BY CLIVE WHITE

The windswept moorland fringing Keighley and the Worth Valley is a frontier for farmers battling with the elements to make a living, and for birds and animal life struggling to survive.

They are often in conflict, not least because farmers, forced by economic pressure, reluctantly end up damaging precious habitat.

But now, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is hoping a new project will go some way to helping farmers and birds - especially the rare twite - co-exist.

The Countryside Stewardship Scheme offers farmers financial incentives to maintain areas of their land as strongholds for the birds by continuing to grow traditional hay meadows.

The twite, a northern bird which reaches its southern most habitat in the West Yorkshire moorland and especially in the Keighley area, feeds on seeds produced in hay meadows.

In the last ten years its numbers have plunged by 50 per cent, a situation viewed as "dire" by the RSPB.

But growing hay, which involves an average of just one cut a year in July, is not as profitable as cutting grass for silage at least twice a year.

It means there are fewer hay meadows not only for the twite, but other ground-nesting birds like the skylark and the curlew.

One small-holder who has already taken advantage of the scheme, and is calling on other small-holders and upland farmers to get involved, is 40-year-old Mark Waller, of Crumach Farm, Black Moor Lane, between Haworth and Oxenhope.

He sees it as part of a diversification package for farmers who are struggling to survive in one of the deepest agricultural recessions in living memory.

Mr Waller is a biologist by profession, having worked in research at Bradford University, but now works in the field of animal health. But he is also a keen conservationist and enjoys seeing the birds on his land.

"I feel that hill farmers can make the most of the scheme as part of a package to improve income. I think I can get the message across as someone on both sides of the agricultural fence," he said.

He has six acres all of which he uses to make traditional hay - an ideal habitat for seed eating twite.

"Farmers need to diversify. They don't have to radically change the way they farm and this scheme is a way they could make some income, although it is not going to make a difference between make or break."

He said smaller farmers are feeling the pinch more than their bigger cousins and the Countryside Stewardship Scheme was an ideal way to earn more money.

And he stressed there was still money in producing hay, which sells for about £200 a bale and is in demand as feed for horses whose digestive system can not cope with silage.

"Farmers are always painted as the villains of the piece but they are not. They like to see wild animals and birds on their land - hares in the fields and swallows nesting in buildings - but they also have to cope with the demands of the market place," said Mr Waller.

RSPB conservation officer Tim Cleeves agrees.

He said: "Farmers remember their fathers and grandfathers recalling the corncrake and the curlews.

"We are giving them the opportunity and some money to join the scheme which, if they do, will put something back and allow the conservation of these hay meadows which have been lost to the need to grow silage.

"If they do get involved they will see the hay meadows bursting with wild flowers - full of all sorts of different plants and animals which will be a joy to see."

He said the Keighley area had been highlighted as one of the most important hotspots for the conservation of the twite, numbers of which had reached a dire level.

"Strongholds in the South Pennines are a vital factor in conserving numbers and the birds in West Yorkshire now literally represent the battlelines in our fight to halt the decline," he added.

He said the Worth Valley has a large number of small, less intensively farmed units, many small holdings and part-time farmers who were not hit by the same financial constraints as bigger farmers and would find it easier to take advantage of the scheme.

In the longer term it is hoped to win even more money to help develop wider stewardship schemes.

The Standing Conference of South Pennine Authorities, of which Bradford Council is a leading member, is bidding for £5 million from the heritage lottery pot.

The money would help expand the stewardship schemes, investigate farmers' markets, help them look at the quality of their products and hopefully assist them in producing higher quality goods for specialist markets, said Mr Cleeves.

Tim Palmer from the National Farmers' Union fully supports the initiative and has called on farmers to consider getting involved.

"It is very, very important that farmers take a fresh look at their business and whether they can interact more closely with this type of scheme which will benefit themselves and the habitat," he said.

"There are an awful lot of farms which have certain areas of land that could very easily apply to this kind of management without there having to be any major changes."

He said farmers should look at every opportunity for diversification, which might help the farm's profitability.

The Country Stewardship Scheme is administered by the Farming and Advisory Wildlife Group and offers farmers the chance of grants for ten years, including £150 a hectare a year to improve existing hay meadows and £60 a year to maintain rushy pasture.

The grants can help maintain management options including maintaining existing hay meadows, cutting later in the season, reducing stock numbers and, where possible, making special water level supplements.

Anyone interested in getting more information about the scheme should contact Julian Carlisle or Caroline Ashton on (01924) 306552.

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