Farmland butterflies benefited from the best summer weather for seven years, a survey has revealed. 

The Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS), which assesses the fortunes of common and widespread species, found that many farmland butterflies flourished as a result of long periods of warm, sunny weather last summer. 

Typical farmland species such as the Brimstone, Common Blue, Small Copper, Small Skipper, Large Skipper…

Remember when anything to do with Genetically Modified food (aka GM) guaranteed front page newspaper coverage?  It seems those days are well and truly past. Last week the EU approved GM "Maize 1507", the first new commercial GM crop to be grown in the EU since 1998, with the mainstream media hardly noticing.  What does this decision mean?

Maize is an important crop for the EU, covering 13 million hectares of European…

February. Even if you’re one of the lucky ones who still has a carpet, you’re soaked, it’s dark, and there’s still nearly a year to wait for Christmas. If it’s not the storms that are surging, then it’s the fog that’s freezing, and there’s no sign of any let-up in the near constant downpours.

Hardly seems the time to be thinking about summer flowers.

But for our migrant…

The most worthwhile thing in my opinion about working for a nature conservation charity is being able to share our learning and in turn learn from others. For over 10 years, I managed volunteers surveying farmland for the Volunteer & Farmer Alliance (V&FA) project.

In its later years, the project was funded by EU LIFE+ - supporting its UK wide spread and providing us with funding to attend many agricultural…

Just a reminder that the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust launch their first annual bird count today! All farmers and gamekeepers are invited to join in between now and 7 February - and all you need to do is spend about 30 minutes recording the species...

Posted on behalf of Dr Rebecca Laidlaw, Conservation Scientist

Last year Dr Jen Smart wrote a guest blog for Martin Harper called “Where have all the waders gone and how are we going to get them back?” In that blog, she identified some key things that will be important if our vision of landscapes with thriving wader populations, such as lapwing and redshank, are to be realised.

Wouldn’t it be great if we…

If you were asked to identify the most hotly contested element of the recent CAP deal, many of you would point to modulation (or ‘inter-pillar transfers’, as modulation is now officially known).

In the run up to Christmas, all eyes (and plenty of commentary) were on the four UK governments, and how much funding each was going to transfer from Pillar I direct payments into Rural Development.

The RSPB made…

Posted on behalf of Hayley Sherwin, Conservation Advisor in Northern Ireland

For anyone who lives in or has visited east County Down you will agree that it is a beautiful region of Northern Ireland with an array of habitats and special places. You only have to travel down the Ards Peninsula with Strangford Lough glistening in the winter sunshine or take a stroll over the rolling hills with the Mourne Mountains as a backdrop…

Happy New Year! 

I'm never sure when we should stop saying that, but seeing as this is the first post published in 2014 I feel I can still get away with it, even if it is nearly the middle of January already! The reason for the delay in posting the first update for 2014 is the small matter of Oxford Farming Conference, where we host our annual Early Bird Breakfast. It's always a stimulating start to the year, with lots…

On Thursday, our Chief Executive Mike Clarke handed-in a Christmas hamper and card to Minister George Eustice to demonstrate the support we’ve had for wildlife-friendly farming.

Over the past few days, we’ve showcased some products which were included in the hamper (see here and here). Today we’ll feature the last few lovely items included that have all come from farmers who work with wildlife in mind.…

Yesterday, the news of the Defra CAP deal emerged and it falls short of what nature needs for recovery. You can read our reaction here as well as thoughts from our Conservation Director Martin Harper here.

You may have also seen our blog post earlier this week where we showcased three scrumptious items that are in the hamper that has been handed into Minister George Eustice. Today, we’re featuring three more lovely items…

Tomorrow, our Chief Executive Mike Clarke will meet with George Eustice (Minister for Farming) to hand-in a festive Christmas hamper and card (see our previous post here for more details). This is to demonstrate the support we’ve had for wildlife-friendly farming - 133,000 actions taken!  

Over the next few days, we’ll share with you the products included in the hamper as well as the personal messages from the people…

You may have seen our previous blog post asking for you to help the Prime Minister decide how to spend £600 million on farming.

