Category: Farming and Wildlife

  • Momentous News!

    By The Bevis Trust In , , | November 24, 2016

    It has just been announced that the beaver is now recognised as a native species in Scotland! The implications for the rest of the UK have yet to be seen but this can only be a positive step for the Welsh and English beaver reintroduction projects. Read more about it here

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  • Beavering Away

    By The Bevis Trust In , | November 8, 2016

    October has been dry and we have had a lovely Indian summer. Yesterday there were still dragonflies on the ponds. We have been very busy on the farm making the most of it while it lasts. Pete, James and Linda finished the fiddly bits of fencing down at Skinny Dipping Pond that has now become…

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  • Owl Update

    By The Bevis Trust In , | October 3, 2016

    Like a child leaving home our visiting barn owl has moved on with mixed feelings from the staff. His recovery was very rapid thanks to the expert care of our aviculturalists and as we had a spell of settled weather looming we thought that getting him back out to his home territory was the best…

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  • Slurry Pits

    By The Bevis Trust In , | October 2, 2016

    A neighbour delivered a Barn Owl here on Thursday. He had found it floundering in his slurry pit. It was exhausted and caked in slurry. We tube fed it with finely ground up mouse that we give the baby falcons, and with electrolytes to provide fluids. Then we left it in a dark warm box…

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  • Baseline Survey

    By The Bevis Trust In , | September 6, 2016

    Due to the success of our breeding beavers this year we thought it only fair to give them a little more space. We are creating a new pen for them, it will be approximately 1ha in size and will give the occupants access to willow, a pond, streams, bog and thick vegetation. Alicia, the Welsh…

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  • Lynx in Kielder

    By The Bevis Trust In , , | August 18, 2016

    Last week I attended a public consultation meeting hosted by the Lynx Trust for local people in the Kielder area. We have managed a 200 acre farm that abuts directly onto the Kielder forest area for 25 years. The meeting was a classic example of how not to go about reintroducing a tricky species like…

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  • Beavers on the Lake

    By The Bevis Trust In , | August 1, 2016

    Although we have seen beavers taking willow branches into the lodge on the lake since early May, we have yet to see the kits. Drew was out late the other night and caught images with the thermal imaging scope, but he could not be sure if they were beavers or water voles. Are water voles…

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  • Rewilding and More

    By The Bevis Trust In , | July 21, 2016

    Last week Jo and I attended a meeting at the Knepp Estate down in West Sussex. There, the owners Charlie Burrell and Izzie Tree have devoted their 3,500 acre estate to an ambitious re-wilding project.We took the opportunity to have a walk around some of the estate.   Later that evening I enjoyed staying in their…

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  • Bluebells

    By The Bevis Trust In , | July 15, 2016

    Call me a sentimental old fool if you like, but I do think that no woodland is complete without some bluebells! When we plant new woods we need to think of all the herbs and shrubs as well as the trees and it is always a delight in spring to see the bluebells. Sometimes I…

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  • A Busy Evening

    By The Bevis Trust In , | July 13, 2016

    A very busy evening on the lake last night. The goslings, now all pretty much fully feathered, were practicing their flying skills to a huge cacophony from their parents. The nest in the new hide has yielded its first chicks – at least three hungry wee swallows. The little yellow diamond shaped open beaks were…

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