Clive Sherwood - Trustee Expand Clive’s interests as an amateur naturalist are broad. A former beekeeper, his main concern for many years has been improving and maintaining habitats. This includes promoting habitat for wood ants (an important food for green woodpeckers and other birds), conserving open woodland for wild flowers and establishing a large variety of nectar producing shrubs for butterflies. It was after reading an article in the Times on disappearing song thrushes that Clive was introduced to SongBird Survival. He was chairman of the Charity for over 10 years until 2013, and now continues as a trustee.
Colin Strang Steel - Trustee Expand Colin is a Chartered Surveyor and for thirty years has worked for an international firm of property consultants responsible for their Scottish business, based in Edinburgh. He lives on a 412 hectare livestock farm in the Scottish Borders which achieved Wildlife Estates Scotland (WES) accreditation in 2014 and the Telegraph RSPB Nature of Farming Award for Scotland. He has been involved with the steering committee of Borders FWAG (Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group) and was a Trustee of Borders Forest Trust. He is a Trustee for a large estate in the Borders with substantial farming, forestry and sporting interests. He is also involved in the restoration and improvement of another estate in the region where there is considerable emphasis on conservation and environmental improvement.
David Griffith - Vice Chairman, Board of Trustees Expand David has been interested in birds since he was a boy and has been fortunate to live in a wonderful wild upland of North Wales since a teenager. He spent most of his working life in the Brewing Industry. He also spent 9 years as a Board Member of the Wales Tourist Board. He now runs a hill farm at his home in North Wales, with sheep and Welsh Black beef cattle. The farm is involved in agri-environment schemes and he has planted a number of woods over the years. During his 60 years there he has seen a drastic reduction in the songbird and ground nesting bird populations. He continues to plant woods to try to improve biodiversity.
Georgina Bradley - Office & Shows Manager Expand Georgina (George) grew up on a small holding in rural Norfolk. She is passionate about animals and the countryside and all the wildlife and plants therein. She studied Civil Engineering at University before starting her own bookkeeping business. She now runs the office and shows at SBS.
John Pugh - Vice Chairman, Board of Trustees Expand John moved into his hill farm on the Cambrian Mountains in Wales with his parents over 60 years ago, and has been working with Luing, Beef Shorthorns, Galloways and Welsh Blacks ever since. He also spent some years working as a warden for the National Trust. John campaigns for the survival of native cattle breeds alongside traditional countryside crafts such as dry-stone-walling, all of which are beneficial for wildlife and the environment. His aim is to show the world that traditional farming goes hand-in-hand with conservation. In his view, it’s a marriage that is as old as the hills.
Keith Cowieson - Director Expand Keith retired from the RAF as a Group Captain after a long and successful career. He then did an important assignment with the Government Olympic Executive for 18 months before joining SBS in 2012. He has been a keen ornithologist all his life and been active in the RAF Ornithological Society (RAFOS) for many years. Keith has considerable knowledge of birds and their conservation issues. He has led a number of RAFOS expeditions to study birds in such places as Svalbard, Arctic Norway, the Hebrides and the Falkland Islands. He has also participated in survey work for the two most recent editions of the BTO Bird Atlas.
Lord Leicester - Vice Chairman, Board of Trustees Expand Tom lives at the Holkham Estate on the North Norfolk coast. The Holkham National Nature Reserve extends to over 4,000 acres including seven miles of coastal frontage. In 2010 it recorded the first successful fledgling of Eurasian Spoonbills in the British Isles for three hundred years. The Holkham Estate runs a predominantly wild bird shoot and has been doing all it can to promote the welfare of the red listed grey partridge. An amazing 335 species of birds have been counted on the estate. Tom is a life member of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, The British Trust for Ornithology, The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust and the British Association for Shooting and Conservation.
Lord Rankeillour - Vice Chairman, Board of Trustees; Treasurer Expand Now retired, Michael read Engineering at university and went on to work in the electronics industry and then the computer industry, spending 30 years working with IBM. From a very young age he was always keen on wildlife, particularly birds. His main interests are still ornithology, fishing, hill walking, a love of wild places and many technical subjects such as energy generation, aircraft design and climate change. Michael strongly believes in the science based approach that SBS is taking, as it is clear that this is the only sensible way to influence future debate and policy at government level.
Nick Forde - Trustee Expand Nick is a former stockbroker who now divides his time between London and Norfolk. He has a young family to whom he enjoys teaching about the countryside. The loss of the dawn chorus in his London garden drew his attention to the problem of declining songbird populations. Nick is the London representative of the charity and helps with media communications. He has brought the work of SongBird Survival to public attention on TV, radio, and in national and regional newspapers across the UK. Nick also plays a key part in contacts with ministers and other conservation organisations.
Nicky Oliver - Trustee Expand Nicky was taught the merits of wildlife and countryside by her father in the borders of Wales. Both she and her husband are keen ornithologists. She has travelled the world and is a keen sportswoman, gardener and avid reader amongst many other interests. Nicky is a vice patron of the Royal British Sculptural Society and vice-chair to the funding side of Fine Cell Work, a charity helping prisoners to rehabilitate through stitching.
Robert Middleditch - Chairman, Board of Trustees Expand Robert farms in Suffolk. All of his farmland is classified as high value for farmland birds by the British Trust for Ornithology due to the small field sizes, the large number of ancient hedgerows and numerous woods coupled with areas of marshland. All the land is in various agri-environment schemes. One block of land is the subject of a long-term SBS study, and has been subject to yearly bird counts since entering the agri-environment schemes in 2002. It has witnessed a 20% decline in breeding territories in the period 2002-2012. This decline is in line with national statistics and reinforces the opinion of many leading ecologists that agri-environment schemes are not delivering on increasing the farmland bird populations. Robert was a founder director of the Forum for Sustainable Farming. He has participated in Unilever’s sustainable farming project, Sustainable Arable Farming for an Improved Environment (SAFFIE) and the Farmers for Nature project.
Sarah Potter - Vice Chairman, Board of Trustees Expand Sarah grew up in the Northamptonshire countryside and from a young age was encouraged by her mother, an RSPB member for many years, to observe birds. As a result she became an early member of the Northamptonshire Naturalists Trust in the sixties. With a background in charity PR, she now manages the woodlands and biodiversity on the family farm, as well as helping run a free range poultry business. She is a trustee of two other charitable trusts and until recently was a volunteer caseworker for forces’ charities. She is an avid gardener as well as a beekeeper.
Simon Lester - Trustee Expand Simon has been a professional gamekeeper for nearly 40 years. Beginning his career on lowland reared bird shoots, he was headkeeper of Holkham Estate in North Norfolk for seven years and most recently, headkeeper at the Langholm Moor Demonstration Project in Dumfriesshire. Long committed to the health and wellbeing of the countryside and all wildlife, not just game birds, Simon is keen to find a workable solution to current conservation conflicts.
Zara Porter Hill - Trustee Expand Zara is an art consultant and exhibition director with a fascination for the natural environment. She has travelled extensively travelled and has interests in gardening, museums, art and architecture, walking, skiing and triathlons, amongst many other outdoor pursuits.