Arable field margins
Arable land is land cultivated for growing crops. Cereal field margins are strips of land on the edges of cereal fields, which can be managed less intensively (with lower inputs of fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides than the main crop).
Arable farming has been practiced in Britain for at least 2000 years and in that time a range of wild species has become associated with the habitats created under traditional forms of arable farming. In the past, arable land supported a particular suite of colourful wild flower species which are dependent on regular disturbance of the soil in order to complete their life cycles. However, many of these arable “weeds” are now rare, due to inputs of herbicides. Flower-rich field margins can also provide good habitat for invertebrates, including several bumblebee species, which are now rare, as well as more widespread species such as the more common butterflies. Bare ground is an often undervalued habitat type but is a very important resource for many specialist invertebrates. Many of the now declining farmland birds forage on arable land in the winter for seeds while in the summer it is for seeds and invertebrates which are fed to the chicks. These species also breed in the habitats associated with arable farmland e.g. hedgerows, grass margins or within the crop itself.
In the Tees Valley, cereal field margins and arable fields provide important habitats for the following key bird and mammal species: brown hare, grey partridge, song thrush, linnet, corn bunting, tree sparrow, turtle dove, bullfinch, barn owl and skylark. Corn buttercup is a rare arable weed that occurs on a few arable field sites in the Tees Valley.
