Nature-friendly farming

Orlock Farm

Orlock Farm, County Down, Northern Ireland

The Alexander family are tenant farmers at Orlock Farm on Northern Ireland’s east coast, where they run a herd of native breed Pedigree Dexter Cattle. They’ve been running the farm with a focus on recovering the land, improving biodiversity and helping nature.

In May 2022, they reseeded the farmland with a mix of grass and herb species, which pollinated despite the summer’s droughts. Now, birds such as house martins and finches have started appearing, along with masses of insects including butterflies.

They revived the farm’s semi-natural native grassland by grazing young cattle on the area to remove dead plant matter and reduce briars and brambles. This restored a meadow scrub patchwork habitat, encouraging birds such as tree sparrows. This is just one way of how livestock can be used to help the land recover.

In September 2022 they introduced four hives of Black Irish Native Bees and began making their own honey.

Orlock Farm is now a diverse and thriving landscape. From spotting 42 butterflies during one single transect study of the farm, to seeing flora and fauna flourish in new places, the Alexander family are witnessing first-hand what positive impacts their approach has had.

Fir Tree Farm

Fir Tree Farm, Shropshire

At the Fir Tree Farm meadows in Shropshire, the tenant farmers are allowing wildflowers to flourish. Since taking on the care of the meadows a few years ago, they’ve changed the management of these former silage fields and permanent pasture. By cutting them in July rather than May, they now allow the flowers to bloom and give them a chance to set seed.

Yellow rattle and creeping buttercup are doing well and are a major source of food for many insects. The yellow rattle also weakens the grass, allowing other flowers in the seed bank to come through.

One insect that’s benefitting is the Bilberry bumblebee, which is a declining species. There have been reports that it’s tripled in number on the site.

Horner Farm

Horner Farm, Somerset

At Horner Farm, near Porlock in Somerset, balance and diversity are central concepts in the ethos of Exmoor tenant farmer Holly Purdey. She came to the 72-hectare (178-acre) farm with her husband, Mark, in 2018, having secured a tenancy from us. She focuses on farming with the environment rather than trying to change the environment to suit their farming system. Holly takes a low-input, low-output approach with a diverse enterprise mix of sheep, cattle and goats.

She's planted an orchard that's started producing apples, along with a mix of short-rotation and long-rotation coppiced tree species, plus elders for produce. The orchard provides shade for the animals on the farm, future-proofing their welfare. She only has one small yard tractor, minimising diesel and fertiliser costs, meaning they can deliver top-quality food in a sustainable way.

In order to spread knowledge and understanding about nature-friendly farming techniques, Holly encourages visits from schoolchildren, local groups and farmers, including a recent free-to-attend regenerative farmer evening with three speakers. The Purdeys are also involved in a community-supported agriculture scheme called Good Vibe Veg, which sees the local couple growing vegetables and getting the community involved.

Learn about our work at Horner Farm

Manor Farm

Manor Farm, Bradenham Estate, Buckinghamshire

Tenants of the Bradenham Estate, Andrew Stubbings, and his father before him, began reverting their least productive arable fields back to chalk grassland more than 20 years ago. This was backed by advice from Natural England’s countryside stewardship scheme.

Andrew specialises in low input farming, reducing his use of chemicals, fertiliser and farm machinery and he won’t grow crops that need insecticides. He’s also been grazing polo horses. The tread of horses’ hooves has penetrated deeper into the seedbeds, encouraging long-dormant wildflower seeds to grow.

The entire 556 hectares (1,373 acres) of Manor Farm has recently been designated a ‘local wildlife site’ – a recognition given by the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust to the most exceptional and valuable wildlife areas in the UK. Manor Farm is now one of the biggest local wildlife sites in Buckinghamshire and one of the best sites for species rich chalk grassland, a habitat that has suffered a 97 per cent loss in the last century.

The farm has a wide range of arable plants, including the diminutive Venus’s looking-glass, Pyramidal Orchids, Bee Orchids and the Chiltern Gentian. Following a survey, it was found that Manor Farm is home to 286 different plant species.

Wildlife on the farm includes breeding barn owls, common lizards and corn buntings – a locally scarce and endangered farmland bird. On a recent survey, 650 skylarks were counted in one field. 35 species of butterfly have also been recorded at Manor Farm – half the total number of butterfly species found in the UK.

Tilberthwaite Farm

Tilberthwaite Farm, Cumbria

Stephen Dugdale has been a tenant farmer at Tilberthwaite Farm near Coniston in Cumbria since 2018. He believes that there has to be a balance between farming and the environment. Most recently, he’s put in 141 hectares (350 acres) of woodland pasture at Tilberthwaite under a Countryside Stewardship scheme that began in 2021. The agreement, which he estimates will contribute about two-thirds of the revenue generated on that land, also includes management options such as mire restoration and the planting of single trees around the farm. The woodland pasture is already benefitting the flowers – for example, the juniper is now regenerating and spreading.

