Rotherfield Demonstration Project Blog

Francis Buner explains how he uses camera traps to give him an early indication of how successful the breeding season has been.

Francis Buner takes a closer look at farmland bird trends at Rotherfield since 2010.

One of the key aims of the Rotherfield Demonstration Project is the recovery of the red-listed grey partridge in an area where they formerly have gone extinct. The habitat creation and improvements together with the legal predation control needed to re-establish this iconic farmland flagship species does, of course, also benefit a wide range of other wildlife.

Malcolm Brockless, Game Manager at Rotherfield, discusses the importance of balancing effort and reward when restoring a grey partridge population.

Francis looks at what's involved in releasing pheasants successfully at Rotherfield.

Last week the South Downs National Park volunteers, co-ordinated by Rob Nichols, came along for a day to help with some urgently needed habitat management. A massive thank you to everyone who was involved!

Last Friday we were fortunate to stumble across our second grey partridge brood at Rotherfield this season.

Owing to the presence of several large blocks of diverse woodland at Rotherfield Park and, probably also, the fact that minimum tillage is employed with most of the crops, the estate supports large numbers of woodcock in winter.

Being a gamebird conservationist, I am often asked whether I hate raptors. No, is my decisive answer. They are fascinating creatures, truly amazing in their abilities to hunt down prey and certainly one of the true wonders of evolution.

We are very pleased to report our first brood of grey partridge this season and cautiously take this as an early good omen for the other 28 pairs that we counted in the spring!