Introduction
The Chalke Valley Farm Cluster comprises over twenty forward-thinking farmers managing over 9,000 hectares of south Wiltshire’s iconic landscape. Driven by a shared vision to enhance local wildlife habitats, the Cluster works collaboratively to ensure that conservation efforts extend beyond individual farm boundaries to create a landscape-scale impact.
The Challenge
To measure the success of their conservation efforts, the farmers needed a unified system to record, store, and share biodiversity data. However, the solution had to overcome two significant hurdles:
- User Accessibility: It needed to be intuitive for farmers with varying levels of technical expertise.
- Connectivity: It had to function reliably in deep rural areas where mobile signals are often non-existent.
The Coreo Solution
In 2020, under the guidance of facilitator Simon Smart, the Cluster adopted Coreo. The app transformed data collection from a chore into a seamless part of the farming day.
Coreo’s offline capabilities allowed farmers to record sightings in the most remote corners of the valley, while the integrated ID guides acted as a digital mentor in the field. By centralising all data, the Cluster created a transparent, real-time map of their collective environmental footprint.
The Impact
Since adopting Coreo, the Cluster has successfully logged over 1,600 individual biodiversity records. This collective data set has delivered value that goes far beyond simple data entry:
- A Robust Evidence Base: The platform provides a verifiable digital audit trail for government grants and environmental subsidies, making compliance straightforward and data-driven.
- Educational Empowerment: The high-quality photos and ID guides have turned recording into a learning experience, sparking a deeper interest in local wildlife and ecology among the farmers.
- Community Engagement: Having a central “hub” for records has fostered a sense of healthy competition and shared pride, as farmers see the collective biodiversity of the valley grow.
Championing Farm Wildlife
Individual passion has been a driving force behind the project’s success. Robert Hitchings of Gurston Farm has become one of the Cluster’s most prolific contributors, personally logging 570 of the group’s records. His observation of birds, moths and butterflies, with occasional reptile and diversity of plant species, has provided invaluable data for the Cluster, and his work is a testament to how accessible technology can fuel a passion for long-term monitoring.
” Using the Coreo App to record our wildlife sightings has been insightful to our Farm Cluster highlighting, through solid evidence, the rich diversity of species present within the locality.”
Robert Hitchings, owner of Gurston Farm in the Chalke Valley
Looking Ahead
While the landscape of agricultural funding remains uncertain, the Chalke Valley Farm Cluster’s commitment to biodiversity endures. Coreo remains the backbone of their monitoring strategy, ensuring that as the landscape evolves, the data evolves with it.
