Upper Beult Cluster Meeting and Farm Walk – 6th November 2023 – Green Farm
Earlier this month we organised the Upper Beult Cluster Meeting and Farm Walk to go over all that has been happening in the cluster and discuss as a group what we should be doing next.
In total we had 37 attendees which was great with the majority being cluster members plus representatives from organisations working in the catchment.
Green Farm was the perfect venue with amazing hospitality from Martin and MaryAnn Richmond-Coggan and their team.
The first half of the day involved informative presentations with time to discuss the information delivered as a group and ask any questions. These presentations included:
- Cluster achievements so far – 38 member over 2810.2ha land
- Nightingale surveys and next steps – 80 nightingale territories found, next steps habitat and expand hotspots
- Natural Capital Assessments completed, what they looked like, and next opportunities – money to carry out more next year
- Citizen Science happening along the Beult – 22 RiverSearch volunteers so far
- South East Rivers Trust bringing back the Beult – delivered 47 leaky woody dams, working with 7 contiguous landowners to deliver nature-based solutions with funding from Southern Water.
- Southern Water catchment management – Pesticide pilot measures and capital grant funding, water quality monitoring showing key pesticide levels in Beult have been reducing
- Hosting trials for Southern Water – farmers experiences, learnings and future trials
- SFI 2023 Update – how it works and some of the key benefits
Following this we had an amazing lunch which I am worried has set me a very high bar for any future events!
Then we took a walk over Green Farm led by Martin Richmond-Coggan to talk about what he has been doing including the charity garden, mob grazing and delivering on farm education.
Kathi from South East Rivers Trust then showed the leaky dams SERT have been installing, including the amazing ProWater project at neighbouring Moat Farm. Chas also showed us why this area is a great spot for nightingale and what habitat could be created/managed elsewhere in the catchment.
It was a really useful day and feedback from attendees was extremely positive. To follow on the discussions from this meeting, several events are being organised for the new year. Details are being finalised but will be sent in the December newsletter.
