Kate Russell

Agricultural Valuer into natural capital. Farming & food. Terriers & trees. Birds & beetles. Hawks & horses. Gardens & gin. Views are my own.

[Kate Russell @KateAgValuer]

@SallyAnn_Spence You’re all brilliant and your singing moves me to tears every time! Best of luck for Saturday, but you’re winners already. 🥲🏆

[Kate Russell @KateAgValuer]

@WessexRichard Great pic!

[Kate Russell @KateAgValuer]

@BarleyBiscuit That’s stylish.

[Ben Wills @BenW360Rural]

!!!TO LET!!!
#shropshire

https://t.co/ESOeHFmEHS

[Kate Russell @KateAgValuer]

Spotted flycatcher is back!!
Obviously I wasn’t quite quick enough… 🤣

[Moorland Association @MoorlandAssoc]

In one year on 58 surveyed moors, gamekeepers extinguished 2,323 campfires before they reached the heather.

They asked dog walkers, 9,658 times, to put their dogs back on a lead during the breeding season for curlew and lapwing.

They stopped 785 illegal 4x4s tearing through fragile peat. They cleared 5,689 piles of litter. They confronted 1,108 illegal motorbikes. They challenged 1,865 illegal camps.

More than 30,000 interventions in twelve months. None of it grouse work. All of it conservation, public safety, and wildfire prevention - done by private employees with no statutory power, often in the face of verbal abuse, threats, and 🚨 physical assault.

If the keepers weren't there, the cost would fall on the taxpayer - or, more likely, simply go unmet.

Read more - link in replies 👇

[FieldworkBookClub @Fieldwork_Books]

Hello Bookclubbers! We’re sorry to have to postpone tonight’s session due to work pressures at our end. We’ll be back in touch soon with a new slot to discuss Helen Browning’s memoir and hope the delay gives more of you time to read it. Apologies and see you soon.

[Kate Russell @KateAgValuer]

@WessexRichard 🤣🤣🤣

[Kate Russell @KateAgValuer]

@courtenaywarren Argh! Hope you’re ok.

[Moorland Association @MoorlandAssoc]

🕷️ 20 years ago, the UK recorded around 250 Lyme disease cases a year.

Today, public health guidance estimates 3,000–4,000 new cases annually. GP-record studies put the figure closer to 10,000. Some estimates go as high as 45,000.

Gamekeepers, farmers and moorland managers are reporting a massive, visible increase in tick numbers across northern Britain. In some spots, visitors and their dogs are stepping out of cars and finding themselves covered.

Lyme is often misdiagnosed as ME, lupus, arthritis or even COVID. Untreated, it can cause neurological problems and chronic fatigue lasting decades. Red grouse exposed to tick-borne louping-ill virus can suffer mortality rates of up to 80%, and the protective vaccine is currently unavailable.

Active land management - targeted grazing, bracken control, vegetation cutting and managed burning - keeps tick habitat in check. Personal vigilance does the rest.

Read more - link in replies 👇

[Helena Horton @horton_official]

New analysis from Jeremy Moody of the CAAV has found that an average commercial 500 acre cereals farm could, on present expectations, lose £70,000 on the 2027 crop. Bc of Iran war & other pressures incl extreme weather & CBAM

Farmers are making 2027 planting decisions now

[FieldworkBookClub @Fieldwork_Books]

Hi all! Bookclub will reconvene on Thursday 21st May to discuss Helen Browning’s book, The Boys Team. If you’ve not bought your copy yet, you can get it through her website @HelenBShop

[Moorland Association @MoorlandAssoc]

✍️ Don't Wait Until the Next Major Fire Costs Lives: Our Letter to The Guardian

[Kate Russell @KateAgValuer]

@WessexRichard Quite the line up! I spot you, Pip, then GF & GV but I’m not sure who the 2 with green hair are?

[Kate Russell @KateAgValuer]

@PetrichorFarms Similar here a couple of nights ago!

[Kate Russell @KateAgValuer]

It’s May!

[Moorland Association @MoorlandAssoc]

The UK has just lived through its worst wildfire year on record. 2025 saw 46,000 hectares burn at a cost of £460 million.

🔥 The science of prevention is simple: weather plus fuel. We cannot control the weather. We can reduce the fuel.

When traditional management stops:

- Fine-fuel loads jump from 2–4 tonnes per hectare to 10–15
- Flame lengths reach 7.6m - five times the safe threshold for ground crews
- Megafires replace manageable burns

🐑 Sheep are nature's firefighters. The English flock has fallen 7.2% in two years, leaving an estimated 600,000 tonnes of excess vegetation on the hills every year.

📊 The carbon maths is stark:

- Severe peat fire: up to 100 tonnes of carbon per hectare
- Controlled cool burn: just 1–2 tonnes

The G7, the EU and the White House all back prescribed burning. UK policy still doesn't. Empower the gamekeepers and farmers who know the land - or accept this as the new normal.

Read more on our website.

[Moorland Association @MoorlandAssoc]

🔥 A major wildfire is burning across 1,200m by 600m of moorland near Snake Pass in the Peak District.

Nine fire crews are on the ground, supported by three wildfire units, a helicopter, and Derby Mountain Rescue. The A57 between Glossop and Ladybower Reservoir is closed in both directions.

Local moorland gamekeepers tackled the blaze through the night - some stayed until dawn, others returned at first light. They're working alongside firefighters from Derbyshire, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire as part of the Peak District Fire Operations Group.

Conditions are working against the crews. Drying moss and moderate winds are moving the fire at pace.

The National Gamekeepers' Organisation has raised its wildfire risk index to RED for all moorland areas in England and Wales.

Last weekend alone, gamekeepers dealt with 36 wild camping and open fire incidents.

[Kate Russell @KateAgValuer]

@WessexRichard Looks like perfect weather for it, but was there enough water in the bourne for it?

[Kate Russell @KateAgValuer]

@horton_official The question is why is it going to cost so much? Is there a breakdown of that figure somewhere? Because surely it didn’t cost 1% of that figure for the criminals to dump it in the first place.