This is why the wheels fall off! We’ve got small applications that are policy compliant, no objections, on allocated (for development) land with positive pre apps that should take 8-12 weeks, yet are taking 52 - 200 weeks. No other industry is hamstrung like this?

Our path (to village) is thick with clover. The orchard looks good, almost hidden by long grasses. River testing (P & N) from a bridge we used to play Pooh sticks at (we bought the fields next to it as adults). Bucolic on one hand, but big shame that the brook is struggling.

A beautiful evening. So much life in the meadows, which in winter also act as buffers, sediment traps, slowing the flow of flooding, cleaning water, restoring soil, fixing carbon/nitrogen, providing food & habitat, reversing compaction…

Britain requires more biodiversity. House gardens are the most biodiverse part of Britain. It is illegal to build housing with decent gardens. Please, someone make it all make sense. adamsmith.org/blog/when-the-…

It is more expensive to cut later, with smaller machinery, to leave bigger margins & refuge areas - to take care so ecology & wildlife aren’t obliterated and habitats can be created & protected, but it would also be so simple & cheap to support & encourage more.

This field used to be intensively farmed. No trees & hedges but a brook running at the edge. 10 yrs ago we built our home & stopped all inputs, planted an orchard, 700m of hedge, 150 trees, meadows, rough grass etc. The land puts on incredible shows of flowers, grasses & wildlife

I get to visit other parts of England as I taxi my son for cricket & try to look at developments nearby. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the green infrastructure many (not all) of the big new build estates create. Small devs & self build having been doing good stuff for decades

In beleaguered catchments like the Lugg - where NE (& every other expert) say that ‘at scaleʼ land use change (30% reversion has been hinted) & radical ‘systems change’ are overdue solutions, it is beyond frustrating for Gov to disincentivise a transformative & multi benefit use

Statistics & data tell the true story. 1/3 rd of men aged 20 -34 (a whole segment of life) still living with parents. Where are the ‘young women’ though? 🤷🏻‍♀️ And 40% more expensive to raise a child compared to 2012 - even if you can get your end away in your parents spare room.

We have a site for 5 self build plots, adjacent to settlement, brownfield, v. positive pre app, allocated under councils site assessment, phosphate neutral, no outstanding issues, no objections, orchard, hedges etc Submitted March 2025. Nothing further requested Still waiting

Smaller patches than previous years but still a joy to see ranunculus on The Mill Stream in Eardisland. It doesn’t grow on the main river directly adjacent, even though they split from the same source just above the village. Possibly flow conditions?

An historic day, as the River Wye becomes the first river in the UK to have its rights recognised by local authorities across its catchment. Hundreds of people gathered on the banks of the river to watch as representatives from Monmouthshire, Forest of Dean & Powys Councils, Herefordshire County Council, the Wye Valley National Landscape & Bannau Brycheiniog National Park signed the pledge recognising the rivers rights and then spoke about why they had done so what it would mean for the relationship of their organisation to the river. It went beyond legal formalities into something of a service of thanks & honour to the river, with poetry, a choir singing songs, & offerings to the river. It has been a real honour to witness & be part of the surging movement towards river rights & guardianship on the Wye. Four years ago I met & advised Herefordshire Councillor Elissa Swinglehurst, who wanted to put a voice of the river on the Wye Nutrient Management Board. A year ago I sat around a fire on the banks of the river with other Wye guardians & Earth lawyers as the idea of a charter was first mooted. To see it become a reality, & supported by 6 public bodies, in just a year is astonishing. Now, of course, comes the hard work of making those rights a reality. But given the hundreds of active river guardians, & increasing public pressure to protect & restore the river, if it can be done on any river, it will be done on the Wye.

The launch of The River Wye Charter - a joyous event with a dedicated group of people who all love the catchment & want it to prosper. Very happy to represent Border Oak & other small local builders & individuals and to pledge charter support from the The River Arrow Trust

Just a reminder that the phosphate moratorium (banning new homes) was introduced in October 2019 in N Herefordshire, wiping many 100s of millions £ from the local economy & impoverishing rural communities. SEVEN YEARS!!! And yet the pollution isn’t coming from homes. Madness.

Behind a paywall sadly but this could be a big problem. Not as big a problem as Govt agencies not addressing causes of nutrient pollution at source (preferring to punish house builders & set up a cash grab?) or having allowed the problem to become a national scandal, but hey ho

A brilliant article highlighting the huge contribution of GB manufacturing SMEs & how crucial they are to local communities, supply chains & National economy. The current situation for SMEs is unsustainable - the pressures are immense & returns low. Govt don’t understand.

£215 fine for 1,600 dead fish. Why bother putting any effort or investment into safe slurry handling if a prosecution ends with such a small fine!

Amazon forests create 20% of the world’s oxygen AND their own rain 🌧️ Cut them down, and rainfall drops up to 30% in nearby regions. Deforestation isn’t just a tree problem. It’s a water crisis. No forests = no rain = no farms. #WaterIsLife

10 years ago this was a desolate field - with no trees, no green cover & no hedges or scrub or meadow or orchards…and now I get to cut my own foliage & flowers to decorate our home for an open day to hopefully inspire other people keen to build their own home Hard work=Happiness

Britain has lost around half its hedgerows since the Second World War. The wildlife that depended on them has followed a similar trajectory. 🌿 The old field boundary — a strip of blackthorn, hawthorn, dog rose, and elder two to five metres wide between cultivated ground — was not wasted agricultural space. It was a functioning ecological system that maintained pollinators, pest predators, and farmland birds across centuries of working land. Each hedgerow is a nesting corridor for grey partridge and skylark, a foraging habitat for brown hares and hedgehogs, a site for solitary bee colonies, and a windbreak for the crops alongside it. The field cultivated to its very edge gives the maximum return this season. It removes the populations of beneficial insects, farmland birds, and small mammals on which stable long-term production depended. The field with a hedgerow yields a few percent less per cultivated hectare — but remains productive across decades without compensatory chemical inputs. The documented declines in grey partridge, lapwing, and skylark across the British agricultural landscape since the 1970s are directly linked to field consolidation and hedgerow removal. Practical equivalents for the garden or smallholding: - A strip of wildflower meadow at least one metre wide at the plot boundary - A clump of nettles in a shaded corner as a habitat base for red admiral, small tortoiseshell, and peacock butterflies - A native mixed hedge of blackthorn and hawthorn in place of post-and-wire fencing - A section of uncut grass between rows of fruit trees #HedgerowHabitat #FarmlandWildlife #NativeHedge #GardenWildlife