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‘This is a robust recipe’: the experimental farm bucking the decline in UK birds

The Guardian Environment Saturday 31 October 2026, 12:00 UTC By Matthew Pearce 1 min read
Key Points

Allerton Project attracts abundant wildlife and its success can offers clues to reversing the sharp drop in populationsFarmer Alastair Leake is standing in a field of sprouting winter wheat, pointing at his experiment. One side was ploughed before planting, with green shoots breaking through neat rows of upturned soil. On the other, the crop was drilled directly into the earth, emerging through a messy carpet of “trash” – stems, stubble and crop residue from previous harvests.

Allerton Project attracts abundant wildlife and its success can offers clues to reversing the sharp drop in populations

Farmer Alastair Leake is standing in a field of sprouting winter wheat, pointing at his experiment. One side was ploughed before planting, with green shoots breaking through neat rows of upturned soil. On the other, the crop was drilled directly into the earth, emerging through a messy carpet of “trash” – stems, stubble and crop residue from previous harvests.

“When we’re watching to see where the birds are landing to feed, none of them are going on to the ploughed side,” says Leake, the director of the Allerton Project farm, standing on the trashy side. “They’re all coming and feeding down here.

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UK (LOCATION) Allerton Project (ORG) Alastair Leake (PERSON) Leake (PERSON)
Originally published by The Guardian Environment Read original →

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