Since Saturday, we’ve had over 10,000 people take the e-action asking the PM to ensure as much of this money as possible helps farmers save our threatened wildlife – thank you for all your support!

If you haven’t taken the action yet, you can do so here and tweet @number10gov…

124,655 is a lot of Christmas wishes, but it shows the support we’ve had for wildlife-friendly farming over the past few weeks and months. Thank you if you’ve added your voice. 

And to give you an idea of the variety of support we’ve had, here’s just a few stats for you:

• This autumn, close to 23,000 people have told us they think government should invest in farming that creates a countryside…

To be honest I’m not known for my love of Christmas carols, but at our department Christmas lunch and get together, the team that I work in gave a slightly different rendition of the Twelve Days of Christmas with each day related to our work areas.

This included providing swifts with nest holes in new housing projects, working with woodland land managers to improve the status of their woods and providing advice…

“How’s your Christmas shopping going?”

I’m usually the person who doesn’t get started till Christmas Eve, so I dread the question, especially when it comes from one of those super-shoppers that cleaned up on Black Friday!

At this time of year, people spend lots of energy choosing things for their kids: will little Harry look better in a Christmas jumper with reindeer or puddings on it?…

The much-debated restrictions on neonicotinoid seed treatments will begin this December. The RSPB supports the ban but shares the concern expressed by many that farmers may resort to using greater amounts of other pesticides.

Like farmers across the country we at Hope Farm are reviewing our pest management strategy in light of the ban. We had a head start as RSPB decided in December 2012 to phase out neonicotinoid use…

Stephanie Landymore, Parliamentary Campaigns Officer, gives an update on how we’re showing government that wildlife-friendly farming is important to tens of thousands of people across the country.

Over the past six months, we’ve heard very positive noises from the Westminster Government around support for wildlife-friendly farming, and we were pleased to hear them re-iterated by George Eustice, the new farming…

Yesterday, over 25 farmers from across England convened in Westminster to tell MPs and Ministers how vitally important agri-environment schemes are - both for the wildlife they help support and for the farm businesses themselves. Supported by RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts and National Trust, farmers from Devon to Yorkshire embraced the opportunity to make their voices heard at a time when political decisions about how much…

By Niki Williamson, Fenland Farm Conservation Adviser

In the Fens, we do Harvest Festivals and Ploughing Contests.

As a Farm Conservation Adviser who is also a brass musician I get my fair share of both!

I love this time of gatherings and celebrations, borne of an ancient Northern hemisphere sense of communal relief that the biggest part of the harvest is safely in, and perhaps a slight need to huddle together in apprehension…

Check out Martin Harper's blog today to find out more....

Harvest at Hope Farm finished at the end of August, and ran smoothly in comparison to last year. Yields were variable though with oilseed rape and peas producing average yields, as did the first wheat. Our spring wheat yielded well above expectation, balanced by our second wheat which was exceptionally poor.

Harvest at Hope Farm Copyright Andy Hay (RSPB Images)

It can only get better, as they say, and looking forward…

By Hayley Sherwin, Volunteer and Farmer Alliance Officer, Northern Ireland

East County Down, a ‘hotspot’ for seed-eating priority birds © Andy Hay

County Down in Northern Ireland is a unique and picturesque area with a vast array of habitats and associated wildlife. The county is well known for its low, rolling hills and the spectacular Mountains of Mourne. Strangford Lough, Ireland’s only Marine Nature…

Posted on behlaf of Sally Mills, Reserves Bioenergy Project Manager

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is currently running a project looking at converting the wetland biomass from habitat management works into energy. Luckily for them, a willing volunteer and valuable pair of hands from the local community has stepped in to help. After too many 5am starts, farmer Ray from Lilac Farm in Somerset (a former…

Congratulations to Nicholas Watts of Vine House Farm who has been unveiled as the 2013 winner of The Nature of Farming Award.

For the sixth year running, you voted in your thousands to crown the UK's most wildlife-friendly farmer and Nicholas is truly...