RSPB hails farming’s environment heroes

Michael Sly – Park Farm, Cambridgeshire

Michael is chairman of the Cambridgeshire group of the Campaign for the Farmed Environment and has made a real difference for birds on his land by putting two per cent of his 1,600 hectares into wild bird seed mixtures and one per cent into pollen and nectar mixtures as well as putting skylark plots into his winter cereals.

Catherine Thompson – Holme House Farm, East Yorkshire

Holme House Farm is a mixed farm with cereals and livestock and is home to wildlife such as otters, great-crested newts, grey partridges and four species of owl. Catherine has put in a lot of work through agri environment schemes, including the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, like grass margins to protect water courses, water scrapes and wild bird seed mixtures.

George Fenemore – Home Farm, Oxfordshire

George and his family have run Home Farm for 35 years and it was entered into Higher Level Stewardship in 2006. The RSPB has used its rotary ditcher on the farm to create 4,620 m2  of shallow scrapes which have resulted in the return of redshanks to the area for the first time in 30 years.

Harry Goring – Findon Farm Park, West Sussex

Environmental stewardship is an integral part of the day to day running of the Findon Farm Park business. Several agri environment measures have been put in place through Entry Level Stewardship and Higher Level Stewardship resulting in a range of breeding farmland birds including corn bunting, grey partridge, lapwing, yellowhammer, linnet and skylark.

Chris Dowse – Sir Richard Sutton’s Settled Estates, Lincolnshire

Chris is the Estate Manager of Richard Sutton’s estates and has put in place agri environment schemes which have provided a boost for grey partridges, lapwings, skylarks and turtle doves. The estate is a LEAF Demonstration Farm meaning the wildlife friendly measures are seen many visitors each year.

Peter Howlett – Woodhuish Farm, Devon

The Howlett family’s mixed organic farm is entered into an agri environment scheme which includes measures such as low intensity grassland management, wildlife seed mixtures, buffer strips and hedgerow protection. The land supports a nationally important population of cirl buntings, one of the most threatened farmland birds in the UK.

Henry Edmunds – Cholderton Estate, Wiltshire

Through agri environment schemes Henry has restored poor quality arable land to chalk downland and has seen increases in bird populations who feed on the insects which thrive in the flower rich pastures. The land supports breeding lapwings, barn owls, redwings, fieldfares and red kites.

Tony Wood – Abbotts Reading Farm, Cumbria

Tony’s traditional Lakeland beef and sheep farm includes a variety of important wildlife habitats such as saltmarsh, lowland raised bog, low input pastures and meadows and wet grassland – all of which he helps protect through agri environment schemes. He has farmed the land for the last 15 years under the Lakes Environmentally Sensitive Area scheme.

Andrew Holland – Hollands Farm, Lancashire

Hollands Farm is a traditional vegetable and cereal farm featuring environmental measures which support a wealth of wildlife including 18 species of butterfly, a range of plants, barn owls, corn buntings and willow tits which benefit from sympathetic management of woodland.

Robert Kynaston – Great Wollaston Farm, Shropshire

Robert first entered his farm into an agri environment scheme ten years ago and has seen increases in tree sparrows, curlews, brown hares, water voles and great-crested newts. He has received grants to regenerate hedgerows, plant trees and put buffer strips next to ditches and in-field trees.