The sun was out this weekend, bringing many people to Hope Farm for Open Farm Sunday. With around 550 visitors, and a wide range of activities to entertain, both the hosting team and the people who came to see us seemed to enjoy and excellent day.

Visitors to Hope Farm enjoy Open Farm Sunday. Image: Lucy Bjorck

Comments from visitors were incredibly positive after a long day in the sunshine. Children and adults alike…

The Farm Wildlife partnership launched revised and improved advice for conservation on farmland in 2016. The advice focuses on six key elements for farmers and land managers to consider when they are thinking about maximising the conservation value of the farm. These six elements are common across all farming systems in any part of the UK, and include the following:

•  Looking after established habitats on the farm

In case you missed it, Hope Farm and its resident yellowhammers featured on the BBC's Countryfile Spring Diaries yesterday.

You can watch Farm Manager Ian Dillon and RSPB Conservation Scientist Dr Mark Eaton revealing some interesting facts about yellowhammers here.

RSPB Geltsdale’s site manager Steve Westerberg talks about how farming on the reserve is helping to provide homes for nature.

Tarnhouse Farm is part of RSPB Geltsdale and is farmed by the RSPB’s tenant Ian Bell who has his own farm adjacent to the reserve. Tarnhouse is a large hill farm and is about 2000ha, the majority of which is moorland. Ian has been farming here for 18 months and has 80 suckler cows and 360…

The summer months are a natural time for people to head outside to enjoy the British countryside and its wildlife. Given that around three quarters of land in the UK is used for farming, the chances are that if you are enjoying wildlife outside of a nature reserve, it will be on farmland.

Luckily there are farmers making great efforts to give nature a home on their farms, often with the help of RSPB and other advisors…

For arable farmers, one of the biggest events of the year takes place every June - Cereals. This technical event attracts more than 20,000 visitors over two days. As usual, amidst the shiny new tractors, new varieties of cereal crops and demonstrations, agricultural staff from across the RSPB will be on-hand to provide advice on managing farmland for biodiversity as well as food production. This year we will be showcasing…

Guest blog by Mark Thomas, RSPB Principal Specialist - Investigations

Last week (Thursday 4 May), I set off for a secret location in Norfolk in search of two rare Montagu’s harriers newly arrived from West Africa. These birds are one of just five pairs of Montagu’s harriers which return to the UK to breed each spring, making them our rarest breeding birds of prey. Accompanying me was Anna Hill from BBC Farming Today,…

Post from Ian Dillon, Hope Farm Manager

Open Farm Sunday, organised by LEAF, is a great time to visit farms to see what goes on around a farm whether its growing crops or raising livestock. It is also an ideal opportunity to see and hear what wildlife live on farms and what farmers may be doing to help wildlife thrive.

Visitors to Hope Farm on Open Farm Sunday. Image: Ellie Crane

Over 380 farms took part in Open…

Ahead of RSPB’s event at the Hay Festival on 31 May, former Telegraph environment correspondent and author of Ethical Carnivore, Louise Gray, discusses why farming is important for us all.

Here’s an early memory of nature: I’m in primary school and we are learning about wild flowers: the poppies and oxeye daisies and cornflowers that I so love. I am in my element, day dreaming about red, white and blue flowers…

Posted on behalf of Yvonne Stephan, Conservation Advisor, East Scotland

Over the last couple of years, RSPB Scotland have been involved to various degrees in numerous applications to the Agri-Environment and Climate Scheme (AECS). We provided information to farmers and consultants, advice on various AECS options and the needs of a range of species, assisted with farm environment assessments and worked directly with farmers…

Janet Fairclough works with farmers in the North Pennines to help them give nature a home on their land. Here she explains how farmers are making small changes to give curlews the best chance of breeding success.

In the North Pennine Dales, our work with farmers and land managers helps them encourage curlews and other breeding waders to breed successfully on their land.

The curlew is an iconic bird, and their return…

Posted on behalf of Georgina Bray, Hope Farm Assistant Manager

We have entered Spring for 2017, a fresh start, and possibly the most exciting time of year. Our spring barley has recently been drilled, T1 applied to the winter wheat which is looking remarkably good and the patchy oilseed rape crop is in bloom. New migrants are arriving every week. Some, such as the ring ouzels and redstarts, have flown vast distances…

Posted on behalf of Tom Lancaster, Senior Policy Officer

For everyone interested in agriculture and agriculture policy, attempting to keep up with Government policy developments recently has felt like a thankless task. In England, delays to the 25 year plans for the environment and food and farming have led to jokes about them being 24, or even 23 year plans when they’re finally published. The announcement of a General…

Celebrating excellence, innovation and outstanding achievement in Scottish nature conservation, the RSPB’s Nature of Scotland Awards are now open for entries. Among the nine award categories we welcome back the Food and Farming Award for a second year, seeking to recognise individuals, businesses or organisations that are doing good things for nature conservation in Scotland.

