Profile: Roger Mathias

Roger Mathias is a farmer that not only talks about the importance of conservation, but puts his words in to action on his farm at Furzy Mount in Camrose, which has recently been described as a ‘flora and fauna gem'.

Roger mathias

The family has farmed Furzy Mount since the early 1900s and until a few years ago it was primarily a beef cattle and arable holding. However, due to low stock prices over the years, and following a passion for the environment, Roger now rears his two nephews' dairy heifers and beef followers. In this way, he has the time to ensure he manages Furzy Mount with the aim of environmental gain at the forefront of his motives.

Roger joined the Tir Gofal agri-environment scheme in 2005 and has never looked back. He now boasts a 2 acre fenced-off corridor to encourage barn owls, unsprayed over-winter cereal stubble to support declining farmland birds and insects, as well as one pond and more in the pipeline. He has already planted over 2,000 native trees adjoining a mature broadleaved woodland, and is re-creating an area of marshy grassland.

Broadleaf Tree Planting, Furzy Mount. Sarah Beynon 2007 ©

For several years the entire farm has been monitored for key bird species and in 2006 and 2007, Roger put down four acres of wild bird cover, comprised of a mixture of sunflowers, winter and spring triticale, quinoa and phacelia. These species hold their seed well over the winter, ensuring a continuous food source for bird populations. When you enter the field, you witness a spectacle as literally hundreds of birds rise from the crop. Roger is working alongside the RSPB in order to assess the method of planting these crops that best benefits bird species, and the farm is regularly visited by RSPB volunteers.

Wild Bird Seed Crop, Furzy Mount. Sarah Beynon 2007 ©

He has also been deeply involved with the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) ever since Pembrokeshire became one of the first county branches to be established in Wales back in the early 1980s when agriculture was pushing for maximum production. He feels that the advice offered by FWAG has helped him achieve what he is doing today: caring for the environment at the same time as ensuring that the farmer is given control of what happens to his land. In a recent article in the Farmers Guardian, Roger was quoted as saying: "Maybe conservation is the wrong word. The whole of the British countryside is conservation at its best. That is what farmers do without always realising it. For certain, if farmers did not do what they do then pretty soon everywhere would be covered in brambles and scrub."

Roger also finances research looking at the insect life at Furzy Mount. He is interested in looking at the diversity of species on the farm, and also the potential of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) as bio-control agents, the effectiveness of his Tir Gofal options in increasing diversity and the impact of chemical cattle wormers on dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Surveys carried out in 2006 and 2007 have identified 43 species of insect at Furzy Mount active in the Autumn as well as 58 species of plant, all of which have all been entered into the WWBIC database. An incredible 2084 individual beetles have been trapped at Furzy Mount over a total of 6 days using pitfall traps and dung searching techniques. Of the 16 species of ground beetle identified, many species are of high conservation value and are declining in the UK due to the intensification of agriculture. Recording species such as Amara communis, Amara familiaris and Harpalus affinis at Furzy Mount really does support the fact that Roger's farming methods are giving these declining species a much-needed refuge. Finding only the third county record of another important agri-environmental indicator species Amara apricaria (now on the Pembrokeshire LBAP list) really was the icing on the cake beetle-wise.

With surveys continuing over the coming years, and Roger's enthusiasm gaining momentum, it will be interesting to see where hiss interests take him next and what species turn up as a result of his work. As I was driving away from Furzy Mount last week, a barn owl soared overhead - a sure sign that Roger's passion for the environment is really making its presence known to local wildlife.