Martin Down Farmer Supercluster

Three Farmer Clusters surrounding Martin Down NNR - improving biodiversity, soil & water together. Est. 2016, with an aim to last for generations!

[Martin Down Farmer Supercluster @MDSuperCluster]

Our first returning Turtle Dove was as captured on one of our trail cameras on the 5th May - so good to see with a sigh of relief! @SaveTurtleDoves @_BTO @HOSbirding

[Megan Lock @MeganRural]

Listen! Quail calling. Sounds like
"wet my lips!"
I heard it on one of the farms MartinDownFarmerCluster @MDSuperCluster today while doing fieldwork. Amber listed, migratory (Africa), farmland bird species. Found where there is plenty of arable farmland & open grassland @_BTO

[Megan Lock @MeganRural]

26 miles walked this week - highlights were silver-washed fritillary (too fast for photo), over 40 DG frits, watching corn burning dropping into fields of spring barley to feed chicks & catching up with the farmers/members of MartinDownFarmerCluster while on farm @MDSuperCluster

[The Allerton Project @AllertonProject]

Come see us at @Groundswellaguk! Stand A7, close to The Study tent ⛺️🐑🚜🌾

[Martin Down Farmer Supercluster @MDSuperCluster]

Megan, our Martin Down #FarmerCluster facilitator is out on farm today doing butterfly surveys (WCBS) which is done annually (twice - July/Aug) on all the farms to monitor abundance and diversity - since the baseline in 2017!! @MeganRural #followthescience @Gameandwildlife

[Megan Lock @MeganRural]

A first for me! An Emperor Moth, in the grass on the pristine chalk downland at MartinDown in the heart of our #FarmerClusters @MDSuperCluster This female (10cm without feathery antennae) was hunkered low. So pleased! #mothsmattertoo @savebutterflies @hantsconnect

[Richard Negus @TrooperSnooks]

Nesting season is in full swing. Please keep your dog to heel. #WordsFromTheHedge

[Martin Down Farmer Supercluster @MDSuperCluster]

Eye spy...Our Martin Down #FarmerCluster mentioned in the @TheCriticMag
written by @TrooperSnooks From the first pilot - Allenford FC in 2013, 1/3 of our supercluster. The current @labour
gov plans don't include wildlife, farmer clusters or family farms https://t.co/0VkMKRjaUi

[Cranborne Estate @CranborneEstate]

At our farmer cluster Christmas party last night, chair Rob Shepherd gave a heartfelt thank you to @Gameandwildlife CEO Teresa Dent for effectively inventing and supporting clusters. Thank you too to @MeganRural for managing our @MDSuperCluster so brilliantly #farmers

[Martin Down Farmer Supercluster @MDSuperCluster]

Farmer Cluster training today - In field habitat creation and management - flower-rich margins and plots, hedges, cultivated for arable plants, unharvested, and beetle bank demo
Expertly led by @francis_buner Senior Conservation Scientist at @Gameandwildlife. #SpeciesRecovery

[Martin Down Farmer Supercluster @MDSuperCluster]

Our much awaited MartinDown #FarmerCluster calendar has landed and is now on sale @Gameandwildlife online shop!Please support us by buying one to aid our project of informing more people about our FarmerCluster #farmingwithnature #speciesrecovery #Outreach https://t.co/3ZJL2lU6XH

[Martin Down Farmer Supercluster @MDSuperCluster]

Well done to @NuntonFarmDairy, who are in our Allenford Farmer Cluster, for being a finalist in two @FarmersWeekly awards - Dairy and Environment. You do such a great job! #HarvestEveryDay #FarmerCluster

[Martin Down Farmer Supercluster @MDSuperCluster]

Rob Shepherd, the Lead Farmer of our Allenford Farmer Cluster wins a well deserved @FarmersWeekly award! Read more here...
https://t.co/xREsGE8v4x

[Martin Down Farmer Supercluster @MDSuperCluster]

A massive congratulations to our Lead Farmer, Rob Shepherd - Allenford Farmer Cluster, who won the Game Changer award last night @farmersweekly. We are immensely proud!
@EnvFarmersGroup #EFG #FarmerCluster @longfordestates @Gameandwildlife

[Martin Down Farmer Supercluster @MDSuperCluster]

Have you found any harvest mice nests yet this year? Here's one so you can get your eye in! We have breeding harvest mice across all the three #FarmerClusters which make up the Supercluster. Generally found on beetle banks, margins and hedges

[Martin Down Farmer Supercluster @MDSuperCluster]

Today we were visited by @UC_Sparsholt 1st Year Agriculture students. Martin Down FC Facilitator @MeganRural and farmers of one of the farms guided them round their land and explained what a #FarmerCluster is, projects undertaken,ongoing monitoring,successes, #RegenFarming & more

[Martin Down Farmer Supercluster @MDSuperCluster]

Our Facilitator @MeganRural spoke about baseline surveys, ongoing monitoring and data analysis, self-funded, increasing biodiversity, regenerative farming, GWCT and farmers investing in practitioner science, red-listed species increasing, farming with nature, @EnvFarmersGroup....

[Megan Lock @MeganRural]

Yesterday I had the pleasure of addressing a group of delegates attending the Big Chalk Conference, inc Sir John Lawton(!),about the fantastic self-funded work farmers and gamekeepers do on MartinDown & Allenford #FarmerCluster supported by GWCT #farmingwithnature #DataIsKey

[Martin Down Farmer Supercluster @MDSuperCluster]

*Allenford Farmer Cluster

[Martin Down Farmer Supercluster @MDSuperCluster]

That's harvest finished for one of our members of Allenford Farm - Wick Farm. One of the first to be finished this year #Harvest24 and looking pleased about it too!
Photo taken by their farm shop and bakery: Stable and Wick.

[Martin Down Farmer Supercluster @MDSuperCluster]

Hornet robberfly, Britain's largest fly spotted by our Facilitator @MeganRural on a farm in the MartinDown #FarmerCluster. A species declined 21% (1980-00)-an indicator of the state of our countryside for invertebrates. Confined to c 40 isolated breeding sites @Buzz_dont_tweet