Last FEC of the season??? Who knows with this weather. Just 50 or so lambs left within 4kg of finishing but I'm not taking my eyes off the ball just yet.

This is a really serious subject and one which UK agriculture has engaged with fully, as shown by the current reduction of use data. But there is still work to be done. However, it's worth noting that in the UK at least, sheep are one of the lowest users of most drugs. National Sheep Association

Pls RT SCOPS needs your help. Reports from around the UK suggest that the incidence of disease in sheep due to Haemonchus contortus has increased in recent years. This is generating requests to SCOPS for more info. LINK: surveymonkey.com/r/MQNTZYJ

Is the reduction in foxes related to the 67% population crash in rabbits??? And what about figures for other small prey mammals? I guess the answer is "It's complicated"🙁

I am pleased to announce that Mike Waller and I will be leading our usual trip to Ireland again this year! Greenwings Wildlife Tours , the ethical wildlife tour company, have taken on the organising of this trip, which is nearly full already! 1/3

Can vouch for this really genuine little dog! Happy to pass on details. m.facebook.com/story.php?stor…

Brambles and scrub are good for wildlife but not so easy to manage with sheep. Fortunately I never go anywhere without my terribly useful folding secateurs. Poor little soul had probably been there most of the night, but he's safely back with the rest now .

"Tidy" littering. Do they think lining them up in a neat row makes it ok?! Here's today's haul from just 100m of verge on my way to check the sheep.

Up here on the #CotswoldHills the worst of the winter is often after February. But Spring tries so hard to break through. On my sheep and wild bird feeding round I found the first Bluebell and Wild garlic leaves, a cluster of scarlet #Elfcap fungi and the first Wild #Narcissus

If you become our new England Officer, you'll be joining a small but super-friendly, ultra-supportive team led by our fab CEO Julia Hanmer & inc James HM Kevin Walker & @SarahElizWoods! See all our mugshots here: bsbi.org/whos-who Apply here: bsbi.org/vacancies/vaca…

In the wk this happened on Dartmoor & Gov announced support for the "Dogs, protection of livestock (amendment)" Bill I had this conversation with a runner. Me: I'd like to see your dog on a lead when you're running through our sheep please Her: It's ok we've got 4 sheep at home.

Checking one of the hedges that was planted with the help of some great volunteers. The deer and the wind have undone a bit of their fantastic work so I spent some time pushing canes back in and putting the guards back on. Meanwhile , a hedge we planted in 2007 is already in leaf

If you're in Glos...Who wouldn't want a pair of Diddly Squat Farm socks, signed by Jeremy Clarkson?! I'll also be doing a Wildflower Walk and Talk at 3pm (FREE to join). The flowers look spectacular & you'll also find out more about how Overtown Farm works alongside nature.

It's been a TERRIBLE June for butterflies so I was over the moon to find these Peacock butterfly caterpillars on some stinging nettles at the edge of one of our fields. Totally justifies my refusal to cut down nettles!

Disappointed & alarmed not to be officially told the new 4 mth wait for SFI payments has been backdated. Told our agreement dated 1st June would take approx 4 weeks but just phoned RPA who said we won't receive payment till October. Couldn't we have been contacted Janet Hughes ?

I always feel sad when it's time to mow the wildflower strips for hay and the wholecrop barley and vetch mix for silage. But we leave it as long as possible for pollinators to feed and everything to set seed and the flowers have self-seeded all along the headland so plenty left.

Messy farmyard, or biodiversity? Farm Assurance schemes would insist this was cut back to limit cover for rats, but what do we lose in the process? The rats are all out in the hedgerows this time of year anyway so the strimmer is staying in the tool shed and that's an end to it!

This is one of 2 dew ponds we restored a couple of years ago. It's only a partial success for various reasons and leaks so is "work in progress". At 900 feet, there are few water sources in summer so the water it does have is much appreciated by wildlife, including the bees.

Our Higher Tier environmental scheme ends this month & we're rolling over into the SFI. In the meantime, we're trying something different and leaving a double width headland & not cutting all our wildflower strips to leave cover and feed for birds and invertebrates over winter.

My followers are crashing... Because people are leaving this place? Because the algorithm is working against me? Because this site is blocking people from following me (that's already happened)? Please help me reach out to followers I've lost by RTing. And let's try to keep this