Environmental Stewardship - looking after the environment for the future
Environmental Stewardship is an approach to agriculture that considers the long term effect on the environment of farming activity, and encourages a return to a more balanced way of life in the countryside.
As part of our efforts towards this sustainable rural lifestyle, we:
• Conserve wildlife and aim to increase the diversity of species on the farm
• Maintain and enhance the quality and character of the landscape
• Protect the historic environment and natural resources
• Promote public access and understanding of the countryside
• Protect the natural resources of the countryside
In practice, this means investment in maintaining the hedgerows (some of which date back hundreds of years), leaving wide margins around the outsides of our fields for birds and animals to co-exist, and managing areas specifically for the encouragement of a diversity of wildlife.
The results:
Since embarking upon this journey, we have noticed a marked increase in grey partridge, black hen pheasants, kestrels and buzzards.
In the bluebell woods adjoining the river Meese, squirrels, hedgehogs, rabbits, hares and voles can be found.
We are particularly proud of the part of the farm that was a wartime airfield. Where once the night time air was alive with the sound of Spitfires and Hurricanes, now the old concrete runway has been laid to grass, allowing a more silent hunter to grace the evening sky - barn owls have replaced aeroplanes as the inhabitants of this area, reclaiming their right to the airspace as they swoop low over the grass in search of food for their young. |