This page celebrate some success stories from previous farming projects in Cranborne Chase National Landscape.
South Wiltshire Farmland Bird Project
The South Wiltshire Farmland Bird Project, later known as the South Wiltshire Farmland Conservation Project (SWFCP) brought together groups of neighbouring farmers, known as Farmer Groups or ‘clusters’, to carry out environmental work at a much larger scale than previously, when it focused on individual farms.
Discussion was facilitated amongst the farmers, creating priorities for collaborative action. Total ownership of the environmental improvements on the farm was given to the farmer, being independent from a government funding scheme or dependent on land designation and the constraints associated with grant schemes.
Examples of projects include large scale habitat for farmland bird species such as restoring numerous dew ponds and improving chalk stream habitat for water voles and brown trout in chalk valleys across Cranborne Chase.
The project area is shown in the map below. The project was funded thanks to Natural England and Wessex Water.
