Two new residents have made their home at Bere Marsh Farm in Dorset and are already squealing with excitement and busy rootling around. Read more
Jenny Ashdown plays a key conservation role at Bere Marsh Farm. Here she talks us through the key areas of the farm and explains the important habitat each section provides and how our land is managed for the benefit of wildlife. Read more
How many people does it take to catch a newt? In the case of the first formal newt survey ever held at Bere Marsh Farm, it’s actually four members of the Countryside Regeneration Trust’s (CRT) staff, plus two extra conservationists licensed to carry out the operation. Read more
Bats, like all living things, deserve their place in our ecosystem. The CRT’s Wildlife Monitors track bats on CRT properties to understand what impact our land management and farming practices are having. Read more
From wildlife surveys to fungi findings to environmental highlights, our wildlife monitors are at the forefront of our conservation and wildlife work.
Our monitoring programmes are vital to the welfare of our farms and British nature. Our Wildlife Monitors and volunteers complete regular and rigorous surveys, collecting data that is then evaluated and disseminated. This information allows us to understand the successes or failures of our work allowing us to understand what is needed to create a living, working countryside that benefits all.
Thanks to our monitors and volunteers work we know that on Lark Rise Farm, the number of Yellowhammers in 25 times higher now than they were 20 years ago.
Here they share their findings and expertise about British nature that lives across our sites.
Thanks to money raised in our Twelve Gifts of Christmas campaign, we were thrilled to buy new withies to plant in our osier beds at Bere Marsh Farm. These willows will help provide important habitat for wildlife. Read more
Thanks to kind donations, we have been able to buy new tools for our fantastic volunteers at Green Farm and Bere Marsh Farm. Read more
We've been supplementary feeding farmland birds at Lark Rise farm this winter, thanks to money donated to our Twelve Gifts of Christmas campaign. This provides vital support for Red List species such as yellowhammers, linnets and reed buntings. Read more
Discover an array of fascinating facts about the UK's six reptile species, many of which we know are living on the Countryside Regeneration Trust's land. Read more
Green Farm is a brilliant example of the work the CRT can do with a legacy donation. Read more
Try our easy and fun wildlife friendly reindeer food recipe. Enjoy some quality time with your children this Christmas eve. Make you own with just four ingredients. Read more
A defibrillator and the actions of people nearby can make a life-saving difference during a sudden cardiac arrest. CRT supporter Nigel knows this all too well when his son collapsed last year and his life was saved. Read more
Volunteers play a vitally important role by helping us to improve habitats to support a greater variety and abundance of wildlife on our farms. But we need to equip our inspiring volunteer teams to be able to go out into the fields and woods and make a difference. Read more
Not only beautiful, but willows are also immensely useful both to wildlife and people. Conservation Officer Vince Lea tells how the trees benefit Lark Rise Farm and the landscape and community around it. Read on to find out how willow is a productive use of floodplains and supports a complex ecosystem. Read more
Farmland birds remain among the most threatened species in this country and their decline is nothing short of cataclysmic. Intensive agriculture has contributed to habitat loss, but at Lark Rise in Cambridgeshire our nature-friendly approach to farming and supplementary feeding over winter have helped ensure we buck many national statistics for farmland birds. Read more
Meadows full of wildflowers and grasses are rare these days, with the majority lost due to cultivation, other agricultural intensification practices, and urban development. Over the past year, we embarked on a long-term project to restore wildflower meadows in the floodplain at Bere Marsh Farm in east Dorset. Read more
Healthy soil contains a huge amount of life. Microorganism such as bacteria and fungi are essential for decomposing organic matter and turning it into nutrients used by plants. Read about our fun experiment and plans for greater soil monitoring in the future. Read more
Why one small field in Cambridgeshire has been attracting so many farmland birds this autumn. Read more
In 2020, we raised £30,000 from generous donations to save the Victorian barn at Bere Marsh Farm, a nesting site for barn owls, from collapse. After the restoration of the building and new roof, we were delighted to see the beloved barn owls return to their nest box in the barn and in time their baby chicks arrived. Read more
Moth species presence can provide useful information about the effects of climate change, as well as the biological state of the local environment and its biodiversity. At Turnastone Court Farm, we used a battery powered heath moth trap to monitor moth species composition and abundance each month during the main flying season. Read more
Mature woodland is a popular place the find bats, with a variety of moths and insects to eat. Their high frequency “chatter” and echolocation calls enable us to use bat detectors to monitor their presence and identify species. We recently identified nine species of bat at Turnastone Court Farm. Read more
Hedgehogs face a big challenge finding a home with so much loss of natural habitat in the UK. By setting up hedgehog homes on our farms, we can provide safe refuge areas for hedgehogs to escape the ongoing dangers they face every day. Read more
View renowned wildlife photographer Graham Hatherley's aerial images that show the bare ground created by rare breed pigs on Bere Marsh Farm in Dorset. This will help a wider variety of plants to establish. Read more
There are around 15,000 species of fungi in the UK. Mycologist Andy Knott is providing expert insights that are adding to our understanding of which species are present at Bere Marsh Farm in Dorset. Here he reports about two fungi forays he led on the farm this autumn, joined by members of the local community. Read more
Bird ringing trainer Simon Lane reports on the data gathered on Bere Marsh Farm in Dorset this summer. This contributes to the understanding of how 24 common songbird species are faring nationally, and helps us improve habitats on the farm in an effort to support breeding birds. Read more
Barn owls are an iconic species associated with the British countryside for millennia and which the CRT are helping to recover on our farms. Read more