The people and woods programmes aims to address the lack of skilled labour in the forestry sector. These valuable skills are needed to address the huge objectives to increase tree cover, as these new woodlands need planting and managing by trained individuals, in order to meet climate targets and improve biodiversity. Read more
FWAG SW is working together with the countryside charity to make use of the grants received from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) Gloucestershire, in a mission to plant and restore hedgerows in Gloucestershire. Read more
Thames Water, in collaboration with FWAG SW, is working diligently to improve water quality in specific target areas while also enhancing farm productivity, efficiency, and biodiversity. As part of this initiative, funds have been earmarked for priority catchment groups, each with a distinctive focus on nitrates, pesticides, or both. Read more
FWAG SW works in collaboration with the Gloucestershire Food and Farming Partnership, to connect a network of voices with a diversity of expertise including those of institutions, organisations, businesses, groups and communities across the region to build and champion a sustainable food and farming future for the county of Gloucestershire. Read more
A new seven-acre market garden is being laid out in a field at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU), Cirencester. This project aims to boost Nature-Friendly Food Production, Strengthen Local Economy, and Foster Community Collaboration for Sustainable, Healthy Food. Click here to read more... Read more
Building on the Environmental Land Management Landscape Recovery Test and Trial phases 1-2, the Collaboration for Climate Change Action funded by the Farming in the Protected Landscapes (FiPL) aims to produce a baseline habitat map for all the farmers using UK Habitat Classification, in line with Cotswold’s AONB Landscape Character and Guidelines. Read more
The Carrant Catchment Restoration Project (CCARP) is an open collaborative partnership project that invites everyone interested in the aims and objectives of the group to join. The project aims to enhance habitat connectivity stemming from water quality across the farm holdings, looking at improving wildlife connectivity by increasing habitat corridors, natural flood management, hedge planting and management. Read more
The Farming and Wildlife Advisory Southwest has been championing and delivering an approach we term as “Integrated Local Delivery” (ILD) in the Southwest of England for over 10 years. The approach inspires and enables farmers and communities to come together to build resilience, supported by an all-inclusive partnership of organisations working together at a local level. Click here to read more about the ILD and to download the supporting documents. Read more
The most important outcome of this trial will be to demonstrate that a mosaic of OSB / historic hedgerow “wildlife corridors” supported by wildlife friendly field margins will form a key natural reservoir bolstering many native species and biodiversity. Read more
The Environmental Land-Management System (ELMS) is being developed by DEFRA as a potential new payment methodology that is planned to replace current Basic Payment Scheme and Countryside Stewardship. Read more
The farmer lead collaborations of the Guardians of the Upper Thames, chaired by local farmer Richard Rumming, focus on the communities at risk of flooding by covering 16,000 hectares from the river’s source at Kemble to areas such as Cricklade in Wiltshire, aiming for methods of long term environmental improvements. Many positive outcomes have emerged from this particular initiative in the Cotswolds. Click here to find out more. Read more
Gloucestershire FWAG are delighted to announce that we have been awarded funding from Natural England to support our new farmer group, the ‘Severn Vale Guardians’. Working with key partners the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT), the aim of the Severn Vale Guardians is to form a collaborative group of farmers and land managers to achieve landscape scale improvements in the local natural environment. Read more
This project aims to help farmers and landowners to seize a range of opportunities to conserve and enhance the landscape and natural environment between Old Sodbury and Alderton in the Cotswolds National Landscape. Read more
Bredon Hill offers a diverse landscape for breeding and migratory birds. Many of these species are in decline and often struggle to find nesting sites and adequate food resources. The aim of the project is to restore, maintain and create new habitat for a variety of bird species that use Bredon Hill and the surrounding areas. Read more
The GREAT Project is putting Gloucestershire in the vanguard of the transition to regenerative agriculture. The three year project, funded by Thirty Percy, is offering free and subsidised support to transition to regenerative agriculture. Click here for more information... Read more
The Cotswold Water Park WILD Project (Water with Integrated Local Delivery) is a three year project set within the Cotswold Water Park, it aims to improve water quality and biodiversity in order to meet the demands of EU legislation. Read more
This project aims to enhance and create wetland features such as scrapes, ponds and ditches across 60ha of farmed landscape with the intention of boosting breeding wader biodiversity in the Lower Avon Vales of Evesham, along with secondary goals to improve water quality and natural flood management. Read more
Following FiPL funded (Farming in Protected Landscapes) Bredon Hill Bird Recovery initiative, funded by Farming in the Protected Landscapes, which identified bird species, populations, and areas needing further habitat enhancement on Bredon hill and in the Lower Avon Vales of Evesham. Read more