Thank You!
We are delighted to have reached our fundraising target of £1.2million to secure the purchase of Ughill Farm!
Thanks to everyone who contributed alongside our community of major funders, the current total raised for Ughill Farm stands at £1.3million. This means the Trust has been able to repay the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and has now taken full ownership of the land.
We are particularly thankful to the FCC Communities Foundation, the Veolia Environmental Trust, the Ecological Restoration Fund, the Banister Charitable Trust and the Swire Charitable Trust who have been exceptionally generous funders of the appeal.
Taking full ownership of the site means we can begin to test and learn nature-friendly farming practices. This is where the real challenge starts – there is lots of work to do!
We are continuing our fundraising and all gifts will enable us to continue our work setting up Ughill Farm for nature-friendly farming and nature’s recovery.
Thank You!
“We have been overwhelmed by the support from our community and beyond. I would like to extend my thanks to everyone who has contributed to this incredible achievement. Taking ownership of this land gets us a step closer to achieving our aim of ensuring that 30% of land and water is great for nature by 2030“
Liz Ballard, CEO Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust
‘We are delighted to be able to assist Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust in their long term ambition to purchase Ughill Farm. It is an amazing location; the purchase will secure the future of the land for generations and will make a huge difference to the biodiversity of the area as well as being used to share sustainable farming techniques to the wider community.’
Richard Smith, FCC Communities Foundation Senior Grant Manager
“We were delighted to donate to this project, which will put biodiversity and sustainability at the heart of agricultural practices in Sheffield. Supporting projects that have positive impacts on natural environments and communities is what the Veolia Environmental Trust champions and the Ughill Farm project is a fantastic example of combining ecology and economy by researching commercially viable and nature- positive practices. We look forward to seeing the progress at Ughill Farm and supporting many more similar projects.”
Caroline Schwaller MBE, Chair of the Veolia Environmental Trust
Call of the Curlew
The appeal raised…
raised by
550
supporters
THANK YOU!
Ughill Farm: a special place for curlews
Ughill Farm is low grade, marginal farmland on the western edge of Sheffield. It is an important site for curlews, golden plover and other nationally threatened wading birds that come to our moors each spring in order to breed. The farm also includes a small area of the internationally important Eastern Moors Site of Special Scientific Interest and lies within the Peak District National Park.
When the 132 hectare farmland came up for sale, we knew we had to do all we could to save the land – and the curlew – from more intensive agriculture as has happened elsewhere in the area.
Thankfully, with the support of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Ughill Farm was temporarily saved. But we only had a year to pay back the Foundation in order for the Trust to own the land forever or it would once again go on to the open market.
Help us keep the Ughill curlews safe forever.
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About Ughill Farm
We are working hard to secure Ughill Farm for the future, for both facilitating nature recovery and to test and learn nature-friendly farming practices.
Internationally Important Habitat
The farm includes a section of internationally designated heathland and an important habitat for breeding waders. The site’s importance was emphasised to the Trust by Natural England, who contacted us encouraging purchase of the land. They are concerned the habitats could be lost if subject to more intensive agricultural practice, as has happened elsewhere in the area.
Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Protection Area
The Ughill Farm land lies within the Sheffield Lakeland Landscape area. It is 132 hectares and comprises a mixture of ‘improved’ pasture, rough pasture, woodland and stream corridor, an old quarry (now a mosaic heath habitat with a small water body) and a piece of land that is part of the Eastern Moors Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Protection Area (SPA).
Ughill Farm includes primary habitats of European importance including dry heaths, blanket bogs and old sessile oak woods as well as habitat for several upland breeding species, including birds of prey, waders and migratory birds such as merlin, golden plover and dunlin. The farm is also partially designated under the Countryside Stewardship agri-environment scheme as a priority area for Upland Breeding Birds which are currently in decline including curlew, lapwing and snipe.
Contributing to nature’s recovery
Owning, managing and using this land for nature friendly farming, will make a significant contribution to our ambition of ensuring 30% of land and water is good for nature by 2030.
A Wild Night In: An Introduction to Ughill Farm
Liz Ballard, CEO of Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust, is delighted to give you a virtual introduction to our Ughill Farm.
An Expert’s View
Chris Tomson, Trustee and Independent Conservation Advisor, writes:
Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust’s purchase of Ughill Farm could not come at a better time. Agriculture is entering a new era with a major transition in the way government financially supports the farming industry in England.
Farmers whose main role is to produce sustainable food from their land are now also being encouraged to deliver public goods which include biodiversity, clean air, clean water, flood management and carbon sequestration with financial support from Defra’s new Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS).
Upland farming is well placed to deliver these public goods alongside traditional sheep and cattle production and maintenance of the landscape beloved by tourists if the remuneration from ELMS is competitive.
Ughill gives the Trust an opportunity to join this new era of farming and environmental enhancement to farm the land sympathetically with nature, aiming to demonstrate to our members, decision makers and others that sound commercial, sustainable farming, together with enhancing our wildlife and natural resources is achievable.
There are already a lot of nature friendly farmers working to enhance our environment, Ughill gives us the chance to join them.
Curlew and Chicks
Short film of curlew and their chicks, courtesy and copyright of Nicola S / ALL MEDIA.
