"BATS and farmers need each other" was the message to farmers and landowners at a farm conservation event organised by Gloucestershire branch of the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group.

Robert Ensor and his family opened their farm at Flaxley to demonstrate that conservation could be an integral part of modern farming. The farm is in the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, managed to help the environment and species under threat, such as bats.

Ros Wilder, of FWAG, explained bats needed hedges as flightlines. Without them they had to fly further to reach their feeding grounds. "Farmers in the Stewardship Scheme agreed to manage their hedges in such a way that is of maximum benefit to wildlife and are helped to plant new hedges and restore old ones. All of which is good news for bats," he said.

Caroline Corsie, from Green Agronomy, extolled the merits of the wide grass margins established round wheat fields, providing habitat for butterflies, hares and grey partridges, and nurturing beetles that eat harmful crop pests like aphids, as part of modern sustainable and wildlife-friendly farming.