A man from Barford St Martin has been awarded with an MBE for his services to Farmland Ecology and Wildlife Conservation.

Naturalist Peter Thompson, 69, said: "I just thought - wow. I had no idea. It came completely out of the blue. It's just great, and lovely that other people took the time to write nice things about me and take the time to put me forward."

Peter has inspired many farmers and land managers to adopt wildlife friendly practices to enhance and preserve farm wildlife in his role with GWCT between 1988 to 2019.

He described that one of the highlights of his career was helping Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust design its Farm Clusters, of which there are now over 100 in 2023. Farm Clusters bring farms across the UK working together within their locality.

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He said: "I helped setup the first cluster - now there's over 100. That's probably one of the major things."

Peter was pivotal in designing and delivering the influential BASIS conservation management certificate, taking an active role in spreading his knowledge to more than 300 course participants by 2018.

He believes that farmers are natural champions of the environment and to this end he was instrumental in the establishment of the Arun & Adur Farm Cluster between 2014 and 2015. 

Peter ThompsonPeter Thompson (Image: Peter Thompson)

In 2015, whilst Natural England (NE) were planning to launch the Countryside Stewardship scheme, he helped design and pilot the Farm Facilitation Fund, which provides funding to facilitate groups of land managers to improve the local environment.

His technical knowledge also meant he was able to lead NE officials to re-design elements of Countryside Stewardship, such as skylark plots, which provide nesting space for skylarks in cereal fields, so that they would be attractive to farmers.

In 2014, he played a role in setting up GWCT’s Big Farmland Bird Watch, which saw over 500 farmers across the UK and Ireland record birdlife on their farms in the first year.

Peter, who was painting numbers on yellow ducks in time for his village fair at the time of the interview, added: "I know the main farmer who put me forward for it but I know there were others.

"Thank you to those who spent time putting me forward."