Future Plans: Our Proposed Approach for Ughill Farm
Future Plans
This is a unique opportunity for the Trust to purchase an upland farm to ‘test and learn’ how a financially viable farm can be run in a nature positive way. In the first full year of ownership, we hope to set up key infrastructure (including a solar powered water system and pasture pumps) and secure the boundaries so that we can start grazing on the land.
We also hope that our volunteer community will support with essential work at Ughill, including ecological monitoring, habitat management and dry-stone walling. The Trust also plans to work with the local universities so that Ughill Farm is a place where students can gain direct experience of ecology, wildlife and land management.
Strategic Importance of Ughill Farm
The opportunity to purchase this land has come at a key time and in a strategically important location. The Trust are already working with a number of farms in the area on a DEFRA Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS) Test & Trial. We are part of an existing farm cluster group and have built relationships with the local farming community.
Owning, managing and using this land for nature friendly farming, will make a significant contribution to our ambition of ensuring 30% of land and water is good for nature by 2030.
This is a long-term project and a comprehensive plan is currently being drawn up by a team at Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust (SRWT) which includes Roy Mosley, who has over 20 years’ experience as SRWT’s Head of Conservation, and Trustee Chris Tomson, whose experience includes 20 years managing farms in the Ewden Valley, close to Ughill, and 13 years as Farms Conservation Adviser with RSPB. Additionally, the management team will be using the most up to date research and knowledge in nature-friendly farming techniques, and will have the opportunity to test innovative methods at Ughill Farm. These findings and results will be shared with other landowners in the local community and wider region in order to help inform farming techniques and increase biodiversity on their land.
Benefits to the local community include the opportunity to get involved in the project, including its management and monitoring, potential reductions in downstream flood risk, and as biodiversity improves – encouraging, for example, a wider variety of wildflowers – the appearance will also improve, encouraging wellbeing through providing an increasingly popular area for walkers and cyclists.
Managing the land
We intend to farm the land using a low intensity farming model that has been tried and tested elsewhere. By balancing the level of stock with nature in mind, fewer inputs (feed, fertiliser, seed, glyphosate, machinery etc.) are required to maintain the pastures.
The Trust has decades of experience in managing a similar upland site at Blacka Moor and has been working closely with local farmers in our Sheffield Lakeland partnership for the last seven years. Ughill Farm will provide us with an opportunity to test economic, low input, nature-rich farming practices in an area important for breeding waders, and for its moorland fringe, upper catchment and woodland habitats.
Involving Our Community
Approaching management of the land in this way is sure to capture the imagination of the Sheffield and Rotherham community. There will be opportunities to volunteer and be involved, to support the monitoring, aid evidence gathering and learn about the ecology and land management. We have links with the two universities in the city and plan to provide opportunities for student work experience in these specialist areas. The land includes a byway open to all traffic (BOAT) running through the site which will ensure that walkers, cyclists and visitors can visit the farm, whilst protecting the land for wildlife.
Ughill Farm in The Press
Ughill Farm Forever (David Bocking)
I’m climbing up an old farm track along the edge of a small stream that used to be called Crawshaw Dike 150 years ago. We’re on the side of Furnace Hill at Ughill.
Old north Sheffield is all around: an ancient wooden gatepost with a Rowan tree growing out the top, a brick built shed that once held dynamite for the nearby quarries, a hidden lane that served local farmers and farmworkers for centuries. Thick grasses left by heavy sheep grazing, with bright blue Harebells shining through the stalks, descendants of centuries-past hay meadows. After a sudden shake in the grass ahead, a Brown Hare bolts away up the track.
This land, explains Liz Ballard, as we follow the hare uphill, will be a test bed for the future of farming. “Our main aim is to test and learn how we can ensure that in the long term, nature around farming can be done in harmony, and economically.”
David Bocking’s ‘It’s Looking A Bit Black Over Bill’s Mother’s‘ blog
Race against time to save ‘special’ wildlife haven home to curlews and golden plovers (Robert Cumber)
Liz Ballard, the trust’s chief executive, told The Star: “It’s a fantastic marginal upland farm, which means it’s right on the edge of the really important moorlands of the Peak District, and part of it falls within the Eastern Moors Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
“It’s a special site for wildlife which is why we really want to look after it. We want to use the farm as a test and work with farmers to see how we can manage a farm in such a way that food production is happening in harmony with wildlife, in an economically sustainable way.
“In other parts of the country, the curlew is rapidly disappearing from the landscape, so we’re really lucky to have a pretty good curlew population in the west of Sheffield. It’s important to look after that population at places like Ughill Farm.”
Robert Cumber: The Star, Sheffield
Landfill Communities Fund
In a nutshell: how the Landfill Communities Fund works:
- Landfill operators receive a 90% tax credit against payments to organisations like Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust – so we can fund projects that meet agreed criteria.
- To unlock the funding, we need a third party to contribute the missing 10% tax.
- The third party must be completely independent from us.
- Entrust is the regulator of the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) and has allowed us to collect these funds on their behalf (unfortunately gift aid cannot be claimed on these gifts).
- For every £1,000 we raise, we are able to unlock £10,000 of funding.