This unique guide to conservation and farmland biodiversity illustrates practical initiatives by land managers in their care of the countryside. The resource which illustrates some 450 examples is primarily ordered by date with the most recent appearing first.
The Purdey Awards for Game and Conservation is an annual competition to find, and to give recognition to, the UK's best game conservation projects.
Careful planning of new woodland is essential if the habitat is to survive for the coming centuries. We detail key aspects of the planning process that should be considered. At the outset it is important to define the objectives of the new woodland.
Since 1980 there has been a significant increase in the total area of woodland in the UK with a large part of this increase found on farmland. This guide details some of the key aspects of the planting process that should be addressed before planting begins.
Popular opinion has it that farmers are responsible for grubbing out thousands of miles of hedgerow each year. However, since the early 1990's, farmers have been busy planting new hedges and overall hedgerow length is increasing. Here we illustrate some of the practical aspects involved.
In the UK more than 75% of land is farmed, most of this having been in agriculture for many thousands of years. During this time a matrix of habitats rich in biodiversity has developed, much of this derived from the complex interaction between different grazing animals and plant life.
It can be difficult to utilise conservation sites for grazing agricultural stock profitably as it is not always possible to ‘finish’ animals to the required weights within the specified times.
Conservation headlands are an area between the crop edge and the first tramline that are treated less intensively so that a greater range of broad leaved weeds and beneficial insects survive. They are usually the width of a part of the sprayer boom (4 - 6 metres) that can be swiched off to prevent the application of some pesticides.
More than 75% of the land in the UK is farmed and thousands of years of agriculture has created a matrix of habitats and a range of resources for different species - known as 'Biodiversity'. Biodiversity is a key word used to describe the variety of life on earth and includes all species of plants and animals, their habitats and the complex interactions that occur between them.
This information has been produced in association with the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and is part of a national Wildlife Trust pilot project supported by the NFU and funded by Norsk Hydro (UK).
The long-term decline of meadow grassland throughout the UK over the last fifty years has led to a loss of one of the UK's most biodiverse farmland ecosystems. Nowadays, meadows have little economic rationale and have been replaced with more intensive forms of grassland management or by arable production.
Hedgerow trees have always played an important role in the countryside both culturally and environmentally however, between 1950 and 1990 they suffered significant loss. This was a result of a combination of factors, notably changing field patterns, the mechanisation of agriculture and Dutch Elm disease.
Coppicing is the ancient craft of cutting trees and shrubs to ground level and although this might at first appear destructive, coppicing yields important material benefits with the strong re-growth from the coppice stools providing a renewable source of timber for many uses.
Coppicing is the ancient craft of cutting trees and shrubs to ground level and although this might at first appear destructive, coppicing yields important environmental benefits by allowing light to reach the woodland floor.
Coppicing is the ancient craft of cutting trees and shrubs to ground level and although this might at first appear destructive, coppicing yields important environmental benefits by allowing light to reach the woodland floor.
