Wildlife
For a number of years, the Ribena blackcurrant growers have worked together with
The Wildlife Trusts - one of the largest conservation charities in the UK - to promote
wildlife-friendly farming across the Ribena blackcurrant farms.
Rare species on Ribena farms
Our growers have been working with The Wildlife Trusts to make Ribena blackcurrant
farms suitable homes for many different species of wildlife.
This work has allowed struggling animals to thrive on the fruit farms, some of which,
such as the brown hare, are no longer seen in parts of the UK.
Brown hares have declined by 80 per cent in the UK over the past 100 years, but
you can thankfully still see them running around the Ribena blackcurrant fields,
at speeds of up to 45 miles per hour!
We're lucky to have yellowhammers on our fruit farms as well. With their bright
yellow head and breast, these attractive birds are easy to recognise.
You can have a little listen to what a yellowhammer sounds like on
YouTube and take a look at one of the
brown hares on a Ribena berry farm in Norfolk.
A spot of bird watching
With the help of The Wildlife Trusts, hundreds of bird boxes have been put up around
the Ribena farms, making homes for thousands of little birds.
This means that we can do lots of bird spotting on our farms! But you don't need
a farm to do some bird spotting of your own. A garden or a local park is a great
place to look out for a variety of birds.
The Great Tit lives in gardens and woodlands, eats seeds and fruit, and is identifiable
by its green and yellow back, black head and white cheeks.
Although associated with Christmas, Robins can be seen all year round in gardens,
parks and hedgerows. Their red breast makes them easy to spot, and they like to
eat worms, seeds, berries and insects.
To find out more about the types of birds in the UK and how to spot them, you can visit The Wildlife Trusts' Wildlife Watch website.
Image credits: Amy Lewis (Great Tit) and Steve Waterhouse (Robin)
Wildlife on the Ribena farms
We've been out spotting wildlife on the Ribena blackcurrant farms!
In fact, the Ribena Team works with The Wildlife Trusts to help encourage wildlife
that is in decline in the UK. As a result, our growers report that there's been
an increase in the number of barn owls, grey partridges, brown hares & yellowhammers
on some farms.
Take a look at some of the wildlife we managed to snap at a Ribena berry farm on
a sunny day in August.
There are even more great wildlife pictures on the
Ribena Flickr page.
What animals have you seen on your country walks? We'd love to hear from you and
see your family pictures.
The wildlife pledge from the Ribena Team
The tasty blackcurrants that go into Ribena squash are grown by a handful of British
blackcurrant growers.
While the blackcurrants are being grown and harvested we want to make sure that
natural habitats are not being disturbed and that more native species are encouraged
to live on the farms amongst the berries.
With a little help from our friends
So, with the help of The Wildlife Trusts, a Wildlife Conservation Plan was developed
for each farm to make them even more wildlife-friendly.
What we've achieved so far
More than 1,000 bird and bat boxes have been built to encourage nesting; new trees
and hedgerows have been planted for breeding and feeding; and wild bird seed mixtures
have been sown.
One of our blackcurrant growers in Herefordshire has also restored a pond on his
farm and has seen lots of frogs return to it. He has also set up a diversion for
his tractors to keep the frogs and tadpoles safe.
And we've seen more exciting results: an estimated 5,000 birds have started their
lives in a nest box provided by the makers of Ribena, and our farmers have done
a great job of managing an estimated 100 miles of hedgerows in a more wildlife-friendly
manner.
We also estimate that over 75 hectares of field margins and headland have been enhanced
for local habitat, all as a result of our partnership with The Wildlife Trusts.