Charlie’s bright idea will boost his skills

Agriculture student Charlie Kirby had what can only be described as a really bright idea to boost his studies and skills.

For Charlie (17), who lives at Amport, near Andover, and is studying agriculture and engineering at Sparsholt College, near Winchester, has persuaded leading plant, soil and crop specialist Brights Seeds, of Swallowcliffe in Wiltshire, to donate the seeds necessary to create game cover and wildlife strips at his fathers shooting school at Quarley, near Andover.

As well as working out where the cover strips should be placed, Charlie is learning ploughing and sowing skills from his step grandfather, Graham Browning. Charlie will be using Grahams old Ferguson plough from the 60s but attached to a modern tractor on which he is being instructed.

It seems a bit weird to be teaching Charlie using a large new tractor instead of the Fergie T20 I drove at Charlies age but my old plough still feels very familiar and is more than up to the task, said Graham.

The resultant cover strips will be used for gun dog training sessions by Charlies father, Howard, who operates Lains Shooting School and its associated Mullenscote Dog Training school, but will also encourage local wild birds through a careful selection of the seed mix following a survey to establish what species are present. Lains is already working on wild raptor conservation through an owl box scheme in conjunction with the Hawk Conservancy Trust.

The whole idea was Charlies and its a really good way for him to acquire a whole raft of skills through one piece of coursework, said Howard. Im very proud of the way he thought through the whole process and then got everything into place to implement his idea.

It wasnt just me he had to impress, either. He has persuaded one of the UKs leading seed suppliers to join him in the enterprise and its really good of Brights to be so supportive.

Chris Bright, an enthusiastic country sportsman and an accomplished advisor for game cover, stewardship, wild flowers and both amenity and agricultural grasses, said he and his father David, a world-renowned seedsman, were impressed by Charlies approach, and were happy to support the project.

Charlie says hes looking forward to bringing the whole project together and then seeing how his cover strips develop.

Theres a lot to learn at agricultural college and combining the acquisition of several new skills into one project seems like a great way of studying to me, he explained.

When I have finished, I will know about tractor driving, ploughing, sowing, weed control, and quite a lot more including wildlife conservation, an important feature of country life. I would like to thank everyone who has supported me. Their help is really appreciated.