RSPBgoes organic

19 February 1999

RSPBgoes organic

THE Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has announced that it intends to convert its nature reserve at Geltsdale in Cumbria, with its flock of 400 blackface sheep, to organic production, in order to help upland birds.

Malcolm Stott, RSPB site manager at Geltsdale reserve said: "Organic farming provides the means of reducing sheep densities, which is fundamental to a achieving a rich diversity of wildlife."

The RSPB, which grazes livestock on 22,000ha (54,362 acres) of its land, intends to convert more than 150 nature reserves to organic status on the basis that, as low-input farming is already practised, the scheme is a natural progression.