This is the story of the recovery of Grey Partridge on the Duke of Norfolk’s land at Peppering on the South Downs (that’s Arundel Castle on the cover). It is a beautifully written tale (by Roger Morgan-Grenville) of a successful species recovery project based on the landowner’s enthusiasm for having a wild partridge shoot for…
Category: FARMING
Buy your artichokes here!
I’m a great fan of Guy’s News which arrives at my doorstep early on a Thursday morning at the bottom of a box of organic vegetables from Riverford Organic Farmers. This week it contained the usual interesting insight into real farming and sideswipes at both Defra and the NFU – we are on the same…
Sunday book review – Divide by Anna Jones
This book, by farmer’s daughter and now-journalist and media presenter Anna Jones, is one of the most enjoyable and interesting books I have read this year – and I write that in full knowledge that in a few weeks I’ll be choosing my books of the year (click here for 2021’s list). It examines the…
Sunday book review – Rooted by Sarah Langford
I liked this book, which at its best is a mix of James Rebanks and Jake Fiennes at their best. It’s about farming and the changes in farming over three generations, and what might happen in future. I think the author ends up in the right place, more or less, but I wondered whether…
Farming Today about 10 years out of date
I enjoyed the piece on Farming Today this morning where a farm was monitored for 10 years and by sensible application of agri-environment schemes its farmland birds increased and remained as profitable as farms around it. That’s obviously good news. And it appears to be a good replicate of the findings at the RSPB’s Hope…
RSPB press release – pesticides
Lack of research, weak regulation and a mix of over 150 pesticides – all the ingredients needed for a harmful cocktail of chemicals used in our countryside Every year over 150 different pesticides are used across the UK’s countryside in a combined quantity that could cover all UK farmland over ten times every year but there…
RSPB press release – Turtle Doves
UK turtle dove survey warns of low numbers, but hope is on the horizon The first ever national turtle dove survey has estimated that just 2,100 pairs of turtle dove now breed in the UK This migratory bird is primarily at risk due to loss of habitat and unsustainable levels of hunting Although sobering results,…
Is free-shooting of Badgers humane?
This afternoon the Wild Justice petition calling for an end to Badger shooting will be ‘debated’ in Westminster Hall by backbench MPs and will receive statements from Shadow and actual DEFRA ministers. No doubt the debate will wander all over the place with MPs spouting quite a lot of nonsense that makes them look foolish…
Were you listening?
This blog is slightly about last week’s ‘announcement’ on new farming schemes in England that was made at the Oxford Farming Conference, but actually it is rather more about what people said about it. It’s more a listeners’ guide to what was said, than about what’s actually happening. The reason for that is partly because…
Farming Today on lead
Farming Today had a chat about lead ammunition this morning (7 minutes into the programme). Readers of this blog won’t have learned anything much (the research mentioned was covered here on 26 February, and Tuesday’s government announcement was covered on Tuesday) but in less than a month’s time this blog won’t be bringing you the…