Having grown a bit sick of the silly conservation vs farming narrative, last year I started on a series of articles about farmers doing great things for #nature in #Cumbria. I didn't do one on @herdyshepherd1, but thankfully, I had lots of other farms to choose from. (THREAD)
First up (unsurprisingly) was @wildhaweswater, where I'm lucky enough to work as site manager. We are hoping to show how sustainable upland farming can work alongside ecological restoration. We're learning lots in the process. @Natures_Voiceleeschofield.co.uk/farming-with-n…
Next, I visited Sam & Claire at @gowbarrow, on the beautiful shores of Ullswater. They're doing brillinat regenerative farming, with cattle, pigs and ponies. leeschofield.co.uk/farming-with-n…
I headed back to #Ullswater for the next installment. Glencoyne Farm, owned by @nationaltrust and tenanted by Sam & Can Hodgson since 1995, has a spectacular chunk of wood pasture, perhaps the ultimate union of farming and wildlife. leeschofield.co.uk/farming-with-n…
I ventured out of the Lake District for my 6th article and visited @NRenison & @Cannerfarm at Cannerheugh, on the windy flanks of the Pennines. They are regenerative farmers, par excellence. leeschofield.co.uk/farming-with-n…
Next, I stayed closer to home and paid @cumbriawildlife Eycott Hill a visit (a few minutes walk from my front door). Eycott is a great demonstration of how low input/low output farming can benefit a whole suite of upland habitats and species. leeschofield.co.uk/farming-with-n…
My final article took me south to meet @JRfromStrickley on his organic dairy farm near Kendal. The work he's doing to integrate nature into his system is properly inspiring. leeschofield.co.uk/farming-with-n…
There are loads of other people who are #farmingwithnature. I could easily have made this into a longer series. Most people accept that farming needs to change in order to help tackle the climate & nature crises. It's pretty clear that in many places, that change is well underway
Like #rewilding, and 'traditional' conservation, nature friendly and #regenerativefarming are all vital if we are to rise to the challenges facing how we live on Earth. We don't have to choose one or the other. We can, and must, use every tool in the box.
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Today I decided to return to Young Wood, one of the @lakedistrictnpa's most fascinating ecological fragments. It doesn't look like much from the road outside our house, 3 miles away across the valley, just a fuzz of green on the side of Bowscale Fell.
There was lots of good stuff on the way. First, I walked through @cumbriawildlife's Eycott Hill nature reserve. The planted juniper scrub and broadleaf trees are thriving, escaping their guards in places. A young wood, in sight of Young Wood.
A tiny bit of trespassing allowed me to hop from the Eycott Hill Access Land 'island' to another one containing White Moss, a lovely raised mire. It was good seeing birch growing where a conifer plantation was removed at the bog edge.
This is the sort of article that sparks righteous indignation at both a lack of compliance and at the failure of government to enforce its own rules. However, this is a more complicated picture than first meets the eye... (THREAD) theguardian.com/environment/20…
Since WW2, farmers have been encouraged and incentivised to intensify food production. At the same time, consumers have paid less and less and for their food.
Dairy farmers have been at the sharp end of this. They have been hugely successful at increasing their milk yields, with most switching to more intensive forms of grassland management with the aid of fertiliser, increasing herd sizes and keeping cattle inside for longer periods.
Took a wet walk through some first class WOOD PASTURE on the shore of #ullswater this morning. Here's a thread to explain why it's such a fantastic habitat, and why we need more of it.
On the face of it, wood pasture is just a field with trees in it, but it's so much more than this. When well managed, with the right level of grazing, wood pasture is one of the richest habitats we have. In fact, it's more than just one, it's a habitat mosaic.
One of the most prominent features of a wood pasture, is big, old #trees. This one has lots of oak, ash, birch, holly, sycamore, hawthorn and alder, many with abundant rot holes, perfect for pied flycatchers, restarts and other hole nesting #bird species.
Right, here goes...
Swindale Beck was straightened at least 200 years ago. The people living in the valley at the time needed to reduce flooding in their meadows to ensure they had a good crop of winter feed for their livestock. Straightening the river achieved this for a while.
But removing the beck's natural bends had a negative impact on wildlife. Water moves through a straight channel much more quickly, increasing downstream flood risk and removing smaller gravels that salmon and trout need for spawning, as well as the habitat for many invertebrates
A straight channel also makes it harder for in-river features like gravel bars and riffles to form. These are also important wildlife habitats, help to draw oxygen down into the water and further slow the flow. This was the course beck in 2014.