Ensuring Gloucestershire Wildlife Trusts land is doing all it can to provide, protect and restore nature. At present, a large proportion of Greystones Farm nature reserve is not doing enough to help nature, and we need to change that. Turnstone Farming Company have been working hard over the last ten or so years to make Greystones what it is today, and we are grateful for all their efforts and support over the last 10 or so years. However, the decision has been made to take Greystones Farm in a new direction that will provide greater benefit for nature and the local community. 

Greystones Farm nature reserve is a 63-hectare site, 15 of which is a site of special scientific interest floodplain meadows, another 15 GWT has been restoring with the help of Turnstone Farming Company, leaving another 30 hectares which is improved grassland due to the grazing pressure placed on the fields. With the new system, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust will be aiming to increase the species diversity in the fields nearest the farm by having a more sympathetic grazing regime which will see the fields rested in summer and then grazed in winter.  

It will take 10-20 years to see these fields’ nutrient levels reduce significantly, but we should see some species returning quickly. With the longer grasses we should see more small mammals in the meadows which will then encourage species such as Barn Owls and Kestrels to hunt over these fields. 

This is the sole decision of Turnstone Farming Company. Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust has/had no influence on business decisions of Turnstone Farming Company.  

Beef cattle are hardy animals and aren’t restricted in their movements in the same way that a dairy cow is, due to their need to be milked. We will be looking to use a more traditional cow which will have a greater ability to graze on some of the courser grasses that are found at Greystones Farm nature reserve, particularly in the SSSI and restoration meadows. They are adapted to these conditions and will better maintain condition of the grassland. 

With the dairy cattle, they need to be milked regularly and the ‘freedom milker’ allowed them to do this when they needed. However this also meant that they always needed to be close to the farm. By using beef cattle this will allow them to spend significant periods of time out in the fields. 

Greystones Farm will still be a farm! It will just be run in a different system to the one used over the past 10+ years. Final decisions are still to be made as to who will be managing the animals, what breed of animals it will be, how many, or if it is a breeding herd or not. However, there will be a farm system in place - just not a dairy operation. 

Locally produced, nature-friendly food is important, and is something that Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust does encourage. Our primary goal as an organisation is to support nature’s recovery in Gloucestershire and we must ensure that our nature reserves are performing well for nature. There is still potential for alternative products to be available locally in the future, but we will need to see what options there may be under the re-instated grazing system before we can commit to that.

Setting up a new system will have some initial costs, but will also bring new opportunities that open other funding from government schemes and others. The rental income we were receiving was of marginal benefit to GWT, and the impact costs of the dairy system on the land and habitat in our care is not one that we could continue to justify, given the state of nature’s decline and our core mission to support nature’s recovery in the county. 

We are using a combination of different funds to finance this work, including funds restricted to Greystones, project funding to support the kind of things that we are doing, and other revenue streams that we are able to raise. All of our project work is overseen by strict financial controls and our internal governance and accountability measures. 

We are running drop-in sessions on the following dates, times and locations.  

Monday 11 August @ 5:30pm – 7:30pm: The George Moore Community Centre, Bourton-on-the-Water 

Wednesday 13 August @ 2pm – 4pm: Upper Rissington Village Hall, Upper Rissington 

Thursday 14 August @ 6pm – 8pm: Guiting Power Village Hall, Guiting Power   

These are to engage with residents and visitors, to share our plans and aspirations, along with understanding what Greystones means to them, why they visit, what they might be interested in seeing or being involved in. 

There will be lots of ways to get involved, be that getting stuck in helping manage the reserve, checking the stock, engaging with visitors, or inspiring the next generation. If you are interested in getting involved in any shape or form, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. Or if you would like to find out more, please attend one of the drop in sessions.  

No, quite the opposite. Greystones is an important site for Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, presenting an exciting opportunity to restore 30 hectares of land for nature. The Cotswolds are an important area for nature’s recovery, and we continue to work with farmers in the area to create space for nature.

We aim to achieve a more regular presence at Greystones Farm nature reserve, whether it is through the graziers, ongoing school visits or activities run in partnership with the local community. We currently look after more than 60 nature reserves across the county, so our limited resources can be spread thinly across all of these. However, we hope that the changes will result in a more sustainable ongoing presence at the site. 

We are committed to engaging with schools and young people, and Greystones provides an excellent space to educate and engage children with nature, livestock and history. 

There will be some changes to how we ask people to behave and treat the site. There will continue to be the public rights of way and the permissive routes we have created on the site. Along with new, updated signage and information to engage visitors with Greystones and why it is such a special place.