There was a buoyant mood at the Royal Welsh show this year, no doubt helped by better sheep and beef prices. I saw a pair of Royals, a couple of Ministers, and many familiar faces. Among these were a number of existing Natur Cymru subscribers, and I was delighted to welcome some new ones.

 

A long, enjoyable conversation with a farmer stands out in my memory. It reminded me how much farming and conservation have to learn from each other. While you can describe farming in generic terms as an industry, it consists of many different kinds of business, and fulfils many different purposes. These include providing public benefits, such as an attractive, wildlife-rich countryside, and supporting rural communities and a way of life.

 

Farms have a unique influence on the landscape, and farmers are becoming more interested in managing their land with wildlife in mind. They could be just as good at transforming a rye grass sward into a hay meadow filled with bird’s-foot trefoil, as they are at producing a crop of fat lambs for the autumn sales. As the financial framework becomes more favourable, we need practical solutions to ensure that farm businesses and nature can thrive together. I hope that the next generation of agri-environment schemes will reward farmers by results, rather than relying on catch-all prescriptions.

 

One thread that connects many articles in this issue is the coast and sea. Whether it is pioneering work mapping the seabed, reporting from some of our offshore islands, or the life of a rare mason bee on the soft cliffs of the Llyn peninsula, the sea is never far away.

 

The sea exerts a powerful pull which is not only tidal, it is emotional and metaphorical. That island of the spiritual, Bardsey, is the inspiration for a painter’s lyrical attempt to capture its other-worldly charms, and for the story of the world’s rarest apple, a suitably biblical fruit. But if you want emblems, I don’t think it would be possible to beat the arrival of Wales’ first avocet chicks.

 

This is a huge feather in the cap of the newly created Gwent Levels reserve. In turning the clock back, it is bringing new life to the Levels. In a sense, the past is the future; the results of conservation and farming working in harness are much more generally enriching than those of production or preservation alone.

 

James Robertson