Natural Capital – JM Stratton

Natural Capital

As farmers we are custodians of the countryside. Although we live and work in a farmed landscape there is plenty of space for nature and we are keen to promote and restore these resources for generations to come.

Environmental Stewardship

Over the last twenty years we have put key areas of the farm into Higher Level Stewardship and more recently Higher Tier Stewardship schemes. Our current scheme, which will run until 2024 when all schemes come under review, has a good mix of features including grassland enhancement with wild flowers, preservation of scheduled monuments, and enhancement of our four Sites of Special Scientific Interest. We have planted 50 ha of winter bird food and nectar mix plots right across the farm, and we have thousands of metres of floristically enhanced grass margins. We have noticed a significant boost to the wild bird, butterfly and small mammal population during the life of these schemes.

Natural Capital

Farm Ecologist

The farm decided in 2022 that nature has a key part to play in the future of food production. Therefore, we made the decision to employ an ecologist to run the environmental projects on the farm. This includes getting the best for nature out of our stewardship schemes, long term monitoring of the species on the farm, and to manage our non-productive areas to maintain and enhance the habitats available. If you have any questions ecology related please contact Robin

Natural Capital

Wylye valley Farmers cluster group

In order to maximise the wildlife benefits of our initiatives, we have helped found Wylye Valley Farmers. This is a group of
30 farmers covering 12,000 hectares all working together under the guidance of our ecologist Robin to co-ordinate environmental work. Several initiatives have been launched, such as elm planting, nectar provision and chalk stream restoration. The group holds regular meetings where conservation experts are invited to speak. If you are within our catchment and are interested in joining or would like to know more visit: wylyevalleyfarmers.org

Natural Capital

Woodland

Across the farm as a whole, there are about 200 hectares of woodland. This ranges from commercial forestry, to amenity and sporting woodland, and then wetland trees in the meadows. A lot of the forestry was replanted in the 1950s by Michael Stratton, and is now producing some good quality timber. The amenity and sporting areas are managed to promote game birds and wildlife. We have entered our woodlands into the sustainable farming incentive pilot scheme. This is helping us to develop further our woodland, increasing open space and leaving dead wood to improve woodland habitats and biodiversity.

Natural Capital

Downland

We have 95 hectares of species rich chalk downland. This is a nationally scarce habitat, and can support a huge number of wild plant species. For example the increasingly rare juniper and several Orchid species. The resources provided are beneficial for invertebrates and rare butterflies including the chalkhill blue and adonis blue, which both rely on this habitat for their life cycles.

We manage each area differently including –
- Hay cutting
- Grazing cattle and sheep
- Scrub clearing
At one of our sites we are working we are working with the charity Plant Life who are helping us restore an area that had succumbed to successional scrub, and turn it back into pristine chalk downland.

Natural Capital

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Limekiln Chalk Downland Restoration

This 20 acre area of downland was covered in a rich tapestry of downland flowers, orchids and juniper in the 1960s, and was designated as a SSSI. In the intervening period, as a result of undergrazing, scrub and then ash trees have taken this over, smothering out the natural downland species. As a result of ash dieback, we have clear felled this area, taken out the roots and brash, and we now aim to revert this to the original downland. We suspect that all the original species seeds are still here, so we aim to nurture these in order to produce the rich, diverse downland that we can just remember. We are being helped in the venture by Plantlife, a charity who specialise in restoring downland and juniper, who have already helped us on previous restoration projects. If you or your organisation would like to get involved in this large scale conservation project, please do get in touch.

River Wylye

The River Wylye runs through the farm. This is part of the River Avon catchment SSSI, and is a nationally important habitat for chalk river ecosystems. There is a mile of river at Codford, and ½ mile at Ballington. In the last five years, the whole stretch has seen considerable investment in order to provide better wild trout and grayling habitat, and young fish numbers have risen considerably.

The river is managed in partnership with the Piscatorial Society. thepiscatorialsociety.net

Natural Capital

The Environmental Farmers Group

In 2021 our managing partner Josh Stratton helped to found the Environmental Farmers Group; a new farmer owned business set up in the Wiltshire/Hampshire area. Originally set up in order to link up stewardship cluster groups in the Hampshire Avon, and to provide a catchment wide environmental solution, the group has quickly moved ahead to provide natural capital trading services based on the farmer grain co-op model. The group will link farmers who have natural capital assets to share, and councils, developers and business who need to offset their projects and developments.

To help with your company’s ESG and invest in our farm and the wider Avon catchment contact Environmental Farmers Group www.efg.org.uk

Natural Capital

JM Stratton & Co

We run a farming estate in Wiltshire made up of a diverse mix of arable farming, renewable energy, and property. We strive to be innovative and forward looking and manage our estate with a focus on sustainability and circularity.

In 1914, Jack Stratton, younger son of a prominent Wiltshire farming family, came to East Farm in Codford as a tenant. By 1930 Jack had bought East Farm, neighbouring Clump Farm and had started to lease Manor Farm Stockton. Today J M Stratton & Co, lead by the 3rd generation at Codford, still farm East Farm as well as Manor Farm Stockton, bought in the 1950s, and Ballington Manor Farm bought in 2017.

We have a holistic approach to business and enjoy farming sustainably and working with our tenants and contract farming clients to ensure a vibrant and resilient future.

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Great to have @wylyevalleyfarmers featured in the

@reclaimeddesignuk are based at St Mary’s Barn i

Nice to have the @naturalengland leadership team v

This stunning Yellow Wagtail was spotted by our fa

Our cluster group @wylyevalleyfarmers have been ou

Nature in action on the farm today. @plueeeeeee to

Love this photo taken by Justine Hadfield of a har

Dog agility show in Stockton Park today. Packed o

Small population of Dingy Skipper butterflies foun

Ploughing for game cover maize. The old John Deere

Winter barley awns just popping out. This is Craf

Here is a fine example of a 24 spot ladybird. One

@a_and_r_fraser pushing on with the last of the di

Direct drilled Laureate spring barley, established

110 hectares of Ambassador and Amarone oilseed rap

The last of our seasons digestate going on game co

Great @wylyevalleyfarmers meeting yesterday with S

Winter barley flag leaf just emerged. This is Cra

71 bird species seen on the farm in the past few m

Final dose of nitrogen last week being applied in

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Contact Us

Here you’ll find all the details you need to get in touch with us. Please contact us on 01985 850230, or on one of the emails below

Company Contacts

Name	Position	Email
Josh Stratton	Managing Partner	Josh@jmstratton.co.uk
Hazel Mayer	Office Manager	Hazel@jmstratton.co.uk
Carolyn Collis	Property Manager	Carolyn@jmstratton.co.uk
Kate Shean	Management Accountant	Kate@jmstratton.co.uk
Tom Frampton	Operations Manager	Tomf@jmstratton.co.uk
Ed Shuldham	Business Development Manager	Ed@jmstratton.co.uk
Chester House	Trainee Arable Manager	Chester@jmstratton.co.uk
Robin Leech	Farm Ecologist	Robin@jmstratton.co.uk

JM Stratton & Co Ltd

East Farm, Codford, Warminster BA12 0PG
01985 850 230
www.jmstratton.co.uk

Registered Company No 11809189