The way our food is produced can…

Guest Blog by Rhian Pierce - Conservation Advisor, North Wales

Golden plovers need blanket bog. The importance of this habitat is explained in more detail here. In Wales, we are working with farmers in the upland areas of the Migneint from Ffynnon Eidda to Y Gylchedd, in Snowdonia National Park, to protect this important habitat and its associated species.

Up here the farmers are proud to give nature a home by looking…

For the past ten years the RSPB’s Gavin Thomas has been working on the Bowland Wader project, an initiative aimed at encouraging farmers in Bowland, North Lancashire, to help breeding waders thrive on their land. Here, he tells us more about the project and the benefits it has brought for wildlife and farmers alike.

The Bowland Wader Project is part of a nationwide programme of free, professional advice and support…

Posted on behalf of Emily Field, Project Manager - Stone-curlew UK (EU LIFE+) 

Our final blog in this series comes from Dominic Ash. Dominic joined the MoD Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) as an ecologist on Salisbury Plain in 1995. Part of his role was to ensure that management and use of the site did not conflict with designated speciesand habitats. Stone-curlews are a designated feature of the Special Protection…

Posted on behalf of Emily Field, Project Manager - Stone-curlew UK (EU LIFE+) 

Our penultimate post in our stone-curlew series comes from Chris Knights. Chris has been involved in almost every aspect of stone-curlew conservation from farm management to professional photography for more than 50 years. Few people have dedicated so much of their lives to stone-curlew conservation and this is why in 2015 we presented him with…

Posted on behalf of Emily Field, Project Manager - Stone-curlew UK (EU LIFE+) 

Today’s guest blog comes from another of our stone-curlew heroes, Rachel Hosier, whose family has farmed near Stonehenge in Wiltshire for generations. 92 hectares of the farm is now an RSPB nature reserve through a land management agreement. Chalk downland has been restored, sheep grazing has been established across the site, and stone…

Posted on behalf of Emily Field, Project Manager - Stone-curlew UK (EU LIFE+) 

Today’s guest blog from one of our stone-curlew heroes comes from John Secker, who works a farm near Feltwell in the Brecks owned by the Cock family. Together they manage 10% of the farm’s 316 hectares of land for stone-curlews and other wildlife. John is an expert nest finder and holds a BTO licence for ringing birds. He goes the extra mile…

Posted on behalf of Emily Field, Project Manager - Stone-curlew UK (EU LIFE+) 

Today’s guest blog from one of our stone-curlew heroes comes from Keith Betton. As a keen birdwatcher and county bird recorder for Hampshire, Keith was aware of stone-curlews in his local “patch” for many years. His involvement with the stone-curlew recovery project grew over time, first passing records on to the RSPB, then taking on fieldwork…

Posted on behalf of Emily Field, Project Manager - Stone-curlew UK (EU LIFE+) 

Today’s guest blog from one of our stone-curlew heroes comes from Gerald Gray. Gerald has lived and worked on the same Norfolk estate for 26 years and has devoted a great deal of passion and energy into implementing conservation measures for stone-curlews and grey partridges.

The estate is owned by the van Cutsem family, and has a very…

Posted on behalf of Emily Field, Project Manager - Stone-curlew UK (EU LIFE+) 

Next week we’ll be holding an evening reception to celebrate stone-curlew heroes as part of our international conference on achieving species recovery.

Through the next few days, we’ll be posting their stories to showcase the positive contribution farmers, gamekeepers and volunteers have made to securing the stone-curlew’s future.…

Posted on behalf of Helen Whitall, Volunteer Cirl Bunting Project Assistant

Farmers and conservationists celebrated at a special event at Dartington Hall, Totnes in November 2016. The RSPB held the event to thank all the farmers in south Devon (and now Cornwall) and others involved in the project, including Natural England which has been a major supporter and funder of the projects over the years. Their collective efforts…

RSPB NI Press Release

Conservation charity RSPB Northern Ireland has warned that the Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS), which is worth £100m to local landowners, must be approved by the Department of Finance before the NI Assembly closes for business on the 26 January 2017. If approval is not given, nature protection in NI will take a major backwards step and we will start to see once common species disappear from the…