BEAM PROJECT -- This is the final year of the BEAM project at Titley Court Farm, near Kington, "and the results show that the environmental aims have been achieved, and probably surpassed," says ornithologist Peter Eldridge. As the Herefordshire Ornithological Club's co-ordinator with the BEAM (Balancing the Environment and Agriculture in the Marches) project, he makes this point in a report published in the latest newsletter of Herefordshire's Green Gate Network. And he reaches the conclusion: "If the system can be shown to be profitable to the farmer, then it deserves total support from the agricultural industry and the Government." The project, he explains, was started in 1997 and is taking place on the 750 acres of Titley Court Farm, owned by David Forbes. Since it began, members of the HOC have made six visits to the farm during each breeding season and three visits during each winter period, to survey the birds and assess the bird population. Numerically, adds Mr Eldridge, in 1997 "there were 551 breeding territories noted, rising steadily each year to 780 in the year 2000", an increase of almost 30 per cent, and 86 species of birds were recorded on the farm.
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