The 35 farmers of the Marlborough Downs Nature Improvement Area (MDNIA) have pledged to continue their successful conservation work when the three-year government grant runs out next month.
The MDNIA has had a very busy three years achieving the aims of its chosen slogan: “Working together to make space for nature.” And at their Spring meeting (March 19), guest speaker Adam Henson praised the MDNIA’s work and especially their collaborative way of working: “You have surrounded yourselves with people who complement each other – and you’ve worked together. Collaboration – the French are brilliant at it – so are you.”
Looking to the future, one of the MDNIA’s founder, Chris Musgrave from Temple Farm, said: “We have a natural momentum – we are not going to let it stop. The farmers won’t let it stop.” He too underlined the way the farmers had worked together in what he called a ‘comradely’ way: “We knew other farmers’ names – we didn’t know who they were!”
However, there will be no further funding from the Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs. But Jemma Batten, the project’s manager, made it clear that much of the capital work had already been completed – “thanks to the grant.”
The MDNIA – Britain’s only farmer-led NIA and probably the only one with a waiting list of farmers eager to join – lives on in other parts of the country as it is being used as a template for the next scheme for conservation on farms. Already groups of farmers are coming together in the next generation of countryside conservation schemes.
The highlights of the MDNIA’s three-year programme are really significant: 60 hectares of chalk grassland created or undergoing restoration; seven new wildlife sites identified; over 250 hectares of rough grassland managed for raptors and owls; a ‘necklace’ of sixteen new or restored ponds across the downs; improved and spreading populations of tree sparrows, corn bunting and short-eared owls; improved public access on 47 miles of footpaths and bridleways; over eight miles of access for disabled carriage drivers – and, above all, contact with over 4,000 people who come to experience and learn about nature on the downs.
Adam Henson, BBC Television’s Countryfile presenter and Cotswold farmer, spoke about the “huge void of knowledge about where our food comes from.” But, he said, there is also a huge appetite for knowledge about farming and our natural surroundings – citing the extraordinary viewing figures for BBC’s Countryfile and their programmes like Lambing Live.
And he urged the farmers to make even greater efforts to communicate with the people who need the food they grow: “I want everybody to communicate with the consumer. They want to know what we do…We are pretty much squeaky clean now…We are the custodians of the landscape – we grow food in the middle of the fields.”
And he was optimistic about British farming: “We are on the crest of the wave – we have to ride that wave very carefully and responsibly.”
Describing how he had succeeded his father in running the family farm, Adam Henson, also spoke passionately about the need for each new generation to work the land: “A lot of farmers don’t think much about succession. It’s something we should all be thinking about.”
And on cue, Chris Musgrave announced that the MDNIA’s 2015 Wildlife Champions Cup was to be presented by Adam Henson to Laura Corbett (of East farm, Avebury) and Suzie Swanton (of North Farm, West Overton) for their work in introducing people, especially school children, to the farms on the downs. Both winners are daughters of farming families and work on their farms.
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