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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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On Your Farm

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Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Getting to the heart of country life with a look at individual farming endeavours

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On Your Farm: Farming for Wildlife on The Isle of Sheppey

Farming for Wildlife on The Isle of Sheppey

29/07/2018

BBC Radio 4 - On Your Farm, Farming for Wildlife on The Isle of Sheppey

Running a commercial farm in a national nature reserve? Can it really work?

Caz Graham meets the only farming family in England also managing a national nature reserve.

What happens when your land becomes designated as a 'Site of Special Scientific Interest' and you have to suddenly change the way you farm? This is the dilemma Philip Merrick faced back in the late 1980s. He tells Caz Graham how he and his family have transformed the landscape and reinvented Kingshill Farm on the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary.

The 3200 acre estate is now home to around 800 cattle, but also provides an exceptional habitat for wading and breeding birds. They are the only farming family in England to be running a commercial farm and a National Nature Reserve. Caz Graham discovers how they achieve the perfect balance. 

Producer: Perminder Khatkar.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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Farming for Wildlife on The Isle of Sheppey

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