Andrew Davis, Author at The Countryside Forum

Author: Andrew Davis

River Pollution

Posted on July 23, 2024August 6, 2024 by Andrew Davis

Climate change scientists have forecast warmer wetter winters, predictions that have certainly been borne out by the past year or two. Indeed, Met Office statistics show that, from October 2022 to March this year, more rain fell on England than in any eighteen month period since records began in 1836.

Flooding was extreme with many fields and roads under water for weeks on end. This had a serious impact on farming with the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board suggesting that the yields of winter wheat will be 15%, winter barley 22% and oilseed rape 28% lower than the 5-year average. Coming on top of the reduction in subsidy and other financial constraints, there have been threats of potential food shortages.

French Leave

Posted on August 15, 2023July 30, 2024 by Andrew Davis

The cereal harvest is mostly over in France although I saw a combine cutting oilseed rape as I drove down though Normandy and standing crops of wheat and rape on my return a week later. From the coast it was largely pasture and maize for silage but as I ventured further south, the fields opened up with more arable stubbles. Once in the Loire Valley, my destination, vineyards were the predominant land use, interspersed with cereal stubbles, maize and sorghum for the cattle’s winter rations and sunflowers. One tends to forget that, judging by English standards, farming is large parts of France is still very mixed with numerous cattle.

The sunflowers were variable, some in full flower, others yet in bud. I was told that this is due to sowing date, the farmers vary the time of planting to spread the harvest. There were fields showing bright yellow, the huge flower heads all pointing in the same direction like columns of mediaeval monks with their cowls over their heads processing morosely to Prime, the office around dawn.

Badly Behaved Dogs

Posted on July 3, 2023July 30, 2024 by Andrew Davis

For millennia we have been domesticating wild animals, some directly for food, others to perform numerous tasks to help with our daily life. Cattle, sheep, pigs and goats give us milk and meat whilst horses provide motive power and transport. From the days when man was a hunter/gatherer, dogs have aided in the hunt and still do today. There are breeds of hounds to find and chase deer, hares, foxes and mink, now used primarily to follow a trail since the Hunting Act 2004, although it is still legal to use them to flush foxes to guns.

There are numerous breeds used for shooting but the two most popular are Labradors and spaniels. Before the huge expansion of driven shooting, pointers were widely used for walked up or rough shooting. Walking through the cover, the dog identifies the quarry, perhaps grouse in heather, and stands stock still, one front paw raised to alert the guns. This was important in the days of muzzle loaders as it took time to prepare to take a shot. When the guns are ready, the dog is asked to flush the bird from the cover for the guns to shoot at.

The Future of Field Sports

Posted on June 13, 2023July 30, 2024 by Andrew Davis

Fields sports have been a central activity of the country way of life for centuries. In mediaeval times hunting was confined to the monarch or to those he gave permission. Despite frequent famine, common people faced horrendous penalties for poaching, including hanging or castration. Nowadays, field sports are open to all with very large numbers enjoying fishing in particular. Yet they are under threat as never before as debated at the recent Countryside Forum conference.

Hunting foxes with hounds was banned by the Hunting Act of 2004 amid fears that large numbers of horses and hounds would be destroyed and many lose their livelihoods. But hunts adapted to trail hunting and the numbers participating or following actually increased. Some hunts are now struggling to survive but there were still 176 in England and Wales in 2015 with another 10 in Scotland. There have been many claims that foxes are still hunted and killed with a number of prosecutions being successful. No illegal activity can be condoned but there are thousands of days hunting each year that pass off without incident. Now, however, the claims that trail hunting is simply ‘a smokescreen for illegal activity’ have reached the political agenda with the Labour Party’s Shadow Defra Secretary of State Jim McMahon saying that a future Labour Government will ban trail hunting. It is hard to see how the hunting community could adapt and survive.

The Urban-Rural Divide

Posted on May 26, 2023July 30, 2024 by Andrew Davis

There has long been a debate about the relative disadvantage to those who live in the countryside compared to urban areas. This has been exacerbated by the cost of living crisis as shown by a recent report from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Rural Business and the Rural Powerhouse, which builds on a number of other recent studies.

The rural economy is 19% less productive than the national average at a cost of £43 billion each year. The report finds that this is largely due to poor public policy and a lack of political will to address it. A survey for the Federation of Small Businesses found that 30% of rural businesses cite the remote location and lack of transport as a barrier to hiring staff compared with 4% in urban areas. Rural households spend £800 a year more on fuel and pay an average of 6 pence per litre more for fuel than those in towns and cities. From 2009 to 2019, funding for rural bus services fell by 43% in real terms. Whether a subsidised bus service in rural areas is the best solution to the problem is a moot point, perhaps a more imaginative approach is needed such as dial-a-ride. During the recent delays in taking driving tests due to industrial action and lack of examiners, there were calls for those in rural areas to have priority as most had no other way to get to college or a job.

