BBC again

Northern territory

Member
Livestock Farmer
I was very excited to finally see an otter on the farm a couple of days ago. With a bit of luck he will breed and eat all the trout. Then the effing river keeper will be out of a job. So I’m very pro a little more wildlife.

On the other hand I can’t see a bigger waste of money than the local wildlife trust.

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What’s a river keeper ?
 

Ffermer Bach

Member
Livestock Farmer
I know where you are coming from ..... where I have the problem is the huge amount of effort and money that appears to be available for nature reserves etc etc . There is plenty of nature about which have seemed to manage to keep going for hundreds of yrs and livecquite comfortably with the farming industry . We have stopped pushing mikes and miles of hedgerows out and have replanted miles and mikes . There are thousands of trees gone in so in my view there is plenty of space for wildlife with out now going overboard to make more reserves .
what we should be doing is providing wildlife bridges over major roads
The government has a nice website about them, shame they don't put a few more up rather than talk about it. They would make far more difference to wildlife than anything they do, as they allow linkage of habitat "islands".
 

upnortheast

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Northumberland
Joining us is an Ancient (they say ) Oak wood. It was donated to one of these Trusts 20 years ago to be managed for the benifit of wildlife.
I have a trail camera I have set up as I like to see what is about. Loads of deer, foxes, b & W foxes Barn owls etc etc.
For reasons I won`t go into I put the camera on a tree in this wood for a couple of weeks. Bugger all wildlife, rats & grey squirrels being the most seen
Far more wildlife on the edges of our farmland.
 

Ffermer Bach

Member
Livestock Farmer
Joining us is an Ancient (they say ) Oak wood. It was donated to one of these Trusts 20 years ago to be managed for the benifit of wildlife.
I have a trail camera I have set up as I like to see what is about. Loads of deer, foxes, b & W foxes Barn owls etc etc.
For reasons I won`t go into I put the camera on a tree in this wood for a couple of weeks. Bugger all wildlife, rats & grey squirrels being the most seen
Far more wildlife on the edges of our farmland.
The most productive habitat is always the edges and transitions, that's why I think hedges are so vital, as they are miles and miles of edge. Watching Harry's farm on youtube (I got a Ruku stick for Christmas so I can watch the internet on the TV) I was very impressed with all he is doing for wildlife on his farm (as well as interesting for a stock farmer to learn a little more about arable)
 

Boysground

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
What’s a river keeper ?

years ago my landlord sold the river through the farm and the rights to fish it. It’s now owned by a fishing society, membership costs £1000s a year. It’s chalk stream trout. The river keeper is supposed to look after the river, in reality he drives over my fields as though he owns them and is first to complain to anyone about my dairy and the farm. I could go on but won’t bore you.

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J 1177

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Durham, UK
Right around my way, one farm is equestrian, the other taken back in hand by the landlord who is looking to sell it for development. Eventually. Another does his own thing (nowt wrong with that) another is intensive direct drilling, (hes a very good farmer). And another has plans in for a massive solar farm. Then theres my little mixxed spot. All good neigbours but completley different in their outlook or situation.
I belive this will be mirrored throughout the country. Im not sure how its going to work
I think the plan is for farms to work/link together to make up the ha's, how this will work in reality might prove to be a massive ball ache especially in divvying out mone
 

Northern territory

Member
Livestock Farmer
We have a bit here under English natures control, it’s a very rare peat bog which runs parallel to the east coast train line, @200ac which 110 is grass/rushes/water and a patch of trees and rare plants, the amount of money they spend on it is unreal, sinking a bore hole to control water level ( turns out the water coming out was the wrong PH after being filtered through all the peat) they cut quite a bit of trees/bushes on t a few years ago which opened it up to the north winds, never heard a cookoo since 🙄 they have a couple of exmoor ponies rummaging around in it ( did have 4 goats for a while) they want us to keep the rushes topped but won’t let us do it at certain times because of nesting birds but that’s normally the only time it’s dry enough, must be 40/50ac of the grassy bit under water atm, great for the wildfowl but not much else
years ago my landlord sold the river through the farm and the rights to fish it. It’s now owned by a fishing society, membership costs £1000s a year. It’s chalk stream trout. The river keeper is supposed to look after the river, in reality he drives over my fields as though he owns them and is first to complain to anyone about my dairy and the farm. I could go on but won’t bore you.

