Calor Keeps Conservation Work on the Move

The ATVs make it easy for the team to access the traps they set to catch predators of the partridge, as well as refilling the bird feeders that line the edge of each of the estate’s fields, with grain.

The ATVs have also benefited the gamekeepers in other ways. “Not only are LPG bikes acting as a deterrent to thieves because the gas is less likely to be pilfered, they’ve even helped to reduce complaints of back ache among the team when it comes to unloading the grain from the trailers into the bird feeders”, says Gerald.

More unusually, they lessen the need for sheep dogs, as they help move sheep from area to area.

The ATVs make it easy for the team to access the traps they set to catch predators of the partridge, as well as refilling the bird feeders that line the edge of each of the estate’s fields, with grain.

The ATVs have also benefited the gamekeepers in other ways. “Not only are LPG bikes acting as a deterrent to thieves because the gas is less likely to be pilfered, they’ve even helped to reduce complaints of back ache among the team when it comes to unloading the grain from the trailers into the bird feeders”, says Gerald.

More unusually, they lessen the need for sheep dogs, as they help move sheep from area to area.

Owning bi-fuel ATVs offers the team many benefits, with LPG offering a clean, green and inexpensive option that also allows the gamekeepers to switch to petrol easily, should they run out of gas away from the tank.

As well as significantly cutting the cost of running ATVs, LPG has saved the team time they would have spent travelling to petrol stations to refuel. With two onsite bulk tanks re-fuelling is effortless, and the installation, maintenance and topping up is all taken care of by Calor. Environmental risks associated with fuel spillages and the risk of pilfering is reduced with LPG, unlike petrol, which cannot be stored in large quantities.

Using LPG-fuelled ATVs has made financial and commercial sense to Gerald and his team and the environmental benefits of LPG help to support the estate’s environmental agenda.

“We want to encourage the Grey Partridge to breed in the wild”, says Gerald Gray. “It’s not just predators which threaten their survival, but a lack of insects, which are key to a chick’s diet before they move onto grain”.

In order to attract insects, 20 metre strips around each of the estate’s fields are left untouched by pesticides and allowed to grow wild, providing much-needed cover for the partridges and attracting the crucial insect supply. This best practice is spreading throughout the shooting community showing that game keeping isn’t just about shooting, it’s also about conservation.

Now, with LPG-powered ATVs, the team finds it easier to get around the estate and manage these areas.

Calor’s Jeff Penfold says, “We are delighted Calor has helped the estate in its work necessary to preserve Grey Partridges. LPG-powered ATVs can offer environmental advantages as well as cost savings”.

Hilborough is widely renowned for its conservation work, a best practice that is spreading through the shooting community and which goes someway to show game keeping is also about species preservation.

With only 150,000 pairs of Grey Partridge in the UK, the team has been active in its work to turn the decline of this species around. Gerald, who has worked at the estate for 16 years, says, ‘We have worked hard to encourage the Grey Partridge to breed in the wild through fundraising and supporting research into their preservation and natural habitat.

‘Research has shown that it is not just predators like foxes, rats and weasels which threaten the partridge, but a lack of insects, in particular winged insects, which are a key source of food to chicks in their first few weeks of life.

‘We hoped that by improving the land here and encouraging insects, it would lead to an increased food supply to supplement the chicks before they move onto grain”.

In line with conservation work and DEFRA regulations that stipulate a certain proportion of farmland must be left to grow wild, Gerald and his team began to manage the environment and land to encourage an insect rich habitat. 20 metre strips of headland were allocated around each field to encourage the growth of native weeds and wild flowers including harebell, flixweed and even sunflowers to attract insects, including the hover fly, whose aphids are a staple part of the chick’s diet.

Long grasses and wild seed provide a two fold benefit for the Grey Partridge, acting as a canopy to cover their nests, and attracting the vital insect supply. It also provides food and cover for other wildlife including songbirds, rabbits and hares. Across the estate, improving the habitat has also attracted red legged partridges, pheasants, ducks, geese, woodcock, snipe and four different species of deer.

Hilborough houses a stud farm, a flock of sheep, three herds of pigs and 50 hives of bees which make wildflower honey. On the arable land the crops grown are onions, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, sugar beet, barley, some wheat, and linseed.

The careful spraying of each combinable crop means the edges are untouched by pesticides which might destroy the insects and wildflowers. “If you wipe out insects by spraying with pesticides, it takes seven years to get back to the same insect population”, says Gerald.

Such dedication and research into the survival of the Grey Partridge should play an important part inincreasing the population.

 

ENDS

Issued on behalf of Calor by Connect PR, Chubb Buildings, Wolverhampton WV1 1HT. Tel: 01902 714957. Email: marksimpson@connect-group.com or natalie@connect-group.com

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Ref: CG177
Released 2nd March 2005