The East Yar Project Group , a group of ten farmers and landowners, has been working in partnership with the Down to the Coast Landscape Partnership Scheme. Both programmes are co-ordinated by the Isle of Wight AONB. Together they have
Kicking off farmer groups in Kenya!
By Dr Jemma Batten, Project Manager for Marlborough Downs Space for Nature At the beginning of this year, I spent a couple of months working for the Mount Kenya Trust (MKT), a charity based – you’ve guessed it – on
Agricology Virtual Field Days
As events across the country are being cancelled and postponed in response to COVID-19, Agricology has put together a series of Virtual Field Days for farmers and land managers. Each virtual field day will be focused on a particular sustainable
Funding available in Severn Trent catchment
We have been made aware of an opportunity for farmers and cluster groups to apply for a share of £200,000 funding from Severn Trent’s Boost for Biodiversity grant scheme. Deadline is mid-June, so if you’re in the area, read on!
Bird monitoring brings farmers and nature volunteers together in the Chilterns
By Nick Marriner, Landowner Engagement Officer (Chilterns Conservation Board) The Central Chilterns Farmer Cluster is a relatively young group made up of 18 farmers covering c. 6,500 hectares across the Buckinghamshire area of the Chilterns AONB. Since our first meeting
Big Farmland Bird Count
A whopping 79 clusters took part in BFBC this year. It’s easy to see why – a bird ID session makes the ideal mid-winter cluster event – and there is a compelling story to tell through the publication and promotion
Plantlife Arable Flora workshops
Arable flowers are a fascinating group of species. Conserving and enhancing communities of these plants benefits so many other farm inhabitants – such as pollinators, turtle dove, grey partridges and corn buntings to name a few – and in
Spotlight on clusters taking part in ELMs design
Collaboration of farmers and land managers features heavily in the initial discussion document for the new Environmental Land Management scheme – see blog. Many farmer-led landscape-scale conservation groups across England are participating in Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the
Landscape – scale to be threaded into ELMs
The new Environmental Land Management scheme is being designed as we write, however, initial thoughts set out in the ELMs discussion document (PDF here) provide an overview of what it might look like. And the good news is, landscape-scale makes
End of year update
First of all, let’s hope that 2020 brings you everything you need to continue the great work being done across the country! At present, lots of land-manager groups that applied for the fourth round of the Facilitation Fund are hearing