Farm Wildlife Advice

Arable farmland Steve Aylward Suffolk Wildlife Trust

Help nature thrive on your farm with our range of advice and services

Our mission is to make Suffolk the nature-friendly county. Farmland is a vitally important habitat for many species. In this county we are lucky to have a great variety of farming systems which simultaneously provide food for the wider population, but also support wildlife. The traditional patchwork of farm hedgerows, meadows, woodlands, scrub, crops and ponds are important for many species, and deserve to be preserved, restored and celebrated.

Suffolk Wildlife Trust has worked successfully with farmers for many years and understands that in most cases owners’ land is their livelihood. Historically there has been significant economic pressure from the subsidies and ‘the market’ on farms. This has led to the streamlining of many farm businesses and abandonment of many traditional farming practices that previously benefited nature. As a movement we recognise that in order to reverse wildlife declines, we need to work beyond our nature reserves and protected sites. To further enhance and restore important farmland habitats and connect fragmented habitats and allow wildlife to move across the county.

Skylark - Rob Quadling

Water vole - Terry Whittaker/2020VISION

Stag Beetle, Pipers Vale - Lucy Shepherd

Dormouse - Brett Lewis

If you’d like to find out how we can help your farm, please contact us:

farm.advice@suffolkwildlifetrust.org

We can help larger scale farmers enhance their land for wildlife whilst maintaining productivity, and also help smaller traditional farms retain their beneficial features, by providing free advisory services and helping navigate funding and grant options.

We are always learning from landowners we meet. Many farmers and landowners, already have an interest and passion in supporting wildlife in their corner of Suffolk. The, often, multi-generational knowledge of species and habitats on their farms, alongside work already undertaken, provides important examples of the environmental good many farmers are already doing. We aim to support, monitor and celebrate landowners’ environmental activities, on their behalf to the wider community.

With the much-anticipated change of environmental and agricultural policy just around the corner, it is a good time to start thinking about what services your land already provides for nature, and how you can protect and enhance these features. Please get in touch to find out we can help your farm business

Farms receiving our advice may have the opportunity to receive wildlife monitoring through surveys and reports. Wildlife that can be monitored include a wide range of farmland birds, pollinating insects, amphibians, water vole, dormouse, hedgehogs and stag beetle.

Landowner Advice

Our Farm Wildlife Advice includes:

Design, creation, management and restoration of habitats on farm.
Pond creation, restoration and management
Support with scope and set up of new farm cluster groups
Guidance and advice on environmentally sound farming practices
Guidance and advice on applications to environmental land management schemes
Coming soon: Integrated pest management advice

Our chargeable Farm Wildlife Advice includes:

Countryside stewardship applications (Wildlife packages, Mid tier, Higher tier)
Other funding applications e.g. Woodland grant applications, Farming in Protected Landscapes, England Woodland Creation Offer

Costs from chargeable services go towards Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s vital conservation work.

If you’d like to find out how we can help your farm, please contact us:

farm.advice@suffolkwildlifetrust.org

Join us at a Farmland Wildlife Advice event this year.

Download our events brochure

Meet our Farm Advice Team

Jenny studied Geography at the University of Plymouth and then went on to work as an ecological surveyor, gaining skills in wildlife identification and monitoring. Prior to joining Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Jenny worked at Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust for 10 years, with responsibility for planning and delivering practical management on 20 nature reserves in East Hertfordshire; including a range of woodland, wetland and grassland sites. Jenny has a detailed ecological knowledge and understands the practicalities of managing productive farms for nature.

Jenny was brought up in Suffolk and spent her early years helping out with sheep at Foxburrow Farm. She is passionate about Suffolk wildlife and the importance of landscape-scale conservation.

Maddie started as Farm Wildlife Adviser in 2021. Her role is to advise landowners on how to support nature alongside production. She enjoys working with landowners on agri-environmental schemes, informal wildlife plans and flagging funding opportunities.

Maddie has balanced expertise in both the environmental and agricultural sectors. In 2016 she received her BSc in Conservation Biology and Ecology from Exeter University, which provided knowledge on the guiding principles of ecosystems and survey techniques. Later she worked at a local rural surveyors and land agency firm, whilst achieving her master’s degree in Rural Estates and Land management from Harper Adams University.

Maddie is a keen hiker and photographer and comes from across the Suffolk/Essex border where she lives on her family’s farm in Thorpe-le-Soken.

Follow us on Twitter, we’d love to see your farm wildlife highlights!

@SWTWildFarms

Help us to help you - please complete our questionnaire:

Which species are on your farm?