Brown hare by Chris Gomersall/2020VISION
Land Advice Service (Northamptonshire)
Are you a farmer or landowner looking for wildlife friendly land management advice?
Our Land Advice Service harnesses our extensive wildlife and farming expertise to help farmers and land managers transition into the new world of sustainable agriculture. Our bespoke professional service supports farmers and land managers to practice sustainable and wildlife friendly land use through evidence-based and locally-tailored advice, planning, and implementation.
What we offer
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Targeted land management advice, ecological audits, and recommendations for clients aspiring to carry out their own conservation initiatives such as habitat restoration or rewilding
- Wildlife and habitat surveys
- Habitat and species management plans
- Assist with agri-environment scheme applications
- Undertaking hedgerow health assessments
- Habitat restoration and recovery planning
- Habitat creation logistics and permits
- Help with entering environmental assurance schemes such as LEAF and Fair to Nature
- Farm cluster facilitation
- Farmland habitat mapping
- Grazing management plans for conservation areas
- Identifying sources of pollution and advice for mitigation
- Natural flood management planning
- Habitat Opportunity Mapping
- BNG Habitat condition scoring
Contact us about this service
Our experienced in-house staff can advise on how to protect the environment on productive land, helping deliver essential public goods, such as soil condition and water quality, and contributing to recovering nature across the three counties.
We work with a broad range of clients including individuals with landholdings, commercial farms, and whole estates, with the aim to:
- Create measurable environmental improvements on land across the three counties
- Increase capacity among farmers and land managers through knowledge sharing and networking
- Contribute to ensuring resilient rural communities and landscapes
Meet our advisors
Bruce Gardiner
I am looking forward to helping farmers and land managers across Northamptonshire maximise the wildlife life and habitat values of commercial food production system, reducing losses and the impact of the system by reinstating natural processes and restoring landscape connectivity. My habitat speciality is grassland and floodplain meadows, though I have experience in all habitats found across the farmed landscape. I have nine years of experience in the agricultural and ecological sectors, with the last three years focused land management advice integrating conservation into farming systems. I am currently facilitating a farm cluster, advising on the Jordans Farm Partnership, running the Farming for the Future grant project for the improvement of water quality and agricultural habitats, and have run a DEFRA ELMS Test and Trial in the past.
I have a practical approach to land management and am able to undertake surveys on landholdings for: plants, birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. This stems from initial training at Hadlow College before moving onto university, working on large private estates, being an ecologist at an engineering company, working on a wide range of farming systems as a farm worker, and working with a vast variety of agricultural and environmental experts.