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Got you, I thought you were referring to the godly EA whom seem lost at how to look after a river from personal experience. We have ours on a syndicate but not at that price unfortunately. Predators are abundant with most waterfowl long gone
 

delilah

Member
It wont happen. Or rather, it will happen, but only if the ELMS pot is split equally three ways between SFI/ LNR/ LR. And that wont happen, because you are all going to tell the attached why the vast majority of ELMS needs to go to farmers, ie to the SFI.
 

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beardface

Member
Location
East Yorkshire
I noted the schemes start at 500ha minimum farm size, so not exactly very useful for the majority!

I write my comments farming a farm with a fair bit of wildlife that has been in an HLS scheme for just over a decade. I can’t say it gets me out of bed in the morning though.

I think the minimum size hits the nail on the head. The government doesn't want small family farms that support local rural economies and enable local food supplies, but rather large corporate farms that can be 'bought' and adjusted to suit the whims of Whitehall.
 

Hjcarter

Member
Its all an utter utter joke. Around my way weve an abundance of wildlife, well we did until a big part of it including miles and miles of historic hedges, water courses etc was levelled to put up a f**king big amazon wherehouse, hundreds of houses, a costa. Wagons going in day and night, masses of traffic. But its farmers fault for the lack of diversity. The utter joke
Exactly the same here (east mids airport).

Still got buzzards and kestrels but since the crows, jackdaws and magpies moved down the hill we don't have anything like the same number of finches, sparrows, t*ts, etc.

Hey ho, at least we can get tat from China (that we dont need) delivered same day.

Apparently its something called progress!
 
I appreciate I’m not with the zeitgeist here but am I alone in struggling to get very excited about wildlife?

It’s either there or it’s not, it’s presence has barely any discernible benefits to my life, often it plain gets in the way, losing me money as it does. I mean it’s nice to see the odd couple of boxing hares but it wouldn’t keep me awake at night if they weren’t there.
Am I a monster!?

Its never specified by what wildlife they are actually wanting. This "5th great extinction" stuff is just nonsense for the UK.

I do like wildlife and if you go for a walk with someone who is really good on birds it can give you another perspective if they are the right type of person. There are a lot of armchair conservationists about who make a lot of noise.
 

7610 super q

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
I appreciate I’m not with the zeitgeist here but am I alone in struggling to get very excited about wildlife?

It’s either there or it’s not, it’s presence has barely any discernible benefits to my life, often it plain gets in the way, losing me money as it does. I mean it’s nice to see the odd couple of boxing hares but it wouldn’t keep me awake at night if they weren’t there.
Am I a monster!?
This. OK, I like to see barn owls, hedgehogs etc, but the rest can f**k off.
Moles digging up the lawn, crows/ pigeons/jackdaws eating my corn, rabbits nibbling my neeps ( :ROFLMAO: ) , rats in the loft, mice in the combine......can f**k right off.
 

slackjawedyokel

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Northumberland
So… all these villainous farmers have ruined the countryside by ripping out hedgerows and draining wet areas (which they were paid taxpayers money to do) to produce vast amounts of food at a subsidised price?

I’m betting that in xx years time, when the imports tap gets turned off for reasons currently unforeseeable, that farmers will be branded the villains for allowing good quality farmland to revert. WE will be held responsible for allowing the country to starve.
 

Widgetone

Member
Trade
Location
Westish Suffolk
This. OK, I like to see barn owls, hedgehogs etc, but the rest can f**k off.
Moles digging up the lawn, crows/ pigeons/jackdaws eating my corn, rabbits nibbling my neeps ( :ROFLMAO: ) , rats in the loft, mice in the combine......can f**k right off.
Haha, sure tongue in cheek, but my understanding is that the owls may need some of your rodents.
We stopped feeding garden birds a year or two ago since we realised the rats were the main winners, but have noticed a lot less songbirds around which is sad, so reviewing that. Plenty of magpies, jays, and buzzards by day about though, and a lot of owls at night so there must be a food source for them! Deer and hares too.
Here in my part of Suffick, hedgehogs and toads have more or less completely disappeared.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.0%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 35.1%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,292
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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