Talking Nature Recovery at the Annual Forum

This year’s annual forum was titled ‘Nature Recovery; A New Dawn?’ and was focused around the champion species for us here at the Mendip Hills National Landscape team, the trials and tribulations of managing land for nature and a special guest to talk about an exciting reintroduction program.

We were so pleased to welcome our 80 guests to the stunning facilities at Fernhill Farm; An Arcadian Place to Stay, and our hosts Andy and Jen did us proud with all their offerings throughout the event, the refreshments were brilliant and Nathan, the Nature Recovery Ranger, particularly loved the Thai seasoned pork balls, from pigs raised at Fernhill Farm!

With only a short amount of time to cram everything in, our speakers had a tight turn around and they really did a superb job. They were all brilliantly successful in being interesting, informative and fun. So our thanks go out to all our speakers who gave their time so graciously to make this such a memorable event.

We heard from specialists involved with the conservation of adders, black oil beetles and greater horseshoe bats, who brought these species to life for our guests, we were also able to follow these talks with films that have been commissioned by us at the NL team and curated by Mike Dilger.

We were really pleased to have a group of local small holders come and talk to us about the successes and failures of trying to manage small pieces of land for wildlife here on Mendip. Charlie, Rachel and Sanjida were all fabulous, telling real life stories that resonated with everyone in the room.

Our final guest was Dr Sophie-Lee Williams from the Eagle Reintroduction Program Wales. Sophie-Lee came to talk about the proposed reintroduction of white tailed eagles in the Severn Estuary, a program that would, undoubtedly, see these majestic birds become a visitor to Mendip. The consultation of this process is ongoing so we will keep you informed!

The day ended with Nathan (NR Ranger) and Andy Wear (chair of the NL partnership and proprietor of Fernhill) taking people on a walk around the farm, looking at the positive moves for nature that can be an everyday part of farming, although they only planned on a short walk it ended up being another 2 hours! Those boys can definitely talk! 

It was a fantastic day and we thoroughly enjoyed showcasing the amazing diversity of wildlife we still have on Mendip and loved bringing together such enthusiastic and knowledgeable speakers for our guests. The feedback we have had has been really positive, so it is a big thank you to our guests, our speakers and the NL team for making this such a successful and enjoyable event.