New horses arrive at Lordships Stud!

Alaska and Revel (aka ‘Pie’) joined the Lordships Stud, Writtle College, on 21st January 2015 from World Horse Welfare. The staff and students were all very excited about the two new arrivals, as Alaska and Pie would both be bringing something new to the college stud unit from all aspects.  

"Pie" Image courtesy of Lordships Stud

These two young horses have joined Writtle College to be used in practical sessions with the students, as well as hopefully being able to go through the Young Stock backing programme in September 2015.  Once they arrived they were both placed in isolation for one week; this was to allow them to get used to their new environment, as well as to prevent any possible pathogens being passed to the other young horses on site. After their week of isolation, both Alaska and Pie were slowly introduced to the rest of the yard, and settled in to their new routine with both the staff and students.  

Since their arrival, they have both been involved in a number of practical sessions with the students; both at college and degree level. For example weighing, measuring and body condition scoring for the first year students and structural development for the third year students.  As they become more familiar with their new environment, they will become involved in more taught sessions with a variety of student groups. 

Both horses have taken to their new surroundings well and appear to be very accepting of the students.  Students have commented on how good Alaska and Pie are to handle when conducting practical sessions, as well as when being turned out and brought in from the fields.  Other comments from staff and students are that even though they both have had a rough start in life, they are both very trusting with people; which is clearly due to the couple of years spent at World Horse Welfare Hall Farm and the work of the amazing team of staff there. From a behavioural aspect, it has been noted that Alaska is the more dominant of the two, but still very sweet natured.  

"Alaska" Image courtesy of Lordships Stud

Following this interaction with World Horse Welfare, students have expressed an interest in visiting World Horse Welfare for either work experience or an educational tour. The students would like to see first-hand how the staff at World Horse Welfare treat and handle their horses to enable them to become so trusting and well behaved despite their difficult start in life. As Alaska and Pie both went into World Horse Welfare being unhandled, it is clear that they have both made significant progress to date, and here at Lordships Stud, it is proposed that their education will be developed further, and hopefully increase their chances of finding a permanent home!

Written by Natasha Coughtrey Smith 2^nd year BSc Equine Studies and Business Management

Writtle Wildlife Watch!

The face of the Essex countryside is forever adapting, with the arrival of new animal and plant species on a frequent basis. Farming is essentially changing too, with less livestock production and more arable crop farming. So why are we seeing these changes happen?

Conservation expert, Alan Roscoe, explores why...

"I was chuffed the other day to see that celebrity chef Tom Kerridge’s pub, the Hand and Flowers, serves a main course of ‘Essex lamb bun with sweetbreads and salsa verde’. With the notable exceptions of Kelly bronze turkeys, samphire from our estuaries and previously, saffron from the eponymous Walden, Essex is not especially venerated for the distinctiveness of its produce. So it was nice to see us given a mention.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia "Crops"
by Johannes Jansson

It got me thinking though, about how geographically polarised our food production has become, with comparatively little livestock in the south-east, and how this has affected our wildlife. A lamb from Essex is a pretty rare - no pun intended - beast and I can think of only two farmers locally who raise sheep for the table. The exception proves the rule therefore. Essex is predominantly an arable county and has been for many years, mostly as a consequence of its soil being excellent for crops.

The presence of animals on a farm was, many decades ago, a given. They were there to provide the power to drive the plough and the harrow. With the arrival of mechanised power in the early 20^th century however, the presence of animals on a farm was no longer necessary and finding working animals on an Essex farm is now almost an impossibility.

So what is the knock-on effect?

Image courtesy of Wikipedia "Farmer ploughing"
by Ralf Roletschek

Well, for a start, you no longer need grassland to feed your animals. And so called ‘unimproved’ grassland i.e. areas which have not had applications of chemicals or ever been ploughed, are especially rare. These areas have high conservation value and would have numbered among the fields which had fed animals for hundreds of years, only to be turned over to the plough once the animals were no longer needed.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia
"Harvest mouse" by Michael Gäbler

But we also lose the animals and, arguably, their most important product – their waste. An ecosystem is built from the base up and, in many systems, we are talking about insects. Animal waste provides food and shelter, primarily for various families of flies and beetles. These insects then become a food source for small mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds, thus acting as the base of    a huge ‘food pyramid’.

So although Tom’s lamb bun will set you back £27 a time, you are doing your bit for biodiversity in Essex!"

Plants, plants, plants!

