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Farming Today: 08/04/21 - Wild flower theft, Spring drilling and tidal wetland creation

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08/04/21 - Wild flower theft, Spring drilling and tidal wetland creation

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 08/04/21 - Wild flower theft, Spring drilling and tidal wetland creation

8,000 wild bluebell bulbs have been illegally dug up in a wood in Norfolk.

Caz Graham finds out what drives wild flower theft, after 8,000 bluebell bulbs were found illegally uprooted in Norfolk.

Some 8,000 bluebell bulbs are being painstakingly re-planted in a wood in Norfolk, after they were dug up illegally. Police were called to the woodland by a walker, and found large sacks and mail bags filled with recently uprooted bulbs. British bluebells are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act along with all other native wild plants and bulbs. Caz Graham finds out what drives wild flower theft.

For arable farmers Spring is the moment when most crops are usually safely in the ground, and some are hopefully getting well established. Planting, or drilling as it’s called on farms, will have started back in September and usually continues through until the end of March. Last year the exceptionally wet autumn and winter meant drilling was delayed, and last year's harvest suffered as a result. So how is this year shaping up so far? Anna Hill visits an organic farm in Norfolk to find out.

And in East Devon a major project has just got underway to recreate a huge tidal wetland at Budleigh Salterton. A 200 year old sea embankment will be breached to allow fields in the estuary of the River Otter to flood, creating salt marsh and mud flats, with the aim of improving habitats and capturing carbon. The project will cost £15 million, with money coming from the Environment Agency, the landowner and the EU as part of a wider project that could create another 70 tidal wetlands on the South coast of England and the North coast of France. We hear from the landowner.

Presented by Caz Graham
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons

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