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Farming
Find out more about how we're working with farmers and others to provide space for farmland nature in the landscape. Join in the discussion on farming issues and share tips for wildlife-friendly farming.
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  • Agri show season - where to find us in 2025

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith
    As well as breeding birds, returning migrants and new life, spring and summer also bring with them a host of opportunities to get out and meet face to face at agricultural shows around the whole of the UK. Below are a few of the major events where yo...
    • 23 May 2025
  • Caletwr Catchment Cluster – farming for nature & sustainability in North Wales

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith
    Guest blog by Gerry Pearson, Land Use Policy Officer, RSPB Cymru The Caletwr Catchment Farmer Cluster is working with RSPB Cymru to improve the sustainability and resilience of upland farming - both financially and environmentally. RSPB Cymru togethe...
    • 21 May 2025
  • 25 years of wildlife monitoring at RSPB Hope Farm

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith
    Duerden Cormack – resident ecologist at Hope farm - reflects on 25 years of wildlife monitoring on farm. By now you will hopefully know that here at Hope Farm we are celebrating 25 years of demonstrating nature-friendly arable farming. Followin...
    • 19 May 2025
  • A write up from the Wildflowers Webinar, from the 2025 Hope Farm Technical Webinar Series

    Georgina B
    Georgina B

    Last month, we launched the first webinar of the 2025 series at Hope Farm, starting with “Get Wildflowers working on your farm: for the business and biodiversity”. We had three buzzing speakers contribute to this topic from advisers to practitioners and farmers, all with an expert hand in managing wildflowers on farmland. In case you missed the webinar, you can catch the recordings on the Farm Wildlife Youtube Channel…

    • 28 Mar 2025
  • Progressing with Nature-friendly farming during the hiatus in Agri-Environment Scheme support in England

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith
    The Defra announcement on the immediate pause of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) will have caused concern amongst farmers who were planning how to make use of SFI in the near future, but this need not put a pause on your nature-friendly farmi...
    • 14 Mar 2025
  • What’s happening this year to celebrate Hope Farm’s 25th Birthday

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith

    Georgie Bray, RSPB Hope Farm Manager, talks us through some of the plans for commemorating 25 years of of nature-friendly farming at Hope Farm

    25 years ago, the RSPB bought Hope Farm to demonstrate and research nature-friendly farming techniques. Its an honour to be able to look back on the history of our ownership and reflect on what has been achieved in the last quarter of a century. In this blog, I’ve taken a few moments…

    • 10 Mar 2025
  • The 2024 UK Food Security Report – what have we learnt?

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith

    Guest blog by Joe Llanos, Senior Policy Officer, RSPB

    After a year of big upheaval in UK politics, and coming in the midst of more unpredictable weather and a flurry of controversial farming announcements, it’s not surprising that the publication of the UK Government’s ‘2024 Food Security Report’ last December flew under the radar. But this report was packed full of data and evidence shedding light on…

    • 26 Feb 2025
  • Unlocking the business potential of Nature friendly farming

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith

    The annual Oxford Farming Conference in January brings together farmers, policy makers, scientists and many others from the agricultural, rural and food sectors. This year, RSPB Chief Executive Beccy Speight chaired a discussion on the business potential of nature-friendly farming.  

    The discussion explored the challenges facing farmers, the different benefits of nature-friendly farming and what more needs to be done…

    • 25 Feb 2025
  • Reducing chemical usage on RSPB reserves - RSPB Rush management trial

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith

    Guest blog by Andrew Gouldstone, RSPB Ecologist

    Grasslands can be important habitats for breeding wading birds such as lapwing, redshank, snipe and curlew, and whilst some rushes (Juncus) in these swards can be beneficial, their suitability for breeding waders can diminish if rush cover becomes too dominant.

    Image: Adult Eurasian curlew standing in long grass on moorland. Jake Stephen (rspb-images.com)

    Managing rush, primarily…

    • 24 Feb 2025
  • Hope Farm announces webinar series for Spring 2025

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith
    Join us for Hope Farm webinars on herbal leys and wildflower management to benefit farming and wildlife - as part of our 25th Anniversary Celebrations! This year, we will be hosting two webinars in February and March, on wildflowers and herbal leys, ...
    • 28 Jan 2025
  • Hope Farm's summer monitoring blog 2024

    Georgina B
    Georgina B

    Duerden Cormack, Monitoring Assistant at RSPB Hope Farm, summarises the key findings of the core monitoring of breeding birds, butterflies, and bumblebees carried out at Hope Farm during the summer months of 2024.