With less than two months to go until the Young Gardeners of the Year 2015 competition, our horticulture students are busy preparing their designs ready for display at the prestigious event.

In this blog, Joshua Kemp tells us of the importance of choosing the correct plant species for the competition, and how he plans to care and maintain the plants ready for the big day.

Growing plants in the Writtle College greenhouse

"With concepts and plans well on the way, focus has started to shift on the specifics for the Ideal Home Show Garden. This week we have been looking at what plants will be suitable for the show garden. This is important for me, as in my future work, being able to choose correct plants that are suitable for the location is part of being a successful horticulturist. 

Plants flourish in the Writtle College greenhouse

We have utilised college facilities by moving plants that we already have on site into greenhouses. We will then be able to manipulate what stage of the cycle the plants will be in for the show, by giving them the correct conditions that they would naturally have during the spring/summer seasons. This was one of my first experiences within the greenhouses, and through Writtle College I have been able to see the set up and operational procedure of them.

The next stage will be sourcing more ‘exotic’ plants for the garden…."

Written by Joshua Kemp

For more information on the launch, click here.

Floristry degree students take part in Lonely Bouquet campaign

During the festive period a number of degree-level Professional Floristry students took part in the international Lonely Bouquet campaign. The purpose of the campaign is to spread happiness by leaving small bouquets of flowers in different locations for members of the public to adopt.

Professional Floristry student Eiki Shibuya

In December, Writtle floristry students hit the streets of Chelmsford as part of the campaign and were delighted by the results. International student, Eiki Shibuya from Japan, discusses his experience of taking part in this unique event and how the skills and knowledge he has been taught during his course were put into practise!

"We made the bouquets at College and left them in Chelmsford city centre as we wanted the lovely posies to be adopted by local residents. Each posy has a note that said 'Adopt me' and 'I do not want you to be lonely this Christmas.' What we expected was to bring heartfelt vibrations to the city. 

Surprisingly, every bouquet was adopted in 15 minutes! After we finished distributing all of the bouquets, we walked back again to check it. It was interesting to see people's reactions. We still remember a gentleman who was in Chelmsford Cathedral and looking at a bouquet for a while, suspending jogging whilst in there. Finally, he took it and we absolutely felt he was full of happiness.  It was what we had been aspiring to see and realise. We felt proud to be florists!

All of the students that took part are studying a degree in Professional Floristry. As the title shows, the course covers all aspects to become profession in the industry. In classroom, we are enhancing both skills and knowledge. For example, learning principles of design is useful to absorb new ideas and try it.  

You might agree that florists are 'communicators' through flowers. A bunch of flowers would connect people and bring a good atmosphere between them. Flowers are extremely powerful. When people get married, we see the venue full of flowers. When people pass away, florists help people to express dignity and respect. In terms of true communication, we believe it is a more powerful way than just saying 'I love you' via email. Having believed the mysterious but simple power, we have spent ages to let bouquets deliver feelings from a sender to a recipient. We love it!" 

Interested in studying a Professional Floristry degree? Visit our website here: Floristry

If you want to meet our Professional Floristry team, book onto our next Open Day here: Open Day

The challenge of the sea...

This entry comes from the fantastic Writtle conservation team and looks at how the sea impacts on the environment.

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Winter is here and wouldn’t it be nice to jet off somewhere exotic and faraway? The Maldives perhaps? Or perhaps not…..it seems that particular island group is under imminent threat from rising sea levels. To be precise, the water around the islands is currently rising at 9mm a year and the islanders may have to leave their homes before the year 2100. 

But sea level rise is affecting us here in Britain as well, although clearly not in such a drastic manner. Have a look at a map of the Essex coast and the contour lines show how very close to sea level many of us live. With slowly rising sea levels and the prospect of increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, we have been forced to reconsider how we manage these threats, especially on the east coast of England. 

Image courtesy of federico stevanin at FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

The attraction of ‘hard’ defences, such as sea walls, has lost some of its appeal, not least because of the huge capital cost associated with constructing and maintaining such defences. So what to do? Over the past 20 years Essex has been at the leading edge of a new approach called ‘managed realignment’. This is a process whereby land which is currently protected by sea walls is returned to the sea by knocking through the walls and letting the water in. This way, the effects of any sea level rise or storm surges can be softened by allowing the water more room to spread out, thus reducing the overall impact, especially further up estuaries where waterways narrow.

