Courteenhall Estate

A male goldfinch first captured at Courteenhall Estate in Northamptonshire during a ringing session has been re-trapped 579km away on the west coast of Ireland. The goldfinch was ringed on 12 October 2023 in a copse on the Estate along with 200 other Goldfinches by ornithology expert Chris Payne, a licensed senior ringer and trainer for Northants Ringing Group and his ringing group. It was then found 496 days later by another ringer on 19 February in Ardeamush in County Clare, Ireland. Read on to find out more: https://lnkd.in/eJWtmBqX Johnny Wake Rosie Davis #Northamptonshire #goldfinch #birdringing #ornithology #ecology #BTO British Trust for Ornithology (BTO)

Hannah Murrell, shepherdess at our sister estate Gawdy Hall in Norfolk, was interviewed by BBC Radio Norfolk this morning and chatted about how she is getting ready for her first lambing season. You can listen back here: https://lnkd.in/eEt7WTsN. Hannah's interview starts at 3.12.43 Johnny Wake Rosie Davis Mark Mayhew MRICS Alex Coles MRICS PMIAgrM Sam Day #sheep #farming #shepherdess #Norfolk #RareBreed #lambing #regenerativefarming #BBCradio #feature #BBC

Our shepherdess Hannah Murrell is gearing up for a very busy lambing season. The 24-year-old shepherdess is expecting up to 300 Rare & Native Breed lambs to be born in the next few weeks at our sister Estate, Gawdy Hall, in Harleston. Hannah looks after a flock of 400 sheep with the help of her three-year-old sheepdog Roo. We reintroduced Rare Breed sheep at Gawdy Hall in 2023 starting with 50 Llanwenog sheep. They were soon joined by another 350 as well as 27 Norfolk Horn Shearling ewes, an amber listed rare breed, 100 Lleyn ewes, 3 pedigree rams and 200 Lleyn ewe lambs. The flock are reared entirely outside on grass and herbal leys in the 16th century Estate’s parkland and graze cover crops such as radish grown over the winter months. The introduction of cover cropping and livestock is part of our change to a more regenerative way of farming to improve soil health. Find out more about Hannah and what she loves about her job here: https://lnkd.in/ed7fTTTN Johnny Wake Mark Mayhew MRICS Alex Coles MRICS PMIAgrM Rosie Davis #Norfolk #sheep #lambing #farming #regenerativefarming #shepherdess #RareBreed

We've been on a bird hunt! Encouraging more birds to make Courteenhall Estate their home is one of our environmental missions. Each year we take part in the The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust Big Farmland Bird Count (BFBC), which is sponsored by the NFU (National Farmers' Union). The event, which takes place between February 7–23 this year, encourages farmers and land managers across the UK to record different species of birds and their numbers on their farms. It’s a good way for us, as farmers, to measure the impact of our own conservation work. Statistics shows that the UK has lost over 70 million wild birds in the last half a century. Armed with our Bird Count Record Sheets and a handy app we headed out into the parkland this week to make a note of each species we spotted, where we heard them and what the weather was like. We found species including: Barn Owl, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Common Kingfisher, Dunnock, Green Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Mistle Thrush, Tree Creeper and Song Thrush. Courteenhall’s Estate Manager Rosie Davis said: “We went out to eight different places in the woodlands across the parkland and used an app to record the birds we could hear around us. “Many of the birds we heard have already been picked up by Chris Payne, a licenced Senior Ringer and Trainer for Northants Ringing Group, who carries out regular audits of our bird populations and helps us to understand what we can do to increase our bird numbers. “We were really pleased to hear Barn Owls as we installed lots of new owl boxes in 2023. “We’re aiming to carry out surveys like this every three months so that we can keep an eye on the various species living on the Estate. This allows us to target out environmental work to support those less common birds that we find.” https://lnkd.in/e2_qucTf Johnny Wake Alex Coles MRICS PMIAgrM Mark Mayhew MRICS #BFBC #BigFarmlandBirdCount #HaveYouCountedYet #GWCT #FarmersForWildlife #AgricultureAndWildlife #BirdConservation #Northamptonshire

Great interview with Johnny Wake on #BBC Radio4 by Sarah Swadling. #onyourfarm

We held our sausage making day last weekend – and it was a great success, Our Berkshire pigs are raised on the Estate where they are free to forage in the woods. Lots of people from the Courteenhall Estate team turned up to help make over 3,000 sausages from five of our pigs. They came out in the cold and worked hard together for nearly five hours to make a wonderful supply of sausages. We believe in sustainable farming, great home grown food and the strategy of Farm to Fork, which emphasises a more direct connection between the production of food on farms and its consumption on our plates. https://lnkd.in/eqSFnrXg #FarmtoFork #farming #Northamptonshire #sausages #sustainablefarming Johnny Wake

New Trustee Announcement! We are delighted to announce four new appointments to our Board of Trustees. Anna Dugdale, Jake Freestone, John Renner, and Johnny Wake bring with them a wealth of experience and will contribute enormously valuable expertise and insights at a time of significant growth and at a key strategic point for LEAF globally. Anna Dugdale is a full time Non-Executive Director with G's Group who are also part of the LEAF Network. Amongst her responsibilities within the Group, is the development and delivery of the ESG strategy, of which one of the core pillars is the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices. She brings with her a wealth of business leadership and corporate experience both in the UK and globally. Jake and John have been LEAF Demonstration Farmers for over twenty years and are LEAF Marque certified. We are thrilled to have them involved at Board level. Both are pioneering adopters of Integrated Farm Management and have huge practical experience and sector wide knowledge. Their deep practical farm management experience will be immensely valuable as we continue to extend our knowledge exchange capabilities through the LEAF Network and accelerate the adoption of more climate positive farming approaches delivered through LEAF Marque. Johnny Wake, is Managing Partner of Courteenhall Estate in Northamptonshire and is a passionate advocate of sustainable farming and rural learning. He believes strongly in the long-term benefits of engaging young people with farming and has hosted Open Farm Sunday events for a number of years. All of us at LEAF look forward to working alongside the new Trustees in the coming years. The new appointments come as Emma Penny, Sara Eppel, Ana Romero and Ian Ashbridge FIAgrM MRICS FAAV step down at the end of the terms as trustees of the charity. We would like to express our sincere thanks to each of our outgoing Trustees for their exceptional commitment to driving forward our charitable objectives. LEAF has grown, evolved and overcome many challenges during their time on the Board and we have benefitted immeasurably from their sound advice, diligence and guidance. #LEAFTrustees #WeConnect #WeBuildTrust #WeEducate #SustainableFarming #ClimatePositive #FutureGenerations

Great event last night at Fortnum & Mason with The Ethical Butcher | B Corp discussing how to scale regenerative agriculture for the future. Johnny Wake Thomasina Miers Farshad Kazemian Duncan Rawson #regenagriculture

Johnny Wake, the Managing Partner of Courteenhall Estate in South Northamptonshire, has won an award for his entrepreneurship and visionary leadership in the agricultural sector. Johnny has been announced as the winner of Cranfield School of Management’s 2025 Entrepreneur Alumni Award and has been praised for his ‘deep commitment to sustainability and innovation’. A former doctor turned farmer, Johnny was part of Cranfield’s Business Growth Programme 2019. Its awards honour alumni who exemplify their values, make significant contributions to their organisations, communities, and the alumni community, and who serve as role models and inspire all those who strive to make a meaningful impact in business and society. https://lnkd.in/e9NxnYeH Stephanie Hussels David Oglethorpe Alex Coles MRICS PMIAgrM Rosie Davis Mark Mayhew MRICS #Northamptonshire #business #alumni #sustainability #entrepreneur #entrepreneurship

The Winter issue of our quarterly newsletter is now available.