The Nature of Farming Award Tour of the best entries in the East this year is now in full swing- starting last week with RSPB Eastern England Regional Director, Paul Forecast presenting the Award to the Regional Winner... read about the winner and the other events in the tour below- and then why not book a place at one of them? We'd love to see you there!

No less than five dates including a FREE LUNCH! celebrating this year’s best entries into the Nature of Farming Award (East), organised for farmers who have taken part in the RSPB Volunteer & Farmer Alliance or Nature of Farming Award, but open to anyone else interested in seeing what makes these farms special, and how farmers all over the East of England are stepping up for nature, with technical advice available at every event.

Jason Gathorne-Hardy, Regional Winner, by Simon Tonkin (RSPB)

Wednesday 10 October
White House Farm, Great Glemham, Saxmundham, Suffolk IP17 1LS.

Award Presentation by Paul Forecast, RSPB Regional Director
Meet Regional Winner Jason Gathorne-Hardy at his diverse 110ha mixed farm, within a large estate. Biodiversity, landscape and sustainability are at the heart of Jason Gathorne Hardy’s revolutionary 110ha farm. Producing own branded Alde Valley Lamb, hosting school visits, and working timber on site, his arable crop production, part of a wider estate, bulges with wild bird seed and nectar flower mixtures. Jason continuously trials new ways to reconnect people with landscape, nature and food, his network of nature trails taking in river banks, flower enriched grassland and woodland coppice. The farm is also host to the Alde Valley Spring Festival, which you can find out more about at www.aldevalleyspringfestival.co.uk

John Hewitt, Highly Commended, by Emily Field (RSPB)

Thursday 25 October
K.F. Thornally & Co, Cotes Grange, South Elkington, Louth, Lincolnshire LN11 0SJ.

Meet Highly Commended Farmer John Hewitt at his 240ha arable farm demonstrating ELS at its best. Tenant farmer John Hewitt’s faultless execution of wildlife friendly crop production, ensures species such as night-flowering catchfly, yellow rattle, turtle dove, lapwing, and tree sparrow thrive and his species rich grassland buzzes with insects while protecting watercourses. This is Entry Level Environmental Stewardship at its best, embracing skylark plots, wild bird seed and nectar flower mixtures. John can now enjoy turtle doves purring in the scrub and pond he restored, watch lapwing and grey partridge chicks flourish, and field margins burst with wildflowers, and as a CFE Beacon Farm, he can show others how it is done.

Tuesday 6 November
High Fen Farm, Methwold, Thetford, Norfolk IP26 4PJ.

Meet Highly Commended Farmer Toby Bulgin at his 290ha livestock farm with exemplary wet grassland. The bird list stands at 160 for Toby Bulgin’s exceptional farm showing wet grassland management and organic meat production at its best. Crane, lapwing, avocet, redshank and snipe flock to his specially created shingle islands, while new & reworked ponds & ditches festooned with purple loosestrife attract otters, grass snakes, brown hawkers, and black-tailed skimmers. Ageing poplars also support hornet moths and wasp beetles. Toby was thrilled to open High Fen Farm to the public this year, reconnecting people with farming & wildlife. Toby established his organic meat business at Beatbush Organic Farm in Essex, relocating to High Fen Farm (which had failed as an arable enterprise) several years ago, find out more about his business at www.beatbushorganicfarm.co.uk

Wednesday 14 November
RSPB Hope Farm, Knapwell, Cambridgeshire CB23 4NR.

Meet the Nature of Farming Award judges, and Ian Dillon, Farmland Project Manager, at the RSPBs own commercial arable farm demonstrating ELS to benefit farmland birds. 12 years on, the farm’s arable business has thrived while their farmland bird index has more than doubled and skylark number have quadrupled. See the options in place and find out how this year has fared for our own farmland birds. Find out more about Hope farm at www.rspb.org.uk/hopefarm .

Wednesday 21 November
Waterer’s Farms, Martlets Hall, Halstead, Essex CO9 1SN.

Meet Swithin Waterer at his 200ha farm integrating a profitable arable & game enterprise with Higher Level Stewardship. 12ha winter seed food and 16ha insect rich habitat provided along with fallow plots for breeding lapwing have ensured that farmland birds thrive alongside the arable production. Areas of natural regeneration are home to nightingales & bullfinches, and grass areas sport orchids where insects and small mammals abound. An RSPB Volunteer & Farmer Alliance bird survey in 2006 provided useful information, now the farm is in HLS and scored very highly in this year’s Nature of Farming Award. See Swithin talking about his wild bird seed mixes http://www.cfeonline.org.uk/Videos/CFE-videos/

To book your place(s) please call me on 01603 697 514 or email emily.field@rspb.org.uk

All events start at 10.30am and include a Free Lunch (courtesy of EU Life+), with a chance to meet RSPB advisers, discuss your bird survey results / habitat management and also get free help and advice on management of environmental stewardship options, and applications for both ELS & HLS.

The RSPB Telegraph Nature of Farming Award is supported by Butterfly Conservation & Plantlife, and is Funded by the EU Life+ programme, safeguarding the future of our farmland birds under the EU Birds Directive. For more information on the Nature of Framingf Award go to www.rspb.org.uk/farmvote