John Edgar

Posted on May 12, 2023July 30, 2024 by Andrew Davis

It is a story of success, of hard work and taking the opportunities that arise. The Rees family moved to Stakes Farm, Upham, south east of Winchester in 1918. When David Rees took over in 1963, the mixed farm was 169 acres but, over the years, the pig and poultry enterprises were expanded and five adjoining farms were purchased, taking the total to nearly 1,000 acres. David’s son George joined the business in 1996, his sister four years later. In 2006, they sold up at Upham and moved to the South Lynch Estate, 2,300 acres near Hursley to the south west of Winchester.

Dartmoor Battleground

Posted on April 28, 2023July 30, 2024 by Andrew Davis

Dartmoor has become a battleground, a rather more public manifestation of skirmishes that are taking place across the country. The forces may be described as conservationists against farmers, rewilding against food production with a splash of public access and recreation thrown in. But of course it is not as simple as that.

Dartmoor is a National Park with three of the largest SSSIs (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) in the country. The Forest of Dartmoor Common, for example, covers 11,000 hectares of land owned by the Duchy of Cornwall and farmed by those commoners with grazing rights. The SSSIs were designated in the 1980s in recognition of the outstanding landscape and the communities that cared for them. The issue now is that they are not in ‘favourable condition’ despite the huge investment from public funds; the grants from the Higher Level Scheme of Countryside Stewardship are worth around £4.5 million each year. The agreements expire this year and Natural England has offered five year extensions provided that certain changes to management are implemented.

Demands on land use

Posted on April 28, 2023July 30, 2024 by Andrew Davis

Well over two thirds of the land mass of England is farmland and yet there is increasing debate about the use to which it should be put. For forty years during and after the Second World War there was no doubt, it was to provide food for the nation, but other demands seem to have gained greater priority today.

In 2020, a former Chief Adviser to Defra, Sir Ian Boyd called for half of our farmland to be planted to trees and wildlife habitat in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reverse the decline in biodiversity. He claimed that 50% of farmland provides just 20% of our food and that could easily be replaced by vertical farming, production in a controlled environment. That would mean that 90% of our cattle and sheep would disappear but it would all help the fight against climate change. A 90% drop in cattle and sheep would result in a far greater reduction in red meat and dairy products but that would be fine if we all became vegan or at least vegetarian.

Spring Review

Posted on April 11, 2023July 30, 2024 by Andrew Davis

Spring is late this year, according to the National Trust, delayed by cold weather during the winter and the driest February for thirty years. But it is now gathering pace with hedgerows bursting into leaf, daffodils in full bloom and blossom beginning to brighten up the drab winter countryside.

The recent mild and wet weather has brought growth to farm crops too, although it has been more difficult to get on the land. Sowing last autumn went very well into fine seedbeds with enough rainfall after the drought of summer for cereals to establish. The area of winter barley is probably a little higher than the year before but the area of winter wheat may be down. This is partly due to a lack of break crops giving a good entry for winter wheat since the area of oilseed rape has been so drastically reduced due to the prevalence of flea beetle.

Environment Improvement Plan

Posted on March 1, 2023July 30, 2024 by Andrew Davis

The Government published its 25 year Environment Plan in January 2018 with a commitment to review and update it every five years. The first was published last month, The Environment Improvement Plan 2023. It reiterates many of the targets in the original document although some of them have become somewhat less ambitious. For example, a pledge to halve the emissions of five air pollutants by 2030 has been replaced by amended targets some of which extend to 2040. When the Secretary of State was challenged on this, she replied that any target must be achievable.

As in the original plan, there are ten goals in total, covering clean air and water, reducing pollution, improving the use of resources, mitigation of climate change, enhancing biosecurity and health, heritage and engagement with the natural environment. Overarching all these is the ‘apex goal’ of thriving plants and wildlife with the pledge to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030 and then increase abundance by at least 10% of 2022 levels by 2042. To achieve this, targets include the restoration or creation of 500,000 hectares of wildlife rich habitat by 2042, restoration or creation of 140,000 hectares of wildlife rich habitat outside protected sites by 2028 and increase woodland cover from 14.5% to 16.5% of total land area in England by 2050. There is also the international commitment to protect 30% of land and ocean by 2030.