11 September 2007

Farmers and the RSPB hope to help farmland birds soar again

Simon Tonkin has joined the RSPB’s regional team as its new farmland adviser for Eastern England.

Simon is based at the RSPB’s office in Norwich and has a remit for the region covering the counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

He comes from a similar role with the RSPB in East and North Yorkshire. There he was working with farmers to help protect and enhance declining farmland bird species such as the corn bunting, securing £2.8 million of Environmental Stewardship money over 12,000 hectares of land.

During this time, he developed close working relationships with farmers and colleagues from the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG), the National Farmers Union (NFU) and Natural England.

Simon is able to give free help and advice to farmers on conservation management for birds and other wildlife. He hopes to develop strong working relationships with businesses and organisations within the farming sector.

He will be running a range of training courses and workshops during the autumn and winter. These will help farmers and land-managers to get the best from their land and to make the most of Government funds that are available to help cover the costs of managing their farms in a more wildlife friendly way. Courses will cover general topics such as identification of farmland birds and management for farmland birds, as well as more specialist subjects such as farm management to help corn buntings.

Simon commented: “This is a fantastic region for farming and farmland birds. I’m very excited about working with land owners and managers to reverse the decline of birds such as the corn bunting and tree sparrow.”

Farmland is the UK’s biggest habitat and the RSPB is committed to reverse the long-term decline of many farmland birds, which are barometers of our countryside and indicate our own quality of life.

Simon takes over this role from Andy Cotton, who is now the RSPB’s Senior Site Manager covering the Hanson-RSPB Wetland Project and Fen Drayton Lakes in Cambridgeshire.