Stewardship Scheme, in providing habitats for wildlife on grass margins, in set-aside and within new plantations. There are well structured hedges with hawthorn, elder, dog rose and poplar together with oak, ash and willow trees. Water is a key feature of manor farm with the River Mease and its tributaries being natural field boundaries. Two ponds provide a water catchment area and aquatic habitats for freshwater life. Initial results indicate that there has been an increase in breeding abundance at this farm.

Sunflowers grown in set-aside areas at Busby’s farm provide seeds for feeding birds in winter.