Farm Clusters – A catalyst for positive change for wildlife and communities.

Farmers gather at the Horseshoe and Castle pub in Cooling to discuss ways to improve the fortunes of wildlife on the Hoo Peninsula. copyright Karen Rigby-Faux

Farmers are gathering, not just in Whitehall to protest against the multiple challenges faced by small family farms but in fields, pubs and in farmyards.

Away from the headlines, farmers are forming Farm Clusters with the aim of working together, neighbour to neighbour, to enhance whole landscapes for wildlife.

Farm Clusters, started in 2015 with a partnership between Natural England and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, who understood that farmers listen to and are inspired by other farmers and, if you really want to make a difference for wildlife on a large scale, then initiatives had to be agreed upon and led by farmers.

On the Hoo Peninsula, in North Kent, the Hoo Peninsula Cluster began last year with a gathering in the back room of a village pub and had a great turn out with 20 plus farmers from Gravesend to the Isle of Grain wanting to find out more. With support from the Church Commission, who are major landowners on the Hoo Peninsula, Tom Gore of Ringshill Farm who tenants the Church Commissions land at St Mary’s Marsh was chosen as lead farmer and Carol Donaldson, an independent Ecologist with over 10 years of experience giving farm advice across North Kent, was chosen to Facilitate.

Tom and Carol were keen to not only offer a catalyst for farmers to get to know each other and learn from each others experience but provide training opportunities and farm visits. With this in mind the clusters second meeting was a farm visit to Stoke Marshes to see the wetland restoration work taking place on land owned by long term supporters Richard Castle and Brian Stone with help from the RSPB.

Inspired by the visit, Tom set about creating new scrapes and rills for waders on St Mary’s Marsh, one of the best sites for breeding lapwing outside of a reserve in the area. The newly created scrapes will hold water for longer, helping chicks to find food in the wet margins.

wetland restoration underway on St Mary’s Marsh copyright Bradley Andrews RSPB

This work showcased the kind of tangible benefits Tom Gore wanted to see the cluster achieve. To do this Tom and Carol realised that the Cluster needed to choose some key species to focus the collective efforts of the farming community towards. So it was back down the pub to put some suggestions to the others.

Carol Donaldson explained that, with much of the marsh designated for breeding waders and wetland being so important for carbon capture, then managing the hydrology of the landscape to benefit birds like lapwing was an obvious choice. In addition, the group decided to try to bring turtle dove back to the Peninsula as a bird that had once been common but was now close to extinction. Lastly we decided to improve the habitat for hares and work with the police to tackle illegal hare coursing, often linked to criminal gangs.

To get the ball rolling, Medway Swale Estuary Partnership were on hand to offer farmers the chance to get free trees and some disease resistant elm trees to gap up hedgerows. Many people signed up on the spot and Philip Johnson was pleased to see the hedgerow alongside The Brimp near Slough Fort planted by volunteers.

Volunteers from the Medway Swale Estuary Partnership plant up a hedge alongside The Brimp copyright Belinda Lamb MSEP

In order to achieve more the Hoo Peninsula Farm Cluster has also teamed up with the Swale Farm Cluster and the Medway Gap Cluster to form Chalk to Coast, a coalition which hopes to provide a nature corridor from the North Downs to the marshes of the Swale, Medway and Thames. It also hopes to provide opportunities for people from the Medway Towns and Isle of Sheppey to engage with wildlife and food production through farm walks and events.

Farm Clusters are a great catalyst to bring farmers, funding, environmental professionals and the wider community together to not only benefit wildlife but foster greater understanding of the role farmers play in caring for our landscape and producing our food.