2013 Castleacre GWCT East Anglian Grey Partridge Award Scooped by Conservation Farm

2013 Castleacre GWCT East Anglian Grey Partridge Award is Scooped by Robert Law’s Conservation Grade Farm in Royston

Robert Law, who has made his name with a number of wildlife conservation projects at Thrift Farm, in Royston, has now landed another trophy, this time the Castleacre GWCT Grey Partridge Award. He joins a number of other prestigious East Anglian landowners, who have been fighting the decline of this iconic game bird.

This well attended event was hosted by last year’s winners, the Trumpington Estate in Cambridge, on 12 September 2013. Owners, Antony Pemberton and his son Richard, gave guests a very informative tour of the estate’s farmland, while estate manager, David Knott, and gamekeeper, Jamie Stead, were on hand to explain some of the measures they had undertaken to improve the partridge population.  2011 winner, Simon Maudlin, from Caldecote House Farm in Bedfordshire, was there alongside senior GWCT ecologist, Dr Roger Draycott, who summarised issues effecting grey partridges over the last 12 months especially the wet cold summer of 2012.

Hugo Johnsen of Castleacre Insurance, who sponsor The East Anglian Grey Partridge Award each year, presented the trophy to Robert Law and his associate, Jimmie Laing. Hugo Johnsen said ‘Robert has already scooped a number of awards including Farmer of the Year in 2006. He understands the advantage of preserving some of his farmland for wildlife and has been a passionate advocate of native British species, successfully undertaking a number of inspiring conservation programmes on his 1200 hectare farm – he is a very deserving winner of this year’s Grey Partridge Trophy.’

Robert Law, a first generation farmer, who was recently described by the RSPB ‘as an exceptional farmer’, is already a well-known exponent of conservation grade farming, devoting 10% of his land to wildlife havens.