On Your Farm. - Marlborough Downs

[barryqwalsh]

BBC RADIO 4

Marlborough Downs

On Your Farm

In 2012 twelve government-backed landscape-scale pilot projects were rolled out across the UK. Only one of these three year long projects was set up by farmers, for farmers, for the benefit of conservation. Covering an area of 10,000 hectares twenty-seven farmers and a number of other land owners joined the scheme with a single aim, to provide targeted wildlife initiatives for the benefit of key species such as tree sparrow and corn bunting.

Working at a landscape level, each member farms their land as they have always done, but now they act as a group for wildlife. They initiate community involvement and activities such as Open Farm Sunday, all of which has raised a certain amount of healthy competition among the farmers themselves who now discuss lapwing numbers alongside wheat prices.

Caz Graham travels to East Farm within the Avebury World Heritage area of Wiltshire where she meets up with Robert Cooper, the chair of what became the Marlborough Downs Nature Improvement Area, and his daughter Laura who now runs the farm.

The project came to an end in 2015 and as Caz learns from project facilitator Jemma Batten, far from being a one off project, their success has spurred farmers to relaunch as the Marlborough Downs Space for Nature.



AUDIO
Marlborough Downs, On Your Farm - BBC Radio 4

 

[MisterBeale]

I'll be interested in BBC pieces when England is made the 51st State in the Union.

 

[barryqwalsh]

I'll be interested in BBC pieces when England is made the 51st State in the Union.

Is it not already?


All our “independent” Trident missiles in reality come from Lockheed Martin in the US and are maintained by the US Navy at Kings Bay, Georgia, USA, along with the Trident missiles for US submarines.

So we are being asked to spend around £100bn – or 12 times the Tories’ NHS EXTRA funding centrepiece – to maintain and replace our “independent” nuclear strike capability – which does not exist.


Trident: is our nuclear deterrent really independent? | Alex Thomson's View

 

[MisterBeale]

I'll be interested in BBC pieces when England is made the 51st State in the Union.

Is it not already?


All our “independent” Trident missiles in reality come from Lockheed Martin in the US and are maintained by the US Navy at Kings Bay, Georgia, USA, along with the Trident missiles for US submarines.

So we are being asked to spend around £100bn – or 12 times the Tories’ NHS EXTRA funding centrepiece – to maintain and replace our “independent” nuclear strike capability – which does not exist.


Trident: is our nuclear deterrent really independent? | Alex Thomson's View

Nope, not really.

The U.S. is just another country in the United Kingdom.

 

[Old Rocks]

I'll be interested in BBC pieces when England is made the 51st State in the Union.

Is it not already?


All our “independent” Trident missiles in reality come from Lockheed Martin in the US and are maintained by the US Navy at Kings Bay, Georgia, USA, along with the Trident missiles for US submarines.

So we are being asked to spend around £100bn – or 12 times the Tories’ NHS EXTRA funding centrepiece – to maintain and replace our “independent” nuclear strike capability – which does not exist.


Trident: is our nuclear deterrent really independent? | Alex Thomson's View

Nope, not really.

The U.S. is just another country in the United Kingdom.

Irrelevant to the OP. A very successful program that benefits all.