    After last year’s changeable weather this year has at least been predictable - it was constantly cold and wet! Seemingly endless drizzly mornings made it difficult to plan surveys and I was concerned that I…

    • 6 Dec 2024
  • Corncrake calling conference

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith
    Advisory Manager for RSPB Scotland Chris Bailey tells us about the culmination of the Corncrake Calling project. which has been essential for helping Corncrake and other wildlife, while bolstering the unique culture of rural Scottish communities.
    • 29 Nov 2024
  • Nature friendly farming as a business opportunity - RSPB at Oxford Farming Conference 2025

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith
    Join RSPB at Oxford Farming Conference, where we will be hosting a 'Building Resilience through Nature Friendly Farming' breakfast session on Friday 10 January
    • 27 Nov 2024
  • Working with farmers for the conservation of rare and endangered species in North-West Wales

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith
    North-West Wales has many special habitats including wet grasslands, fens, soft cliffs, sand dunes, maritime grasslands, and lowland heaths which are home to numerous rare and endangered species. All these habitats require specific grazing regimes to maintain favourable condition. Find out how farmers and conservation organisations have been working together through a nationwide species conservation project called Natur…
    • 25 Nov 2024
  • Top tips for winter

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith
    Agriculture Advice Manager Richard Winspear provides some thoughts on things you can be doing over the winter months to support wildlife through the cold as well as planning for the year ahead.
    • 21 Nov 2024
  • In the wrong place at the wrong time: using DNA tools to protect vulnerable beneficial species.

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith
    A team of research scientists from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology are working with the RSPB at Hope Farm to understand which types of field margin (e.g., grass versus pollen and nectar) support a higher number of species of moths, butterflies, and spiders, whilst also providing better protection against pesticide spray drift. To do this we a trialling DNA methodologies and approaches in three different ways.
    • 19 Nov 2024
  • Building climate resilience through nature-friendly farming

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith
    Ahead of world leaders gathering on the international stage at COP 29 later this year, Joe Llanos hears from farmers on the ground who are leading the way with nature-friendly and climate-resilient farming.
    • 28 Aug 2024
  • Top tips for autumn

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith

    Autumn is a busy time for many, and some of the environmental tasks on the farm can be spread through the autumn and winter months. But if you are sowing new habitats, it is often important to find that sweet spot when the ground is still warm, but moisture is present or forecast.

    Below are some top tips for helping and enjoying wildlife over the next three months:

    • If cutting hedges, doing up to 1/3 of your hedges between…
    • 28 Aug 2024
  • Reflections on Groundswell 2024

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith

    On 25 June, the sun came out. Finally. Just in time for a team of dedicated staff from the RSPB to head off to Lannock Manor Farm to set up our show stand for Groundswell - the regenerative agriculture festival. Offering a huge range of talks, activities...

    • 31 Jul 2024
  • Hope Farm Webinar Series: Carbon Friendly farming with RSPB Hope Farm and GWCT The Allerton Project

    Georgina B
    Georgina B

    RSPB Volunteer, Alex Mackenzie, writes a summary of Hope Farm’s Technical Webinar on Carbon-friendly farming, chaired by Dr Rob Field. It featured insights from Dr Jenny Bussell, Soil Scientist at the Allerton Project; Sophie Arnold, Hope Farm Assistant Manager; and Clara Robinson, Hope Farm project manager.

    Why the Focus on Carbon?

    Over the past century, human activities such as fossil fuel consumption and land…

    • 1 Jul 2024
  • Hope Farm Winter Monitoring Results 2023-24

    Georgina B
    Georgina B

    Today’s blog by Duerden Cormack, Monitoring Assistant, gives us the latest results of the winter bird counts at Hope Farm, Cambridgeshire.

    The winter of 2023/24 has been exceptionally warm and wet with just a couple of days of freezing conditions. In fact, this has been the wettest winter we have experienced at Hope Farm since we began farming here in 2000. This has made my job of choosing suitable survey days quite…

    • 1 Jul 2024
  • Celebrating waders - the first ever #WaderWeek

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith

    Chris Bailey, Advisory Manager for RSPB Scotland tells us about some of the work happening in Scotland to secure the future for waders 

    The evocative call of the curlew has echoed across Scotland for generations, but these much-loved birds are at risk of being lost from our landscapes. Since the mid-1990s, their numbers have dropped by 60% in Scotland and they are thought to be disappearing faster across the UK than anywhere…

    • 31 May 2024
  • General election - our asks for farming and nature from the next Government

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith
    With a General Election now announced, we are calling for the Westminster government to support farmers and restore wildlife to our countryside
    • 30 May 2024
  • Top tips for nature-friendly farming in Summer

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith
    Summer is generally the season to let wildlife habitats on the farm do their thing and enjoy seeing the wildlife that makes use of them. Agricultural advice manager Richard Winspear sets out some top tips for helping and enjoying wildlife over the summer months
    • 22 May 2024
  • Show season - where can you come and talk to us?

    Kathryn Smith
    Kathryn Smith
    Our farming teams around the UK really look forward to the opportunity to chat to visitors to our stands at various events over the summer. It’s a great chance to share knowledge, talk through ideas and find new opportunities to work together for the benefit of farm wildlife. Here’s a brief round up of where you can find us over the coming months.
    • 20 May 2024
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