Stephen has also rented land that can be seemingly less attractive to go for, either due to location or because it required a lot of work. Once he begun renting the land, he entered it into environmental schemes. Not only was this good for the land, but also generated income to invest in more productive ground elsewhere for him to build up his stock numbers.

Westhay Farm

Westhay Farm, Golden Cap, Dorset

At Westhay Farm on the Golden Cap Estate, the tenant is managing a 111-hectare (274-acre) lowland livestock farm for nature. He's lived at Westhay since he was a child and helped his father farm the land before he took over. Many of the farming practices used today reflect traditional land management.

The High Nature Status farm is dominated by semi-natural habitat, managed with traditional hay-cuts and extensive conservation grazing by 85 breeding Hereford and cross cattle, as well as 100 breeding Dorset poll ewes. Several fields are shut up as low input hay meadows, with hay used as winter feed. 

Upper coastal slopes and adjacent fields of species-rich lowland meadows and pasture provide valuable pollen and nectar sources for the rich invertebrate fauna of the undercliff. 

Hedgerows provide great habitat for birds, small mammals and other invertebrates.  

Trehill Farm

Trehill Farm, Pembrokeshire, Wales

At the 198-hectare (489-acre) Trehill Farm, Peter and Gina Smithies number among just a handful of potato growers in Wales. They produce high-quality new and main crop potatoes.

Fields for silage, arable, cereals and potatoes have well-managed field margins to support wildlife. Field rotation ensures that soil health is looked after and the benefits of livestock in the system are maximised.

There are rich and varied habitats right across the farm, including a large coastal belt. Inland, there are flower-rich meadows and pastures and Marloes Mere Site of Special Scientific Interest. A series of earth banks run throughout the farm, providing a network of habitat for wildlife, particularly farmland birds.

Copt Hall

Copt Hall, Essex

At Copt Hall the tenants are successfully managing their 160-hectare (395-acre) arable farm to benefit nature. This coastal arable farm lies below sea level, supporting a good network of well managed field margins and hedgerows. There are significant numbers of breeding yellow hammers and other farmland birds.

Thirty per cent of the farm is priority habitat, with a recently restored area of flood plain marsh supporting overwintering birds. The tenants are actively involved in species monitoring.

The farm is cropped on a block farming basis, and the tenants are moving towards minimum tillage and spring cropping to improve soil health.

Fernhall Farm

Fernhall Farm, Brilley, Herefordshire

Nick and Nicci Lloyd are tenants on the 302-hectare (746-acre) Fernhall Farm, and they operate a low-input extensive system with rare-breed cattle and sheep. They're using conservation grazing methods to restore and protect wildlife-rich areas of habitat, including grasslands and orchards.

These areas are well connected by a network of hedgerows and field margins. Work under way includes further arable reversion, wood pasture creation and additional orchard planting.

Heigham Holmes

Heigham Holmes, Norfolk

Heigham Holmes in Norfolk is a 267-hectare (659-acre) farm for livestock rearing and grazing. It sits on predominantly coastal and floodplain grazing marsh. The farm forms part of a much larger wetland system with Site of Special Scientific Interest, Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas and Ramsar designations. 

In the winter, water levels are maintained to suit the internationally important populations of wintering birds that visit the site. These include the pink-footed goose and the UK BAP Priority white-fronted goose. The land is also used by cranes and other resident birds of conservation concern. There are priority reptiles and mammals, including the grass snake and otter. Seasonally inundated depressions support specialist flora and invertebrates. 

Around 17km of ditches run through the site and these ditches and their margins are an integral part of coastal and floodplain marshes, supporting a range of plant species adapted to disturbed conditions and fluctuating water levels. These include brookweed, marsh arrow-grass, parsley water-dropwort and the Red Data Book (Vulnerable) tubular water-dropwort.

Blaen Eidda Isaf

Blaen Eidda Isaf, Wales

Located on the remote slopes to the south of Ysbyty Ifan, Wales, Blaen Eidda Isaf is a 54-hectare (133-acre) upland sheep and cattle farm within the Ysbyty Estate. It's a landscape of improved grassland, flower rich, rushy and marshy grassland, river corridor, woodland and ffridd.

The farm has grazing rights on the Migneint-Arenig-Dduallt Site of Special Scientific Interest, Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas. It's also home to several priority species, including hen harriers, curlews and water voles. 

Summer cattle grazing is restoring habitat for ground-nesting birds such as curlew. A programme of ditch blocking to re-wet the Migneint is restoring deep peat back to health and a varied grazing programme is helping with the recovery of nature on the farm.

As part of the Fferm Ifan farm group, tenant Adam Russell has worked with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology to plant more farmland trees and hedgerows and to protect riverside habitats to help reduce soil erosion and downstream flood risk.

Learn more about farming and nature at Ysbyty Ifan