Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group East - FWAG East

Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group East - FWAG East A forum for our farmer members, supporters & anyone interested in farming & wildlife to connect with us 🌱 🚜 🦋

FWAG East is the Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group serving the counties of Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Essex and Bedfordshire. Our independent advisory service helps farmers and land managers run profitable farm businesses whilst protecting the environmental value of their land.

06/05/2026

Elder ≠ problem plant 🌿

Our Senior Advisor Rebecca shares why this native species plays a valuable role in hedgerows this .
🎥Rebecca Inman, FWAG East

Join us for a guided walk at Nevendon Washland Nature Reserve!Created over 15 years ago as part of a mitigation project ...
02/04/2026

Join us for a guided walk at Nevendon Washland Nature Reserve!

Created over 15 years ago as part of a mitigation project in south Essex, this incredible site is now bursting with diverse habitats and wildlife. It’s a rare chance to see how a purpose‑built landscape transforms over time through careful, long‑term management.

We’ll be led by herpetofauna specialist Jon Cranfield, who—together with his father Ray—has been involved in the reserve’s creation and care since day one. Their hands‑on stewardship has shaped everything from grassland and scrub to wetland features, woodland edges and seasonal wet areas.

➡️ Spaces are limited, book your place now:
www.fwageast.org.uk/event-details/nevendon-washland-a-diverse-new-landscape-created-from-the-ground-up

20/02/2026

Don’t miss out! The Big Farmland Bird Count ends Sunday. Grab a cuppa, grab your binoculars, and get counting!
www.bfbc.org.uk
🎥 Alice Clark, FWAG East

15/12/2025

Nothing beats seeing a new hedge stretching into the distance — more habitat, more shelter, more resilience for the farmed landscape. 🌿💚
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas from the FWAG East team, and if you are planning new hedgerow planting or need help accessing funding or management advice in the new year, we are here to help.
🎥 Jilly McNaughton

05/12/2025

🌍 It's World Soil Day 🌱

Earthworms = healthy soil! 🪱 In this clip, Shaun shows how to do a quick earthworm count.
Want more soil health tips? Watch the full video for practical tests you can try on your farm.

🎥 Link in bio.

Special thanks to the Buxtons, Ash Valley Farming Cluster & Thames Water.

🌳 What’s your favourite tree—and why?This , we asked the FWAG East team that very question. Their answers reveal the be...
01/12/2025

🌳 What’s your favourite tree—and why?

This , we asked the FWAG East team that very question. Their answers reveal the beauty, history, and incredible environmental benefits of species like oak, yew, black poplar, hornbeam, and more.

Discover the stories behind these trees and why they matter for wildlife, soil health, and our landscape.

Read the full blog here: www.fwageast.org.uk/post/celebrating-national-tree-week-2025

📷Emily Stacey, FWAG East

This our team are answering the question: 'What is your favourite tree, and why?'Rebecca Inman, Senior Farm Environmen...
29/11/2025

This our team are answering the question: 'What is your favourite tree, and why?'

Rebecca Inman, Senior Farm Environment Adviser:
"Small Leaved Lime is one of my favourite trees. Once a dominant tree in our wooded landscape thousand of years ago they have largely disappeared as a result of a range of struggles. Hindering its efforts to survive is a long history of humans selecting in favour of trees such as oak, ash and hazel in our woods.

The Small leaved lime is stately and tall, albeit a naturally messy looker, it has bright, lime green leaves that burst into spring followed by flowers in July which produce beautiful clusters giving off a perfume that will stop you in your tracks. They play an important role in providing insects with nectar at a time when most woodland trees have finished flowering. Its ‘just got out of bed’ untidy look creates wonderful wildlife niches for insects, birds and small mammals, including bats. These are remarkable trees, resistant to grey squirrel damage, that we should be putting back into our landscape with enthusiasm."

📷Bob Harvey (cc-by-sa/2.0) geograph.org.uk/p/6863441 & A J Paxton (cc-by-sa/2.0) geograph.org.uk/p/7776803

This our team are answering the question: 'What is your favourite tree, and why?'George Gillott, Assistant Farm Enviro...
28/11/2025

This our team are answering the question: 'What is your favourite tree, and why?'

George Gillott, Assistant Farm Environment Adviser:
"When asked to talk about my favourite tree, I decided not to choose my favourite species, the oak - an entire city of biodiversity in itself. Instead, I wanted to focus on a single tree, to highlight how important individual specimens can be to thousands of people over their long lives.

The tree that came to mind is one I visited last year, a few miles from the village where I grew up. Atop Oker Hill stands a sycamore tree that quietly holds decades of history.

Known as Will Shore’s Tree, it is said to be the sole survivor of a pair of sycamores planted by two brothers, Will and Tom, each planting one before parting ways forever. According to the local legend, Tom left the area to seek his fortune abroad, but died in poverty. His tree too withered, while Will, who stayed at home, prospered, as did his tree. The legend is the subject of a Wordsworth sonnet from 1791.

Today, beneath the sycamore, tucked into a hollow, is a box filled with notebooks and trinkets left by visitors. Inside the notebooks are simple messages that mostly talk of their picnics, the weather, the company they were with and the people they love. Leafing through these notes offers a small, physical piece of the tree’s story. It’s impossible not to imagine the thousands of others who have stood beneath its branches over the centuries and woven their own lives into its long history.

Sycamores may not be the most biodiverse species, nor are they truly native, but the significance of this tree - and of countless other individual trees that have outlived generations - is undeniable. They hold stories older than the books on our shelves and histories deeper than we can fully comprehend."

📷 George Gillott

This our team are answering the question: 'What is your favourite tree, and why?'Alice Clark, Farm Environment Adviser...
27/11/2025

This our team are answering the question: 'What is your favourite tree, and why?'

Alice Clark, Farm Environment Adviser:
"If I had to choose a favourite tree, it would be the Yew. There is something timeless and almost mystical about them. Yews always appear ancient, evergreen, and quietly resilient. They are one of the few native evergreen trees in Britain, and some of the oldest living specimens have stood for over a thousand years, witnessing countless generations come and go. Many are found in churchyards, where their presence is also steeped in history and symbolism.

Beyond their cultural significance, Yews play an important ecological role: their dense, evergreen canopy provides year-round shelter for birds, insects, and small mammals, while their bright red berries provide a vital winter food source for both native and migratory species. Though slow-growing, yews live for centuries, locking away carbon for the long term. They often thrive on slopes and in shaded woodland, and with their extensive root network help to stabilise soil and prevent erosion. Remarkably tolerant of shade, drought, and poor soils, yews are also well-suited to a changing climate and play an invaluable role in our natural environment."

📷Julian P Guffogg (cc-by-sa/2.0) geograph.org.uk/p/1738226Brian Robert Marshall (cc-by-sa/2.0) geograph.org.uk/p/938546

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