A valley in Wales, UK with mixed landscape of trees bracken open upland heath and enclosed grass fields
“Moreover, our study was conducted in a L. chinensis-dominated meadow steppe in northern China, and the generality of these findings may depend on differences in dominant species composition and soil properties across grassland systems”
getting cattle back to UK uplands is a tough gig
assume contained <onshore> aquaculture part of the solution (esp as key source of global protein accord to Lancet update) www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
see also current Science Museum’s ‘future of food’ exhibition
an ecologist in full PPP spraying herbicide via a knapsack sprayer to kill grass to prevent great crested newts from climbing over a newt fence erected around a development site set within open countryside in Bedfordshire, UK
a panel session discussion at a farming conference on the use of glyphosate [herbicide] within regenerative agriculture and land management practices
orfc.org.uk/session/resi...
#farming #ecology 🧪
just imagine if the Guardian went behind a payroll…..
I assume anglers involved in c carp conservation?!
noted your talk @anglingtrust.bsky.social back in 2014 anglingtrust.net/national-cru...
field-scale wide drip water irrigator spread across a desiccated maize field in south west France with woodland in the background
use all the farming practice tools to head towards 'nature positive' agriculture
not just the obvious agroecological ones (see full text of Target 10 under the Global Biodiversity Framework adopted at COP15)
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
#farming #nature 🧪
instead of raising [concrete[ flood barriers, digging downwards to create 'flood forests' with every clay brick used for building contributed to landscape recovery
refreshingly pragmatic sustainable land use and recovery
A farmer with a measuring pole standing in a deep peat farmland field near the lowest point in England
A bipartisan effort, as started by previous government, and yes, a start at providing the tools to best optimise use of land for more outcomes than on the horizon 10 years ago
pic: farmland, Holne - top of the pole, sea level / farmers aloft hand, depth of peat disappeared since 1968
yes, though fenced off bit also grassy and trees doing better (see my own woodland robyorke.co.uk/2018/04/natu...)
I’m curious around livestock stocking rates and tree planting densities as to ‘can we have both’?!
ps shorten your list, plant more trees instead
keep experimenting with trees / agroforestry, silvo-pasture / especially as it’s often not as easy as it’s made out to be
#environmental #dialogue
result of a Bank of England consultation as to themes for the next series of bank notes
some context (nature, not just wildlife) www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/he...
cattle standing in green bracken with some trees and a mountain in the background, South Wales, UK
extensively grazed cattle improve grass and wildflower diversity in upland calcareous areas
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
caveat: social science and funding required to nudge cultural farming switch from sheep
#farming #ecology 🧪
curlews calling in the English uplands (Forest of Bowland)
📢 up! #ornithology
extract from a rewilding the uplands graphic showing what seems to be a wild cat kitten staring at a marbled white butterfly, blueberries, heather and a yellow wagtail in the foreground with grazing deer, roads, fields, woodland, trees, housing, river and a lake in the background
be realistic - more gritty, less cute - on "interrogating how idealisations of ‘how nature should look’"
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
#rewilding #socialscience 🧪
about 2acres if that. have a read of the related blog/ not much but chainsaw crucial and general helf required a weekend bimonthly
an experimental woodland, in under 60 seconds, at 14 years old
with song thrush and woodcock, to boot
context > robyorke.co.uk/2018/04/natu...
farmland bird feeder in hedge-line alongside a grass/mixed species headland and infield crop of oil seed rape in Leicestershire, UK
diverse farmland landscapes provide for healthier soils
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
#farmland #ecology 🧪
Kielder forest provides a reservoir of roe deer of huge cull proportions
agree, small family groups of roe moving into Wales are starting to move in groups together
extract of paper on insects and mowing dates
you are right Dan on the exact timing of mowing
I misappropriated the popular hashtag to bring unpopular nuance to more adaptive management grassland (something I fear may fail to gain traction with council employed verge maintenance contractors)
a bright green coloured thick-legged flower beetle on a yellow buttercup with a backdrop of blurred grass
'increased mowing frequency of productive grass verges may benefit arthropods'
convenient for beetles, inconvenient for #NoMowMay campaigns
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
#wildlife #conservation 🧪
a tree growing around an unused circular metal fodder feeder for livestock with other trees growing on ex-pasture
resilience of nature
land abandonment
natural regeneration of trees
stranded asset
semantics, how you frame it, matters
#environmental #dialogue
I’m not sure if “according to the Guardian” is the best reference
This research on agricultural ‘stranded assets’ may more pertinent www.nature.com/articles/s43...
what I do - my specialist skill hosting environmental and rural in-person events robyorke.co.uk/track-ii-com...
#Environmental #Dialogue
a controlled fire burning grassland with oak trees in the background, UK
recurring fire can mitigate negative effects of invasive grasses and create conditions favourable for oak regeneration in temperate deciduous forests
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
#woodland #conservation 🧪
a copy of a letter in the financial times
on nature-rich hotspots, gardening, farming, rewilding and breakfast
my letter published in the Financial Times
#environmental #dialogue
blurred cameratrap picture of a badger at night
chilly badger's impact on breeding lapwing in rough farmland
nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
#wildlife #conservation 🧪
like it, not all ponds require graded banks
heads-up, multifunctional forestry "...a new duty for the Forestry Commission to take all reasonable steps to contribute to the Government’s statutory climate and nature targets...in exercising its functions"
www.parallelparliament.co.uk/lord/barones...
a screengrab of a piece in the Sunday Times in Jan 2026 with the headline 'Trees are a national security issue. We are not planting enough'
if you want woodland and forestry, lean-in towards planting a resilient diversity of tree species
a paywall-free version of statements from the Chair of the Forestry Commission and the Chair of Natural England
robyorke.co.uk/wp-content/u...
#trees #socialscience 🧪