The best known realignment sites in Essex are at Tollesbury, Abbotts Hall south of Colchester and now Wallasea Island. The sheer scale of these projects is hugely impressive in itself but this type of management is not always popular due to the loss of land which has previously been farmed. And indeed  those who oppose realignment often refer to it as ‘managed retreat’.

But one habitat which seems almost certain to benefit is that great Essex speciality, saltmarsh. In recent decades our saltmarshes have become squeezed between the sea and the sea walls. But by ‘relaxing’ the entire system of management and allowing the water in, we have begun to create new saltmarsh behind the sea walls where none has existed for (in some cases) several hundred years. We are perhaps, simply returning to the sea what was only ever borrowed.

For more information on our degree-level conservation courses, please visit our website: http://writtle.ac.uk/UG-Conservation-and-Environment

Young Gardeners of the Year 2015 blog - December 2015

Each year, Further Education Horticulture students from six of the UK's leading horticulture college's participate in the renowned Young Gardeners of the Year (YGOY) competition in London. This event provides a platform for aspiring young horticulture students to showcase their skills and knowledge in areas such as garden design, planting and landscaping. 

The YGOY team discussing designs

Writtle College students will be keeping a blog in the build up to the event in March 2015 to share their experiences of being part of such a popular show and demonstrate the amount of hard work that goes into creating a potential award winning garden.

First off, Josh Kemp informs us of the launch event and the excitement surrounding the 'ideas phase'!

"One of the main features of the year, and an event I have personally been looking forward to, is the Ideal Home Show Young Gardener of the Year Award. It was kicked off this year at the Ideal Home Christmas show at Earls Court with a presentation hosted by David Domoney. The competitor in me could not help but size up the competition. The other colleges are equally capable, but I am positive that Writtle can achieve big things this year.

Josh, left, sharing ideas on a Pinterest board

Since the opening presentation, among the Writtle students taking part, the energy surrounding the award has been almost tangible. It is infectious; to be in such a creative and dynamic environment again is extremely refreshing and inspiring. I set up a Pinterest Board so that any ideas can be visually linked between all the other students, helping us to come up with a collective design incorporating input from everyone. Having completed a design module last year, the team and I have been able to give informed ideas and much discussion has taken place giving me full belief in the ability and commitment of everyone involved. I am beyond excited to continue this process and see what we can achieve in the coming weeks and months. Who knows, the next great British designer could be among us…"

For more information on the launch, click here. 

Balancing the need for new homes with wildlife protection (October 2014)

This entry comes from the fantastic Writtle conservation team and looks at modern issues surrounding wildlife and the demand for new homes.

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Conservation is a hugely diverse and interesting subject and Essex has recently been at the forefront of one of the most discussed initiatives of recent years.

People are familiar with the approach to conservation taken by organisations such as the RSPB who are probably best known for nature reserves, which are specially managed, often for rare species.

But that does not mean that even the land immediately adjacent to your own home might not have wildlife interest, for example, reptiles, butterflies and unusual plants. Consideration of the wildlife on any site has been an integral part of the planning process for many years and has come to the forefront as we face the needs to build new houses. 


The Government has been keen to get the economy moving and meet the demand for more houses and, consequently, has been piloting a concept known as 'biodiversity offsetting'. This is a method whereby damage to or loss of wildlife habitat is 'offset' by creating habitat elsewhere as part of the planning agreement. Essex, arguably one of the most biodiverse areas in the UK, has been one of six areas piloting the process.

On the face of it, offsetting seems like a pragmatic solution to a problem which is felt especially keenly in counties such as ours and its supporters claim it offers the benefits of larger and 'better' sites for nature. But the idea has run into some hostility from those in the conservation community and it has been suggested that offsetting cannot work for a number of reasons, among them the fact that natural communities of plants and animals are complex and take time to develop. 

The main issue for everyone is how to balance one set of values against another. For example, last year a huge housing development in Kent was rejected (although planning application submitted by the developer remains in place) due to the extraordinary number of Nightingales found on the site. Was this a "good" decision or a "bad" one? The problem seems to be that we want everything - we demand housing but we also want our wildlife protected. 

So before you think that conservation is something which happens only on a nature reserve, remember that one of the most heated wildlife arguments for many years is currently being acted out right on our doorstep.

Make sure you follow the Writtle conservation team on Twitter: @WrittleCons
Visit our website: http://writtle.ac.uk/UG-Conservation-and-Environment