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The Barkers of Westhorpe grow arable crops on a large-scale commercial basis – but have also embraced nature on their 1300-acre farm.
They have planted and restored hedgerows and ponds, created wildlife margins and turned less productive land over to wildlife meadows.
They are one of two farms – the other being in the Yorkshire Dales – to feature in a streaming show called Saving our Wild Isles – which will be available from 8pm on Easter Sunday (April 9).
The Silverback Films documentary for WWF, the RSPB and the National Trust shines a spotlight on “people working hard to halt the alarming decline in nature as well as focusing on the wildlife and habitats at risk in the UK – one of the most nature depleted counties in the world”.
The Barkers – one of the case studies used – prove that biodiversity is possible – even within intensive agriculture.
The farm is in its final year of a six-year scheme as an AHDB Strategic Farm where cutting-edge research is trialled on a commercial scale.
David Barker – who appears near the start – recalls agriculture as it was when he was a little boy. He was 10 years old when the family took on the farm in 1958.
“The biodiversity on farms was just amazing. The bird life was out of this world, compared to today,” he says.
His son, Patrick – the next generation to farm the land with cousin Brian – explains how they are successfully balancing the needs of their commercial farming enterprise with wildlife-friendly practices on the present-day farm.
“I don’t accept anyone saying to me it’s one or the other,” he says.
He is shown ringing barn owl chicks and teaching children from Gislingham primary – who by chance were there on a planned school trip while film-makers were on site – about farming and wildlife.
Patrick explains how the natural environment is at the forefront of everything they think about.
In any given year, he would expect to record 400 species on the farm, from dragonflies to mammals.
He shows how the farm is harnessing nature to help crops grow better, such as by using ladybirds to kill aphids rather than spraying with a pesticide.
“We’ve kind of got into a bad habit as an industry of using pesticides where we might need them, not where we really do need them.
“The ladybirds are doing the work for us here, they are our farm workers,” he says.
The film-makers first met with the Barkers in December 2021 and filming took place on the farm in May/June of 2022.
The documentary travels around the UK, showing people working to preserve nature, from species monitoring in the Cairngorms to a community group at Cody Dock in East London which has created a wildlife haven on the River Lea.
Sir David Attenborough narrates, explaining how people of all ages are working to restore the natural world in the UK.
“We now have a few short years during which we can still make a choice. Where just enough remains of the natural world for it to recover. This starts and ends with us,” he says.
“Whilst it’s tempting to think of those on the frontline as the only ones who can make a difference.
“The truth is, every one of us, no matter where we live, can and must play a part in restoring nature to our isles. Never has it been more important to do this for ourselves and for our wildlife.”
Alastair Fothergill of makers Silverback Films says they were delighted to have been commissioned to produce the uplifting film celebrating the “extraordinary work” being done by people working hard to restore nature.
The film contains “real messages about what we can do and how our farming system should support the natural environment”, says Patrick.
“We do need the intensive food producers as much as we need the intensive rewilders,” he says. “But balance is key because it’s a managed landscape.”
Farmers – who were tasked with farming intensively in the post-war years to feed a starving nation – now face an “historic hangover” from the past, he explains.
But his family has found “a farming system that works for us”.
“Hopefully we can just create that bigger picture to show these things are all related and we can demonstrate farmers are part of the solution rather than the problem,” he says.
“We are not here to tell people what they should be doing. We are here to show people what works.
“We have a viable business – all full of wildlife. We all skip to work – and we absolutely enjoy what we do.”
The Wild Isles series was “just inspiring”, he says. “We are incredibly proud to be a part of this and hopefully we’ll be able to inspire a few more people to look at what we do.”
For more information and to Save our Wild Isles visit www.saveourwildisles.org.uk
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