Biodiversity in the Vineyard –Birds at Chateau Feely

A beneficial insectivore – a Black Redstart fledgling.

Twenty nine bird species were sighted at Chateau Feely organic vineyard farm in South West France in one week in June 2024. This impressive list is partly due to the establishment of trees in vineyard trellis rows since 2014. For more a detailed take on biodiversity in general and at Chateau Feely see this article.

A big thank you to avid twitcher Steve Clarke who very kindly provided a list of birds he saw and or heard during his stay in the Wine Lodge at Chateau Feely in June 2024. Steve said it was the most bird biodiversity he had seen on a vineyard.

‘The wealth of birdlife on the estate is impressive given the habitat is mostly limited to woods and viticulture, which is very much a testament to the biodiversity practices in place.’ Steve Clarke, Twitcher.

Steve provided this list (ordered alphabetically on the common name) and Chat GPT provided the primary diet column, helpful for us as winegrowers where insectivores and carnivores can be considered most useful to vineyard management although we welcome them all.

Insectivores and birds of prey are seen as more beneficial to vineyards than fruit eaters for obvious reasons. In some parts of the world winegrowers have to net their vines against fruit eating birds but fortunately in France that is not the case.

Find out more about Chateau Feely’s biodiversity and tree planting project and join us as a Supporter of the Biodiversity project . This support is to help us to maintain the trees and hedges. By helping us to establish these biodiversity corridors and trees, you create multiple benefits for our planet. Read about why supporting biodiversity and addressing climate change are critical to all our futures and how to do it in Caro Feely’s book Cultivating Change.

Discover more about Biodiversity in our extensive article on agroforestry and trees in vineyards.