Farming Today

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Farming Today: 23/08/19: Sea eagles on the Isle of Wight, Medieval strip farming, Feeding charcoal to cattle

23/08/19: Sea eagles on the Isle of Wight, Medieval strip farming, Feeding charcoal to cattle

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 23/08/19: Sea eagles on the Isle of Wight, Medieval strip farming, Feeding charcoal to cattle

Sea eagles have been reintroduced on the Isle of Wight. Farmers are concerned about lambs.

Britain's largest bird, the white-tailed sea eagle, has been reintroduced on the Isle of Wight. Sheep farmers say they are concerned about the safety of lambs.

The white-tailed sea eagle is Britain's largest bird and has been extinct on the Isle of Wight for more than two hundred years. This week six of the birds - which can have a wing span of up to eight feet - have been re-introduced on the island. For conservationists and ornithologists it's a welcome return, but sheep farmers say they're concerned about the safety of their lambs. In Scotland, where the eagles have already been re-introduced, there have been reports of lambs being taken by the birds. Sybil Ruscoe talks to both the charity behind the reintroduction project, and the National Sheep Association.

With agriculture and climate change very much in the news lately, we hear from a farmer involved in an experiment to try and reduce methane emissions from his cattle. He's feeding them with tree-felling waste which has been processed into biochar - a type of charcoal.

And concluding a week-long look at what modern farming can learn from the systems of the past, we step back in time and visit the land in South Wales which is being farmed using the medieval strip-farming method. What advantages can it bring to 21st century agriculture?

Presented by Sybil Ruscoe and produced by Emma Campbell.

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