PARTRIDGE: The Burghsluis Demonstration Site
Our demonstration site in Zeeland, the Netherlands, is an incredible example of how effective conservation can coexist with farming.
Introduction to the PARTRIDGE project
The Interreg North Sea Region (NSR) PARTRIDGE (Protecting the Area's Resources Through Researched Innovative Demonstration of Good Examples) project is a transnational partnership showcasing best practice models at 10 farmland demonstration sites in five NSR countries, to show how: new management solutions can improve biodiversity and ecosystem services by a minimum 30% by 2023, and these can be transferred across all regions of the NSR and the EU.
If you're interested in learning more about who we are and what we do, click the link below! Please note you will be taken off this webpage.
Each of our 10 demonstration sites is paired to a nearby 'reference site', which is representative of typical management practiced on farmland within their region. In total this gives us 20 project sites, each roughly 500 hectares in size.
Interact with the map below to see where all of our project sites are!
Case Study: Burghsluis
The Burghsluis Demonstration site is situated on the former island of Schouwen-Duivenland, in the Province of Zeeland. It borders the Schelde estuary with its iconic harbour.
If you're interested in learning more about Burghsluis, click the link below! Please note you will be taken off this webpage.
The map shows the general landscape at Burghsluis (crops and grassland, semi-natural habitats, perennial woody crops, water features and urban and other developed areas). Use the swipe bar to compare between our maps and the aerial imagery below.
We will explore the high-quality habitats in detail but for now, let us show you around!
The flat and open landscape lies below sea level, so there are many kilometres of ditches in the area. It is these ditches, together with the hedges, dikes and farmsteads that define the landscape.
The 500-hectare site has eight arable and dairy farms, both conventional and organic. The area is surrounded by some smaller nature reserves, and borders Oosterschelde National Park.
The farmers in our demonstration site have created 12.8 ha of new flower blocks, 4 beetle banks, hedges and winter stubbles for farmland birds.
Alongside these measures there are also variations of agri-envirionmental schemes including:
- Vogelakker (bird fields).
- Patrijzenranden (partridge edges).
- Wintervoedselakkker (winter feeding fields).
But that's not all the habitat we've implemented! Additionally, Burghsluis has been improved with measures like winter stubbles, field corners, thinly sown wheat to boost threatened arable flora (flora akker) and strip cropping.
These measures are possible thanks to agreements Het Zeeuwse Landschap makes with the farmers who lease agricultural land from them.
The area attracts wintering skylark, linnet and meadow pipit as well as raptors such as kestrels, hen harriers and short-eared owl.
The grey partridge is one of the best indicators of farmland ecosystem health, hence where partridges thrive, biodiversity is high and ecosystem services are intact.
A Grey Future?
In the past, it was common to see partridges, skylarks, grass elms and other field birds diving into the stubble of already harvested wheat fields.
However, that all changed with the intensification of agriculture.
Agricultural fields had to be used more and more intensively; field edges with grasses and herbs were ploughed over and the surrounding hedges were cleared so that as much land as possible could be farmed.
As a result, the ideal habitat of the field birds quickly disappeared. Safe nesting places were almost impossible to find, insect-rich plants for the growing chicks had disappeared and there was no longer enough winter food for the adult birds.
The numbers of grey partridge especially deteriorated very quickly. Over the past 50 years, the population of grey partridges declined by more than 95%.
But there is still hope.
The goal of the PARTRIDGE project is to demonstrate that modern agriculture and biodiversity go hand in hand. On the Burghsluis demonstration site, PARTRIDGE habitats cover almost 45 hectares (8% of the demonstration site) and they are having an effect.
In the first year of the project (2017) we found that there were three coveys on the demonstration site and a fourth covey with 11 young situated just outside the site.
Birds are monitored across the area, with routes that take in the PARTRIDGE flower blocks. We record adult and young partridges.
- A researcher monitoring birds in a flower block in Winter.
- A pair of grey partridges.
- Grey partridge chicks.
Monitoring the population of grey partridges on the demonstration site.
Banking on Beetle Banks
Another example of a PARTRIDGE habitat is a beetle bank. Watch the video below to discover how we create these all-important features.
A short video clip about the establishment and use of beetle banks.
Het Zeeuwse Landschap owns around 60 hectares of agricultural land within the Burghsluis demosite.
We use this land as an experimental area for both arable and livestock farmers, who are able to lease the land from us.
Notably, our so-called 'multiplier model' is used here. This model works by offering a lease reduction to farmers implementing measures on land leased from us .
More intensive experiments such as strip cropping and mowing after the 1st of July make for a higher reduction in lease. But measures also need to be taken on their own land, such as winter stubbles until the 15th of March or field corners.
A diagram of the multiplier model.
One of the experimental measures on this land is 'strip cropping', which has been implemented on two fields so far.
On these fields, the farmer is able to choose which crops benefit them most - but we also have some guidelines to ensure these fields are also beneficial to wildlife, specifically farmland birds. These guidelines include measures like:
- Field corners.
- Winter Stubbles.
- Linear Wild Bird Cover Elements.
- Variations in crop height and sowing/harvest dates.
The first results of strip cropping show a decrease in the spread of pests and diseases, as well as an attraction of bird territories.
It does take a farmer more time, and the current market sadly doesn’t finance these extra activities.
Strip cropping on its own is not a solution, but the combination of strip cropping and extra measures in and around arable fields shows a lot of promise for farmland biodiversity.
This new way of farming is currently being researched a lot in the Netherlands.
The farmers within Burghsluis are urged to leave winter stubbles during the winter months.
Thanks to the experimental arable land mentioned above, we were able to give farmers some space to test these new methods and measures out.
Over time we have seen a big change in the amount of overwintering stubbles within our demosite, as more and more farmers take up this measure.
These stubbles of maize and wheat are left until, at least, the 15 th of March. Through the year, extra grass or green manure is sometimes added. This provides insects with over-winter habitat, as well as food for seed eating birds during the ‘’hungry gap’’.
These stubbles also allow arable plants to set seed and grow alongside spring crops, which in turn benefit insects.
Check out more of the high quality habitats at Burghsluis in this interactive map, and compare the high-quality habitats across the site in 2017 (left) and 2021 (right) to see how we are improving!
Birds(?) of Burghsluis
Just some of the bird species found at the Burghsluis demonstration site. The partridge nest pictured was a huge success, with 18 of 19 eggs (golf ball excluded!) hatching. At the last sighting, 11 of the young had survived.
Communication, Outreach & Other Activities
Monitoring field birds in flower blocks and establishing beetle banks isn't all that we do on the demonstration site. View the timeline below to see the highlights of the last five years, where we particularly focus on stakeholder engagement.
Thank you for reading this StoryMap!
In this StoryMap, we've taken an in-depth look at just one of the PARTRIDGE project's demonstration sites, but we carry out monitoring across 20 sites in total. If you'd like to discover more about what do we do with the data once it's been collected, then you can read another StoryMap here:
And of course, you can find more information on our website here:
