Matt Horsham, Community Projects Officer for Operation Turtle Dove, reflects on the recent OTD presence at Groundswell 2025
With the OTD team spread across much of the South East and East Anglia, it’s always a treat for everyone to meet up in person. The most recent occasion was Groundswell 2025 on 2nd and 3rd July, where the team gathered to talk all things Turtle Dove with the farming community. As a recent addition to the OTD team this was a whirlwind event that I really enjoyed, allowing me to really get out there and make connections and engage!
The OTD team at Groundswell 2025
The Woodstock of the farming calendar, Groundswell is a unique two-day event where the farming, agriculture and conservation sectors can all congregate to learn, discuss and share ideas about conservation agriculture and regenerative farming systems. There are talks, forums, walk-and-talks and demonstrations as well as the opportunity to connect with others in the sector.
But most importantly, it was great to have such widespread and enthusiastic interaction and connection with you, the attending farmers and public! Even though there were always a good number of us at the tent you kept us very busy and there was always one of our team chatting to someone. From people who had never seen or been able to identify a Turtle Dove, to those currently actively helping the to get the UK ‘Turtle Dove Ready’ by providing the trinity of nesting habitat, foraging habitat and water source on their farms and land. We loved interacting and exchanging knowledge and advice with you, and it was great to make so many new connections.
A particular highlight for OTD, it was great to see all the ‘Turtle Dove Good News’ stories you shared on our noticeboard, ranging from people who had their first Turtle Dove on their land this year after their habitat restoration attempts, to those who recorded breeding for the first time after having Turtle Doves present for the past few years on their land.
The Operation Turtle Dove website has lots of resources on our advice pages. You may want to get in touch with one of our team of Turtle Dove Conservation Advisers.