8:40am Thursday 12th August 2010
Restoring habitats for wild flowers, insects, birds and mammals is a feature of community farming and Community Supported Agriculture projects.
The River Bourne Community Farm at Laverstock near Salisbury has chalk stream, water meadow and chalk downland habitats which are thriving due to careful farming methods.
These will feature in a Flora locale workshop on Wednesday 10 November which will focus on the role of community farming and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in managing land with wildlife in mind. Smallholders will also benefit from these workshops.
David Burton, Director of River Bourne Community Farm, will lead the workshop, which will also include a presentation from Jade Bashford, the Soil Association CSA co-ordinator, looking at the growth of community farming in southern England.
“We will be looking at the different wildlife habitats created on the farm, and discussing how urban and rural community farms can bring wildlife into their landscapes,” said David Burton, who works on Natural England’s Land Management Advice Team. “We have rare Grey Partridges breeding in spring, and Snipe over-wintering here, all because of the habitats we’ve created.”
To book a place on the Community farming and landscape restoration workshop go to www.floralocale.org and follow the Training and events link.
Flora locale, the charity that promotes the restoration of wild plants for biodiversity, landscapes and people is working with the Grazing Advice Partnership and the Small Woods Association to provide 34 one-day events across Britain.
Flora locale is a partner in the International Year of Biodiversity.
www.floralocale.org
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