Matt Betton
Matt Betton
Contract Shepherd, Stiperstones
The bracken is four foot high in places, and the heather can be two foot high. It’s a struggle to drive sheep through there. In places on the north end, where some work has been done to create space, that helps greatly.
In late March, we met Matt Betton, who has a farm tucked below the western edge of Long Mynd, in Shropshire. Matt’s grandfather took on the holding in the mid 1950s and was an active grazier on the Long Mynd common for over 50 years. This is where Matt’s love of farming began, growing up here, and working alongside his grandfather. Matt now keeps Welsh Ewes and Cheviots with grazing land spread out below the common. Over the years, he has worked on several other farms and brings his experience to his own place, working in a way that doesn’t leave him burning the candle at both ends, but allows him to keep a strong flock that he’s proud of.
As part of the Our Upland Commons project, Matt is working as a shepherd on Stiperstones. This high area of land includes the second highest point in the county (Manstone Rock at 536m) and an eight-kilometre-long rocky ridge, and it embraces Stiperstones Common. Matt knows it well, as a local farmer, but over the past year has come to know it much better: he spent many days, across the year, watching the way the sheep move around the common. This year, his role is to encourage the sheep to change some of their habits and spread the benefits they bring to the hill.
Stiperstones is a National Nature Reserve, owned by Natural England, that’s valued for its heather moorland; it is classified as being in Good Condition. Grazing has, over the centuries, been an intrinsic part of the maintenance of this unique spread of upland vegetation that supports a wide variety of wild birds and butterflies, as well as bilberry, and cloudberry, among other specialists plants. There’s concern, however, that grazing is being limited to too few areas, leaving much of the common undergrazed so that the finely balanced floral habitat is at risk of losing its special quality.
Hefts and a challenging landscape
Matt is fond of Stiperstones and is embracing the challenge ahead. The sheep on the common come from two different farms; they have their own niches or ‘hefts’, which have been established for generations. It’s not going to be easy to coax them to move. The factors involved include availability of water - and with some springs drying up due to climate change, sheep are inclined to avoid the drier areas. In hot summers, the lack of shelter on Stiperstones also has an impact. ‘On the east side, there's very few watering holes. There's no cover. So in the middle of summer when it's hot, sheep just don't want to be there. So that's why that west side is just ideal for them.’
The hill is rocky and feels harsh to human feet. Sheep are of course more agile, but will always favour areas with accessible grass, water and shelter. In 2021 Matt made regular visits to check the sheep and familiarise himself with their wanderings, choosing to walk rather than cover the area on a quad bike. The 1700-acre area is rocky, with areas of thick bracken or heather, and in parts the hill falls steeply, or folds into in sharp gullies and dingles. ‘Those valleys are so difficult to see. I can be stood on top one of the valleys on that west side, and there could be sheep just 100 yards below me, but I won't be able to see them unless I walk all the way down.’ Covering the ground has been a challenge, but Matt has learnt a lot and has created a map to reflect the grazing patterns.
The next stage of Matt’s task, once the sheep have been returned to Stiperstones after lambing on lower ground, is to spend time encouraging them to move. Matt’s days are likely to start early, especially on hot summer days when he’ll be keen not to put too much pressure on the sheep. He’ll be getting to know the hill well in the dawn hours, and in the cool of the evening. And he’ll be taking it slowly. ‘Initially, I'm just not going to even try and move them. Because on that west side where they're released from, they're hefted to that area, and there's going to be lush grass there. Once they've grazed those areas down, though, then I can start quietly, just moving pockets of them, little by little.’
Through the course of the grazing season, from around May until November, Matt will regularly be out on Stiperstones. ‘I've got to be wary not to mix two flocks. That's important to the graziers, and I quite agree with them. They don't want to criss-cross, because they've got their natural hefts. The more southerly flock do actually spread out more, which I found from this year. Whereas the northerly flock really just stay in their heft where they are closer to the farmstead. It's going to be more difficult to move those, I think.’
Additional land management, including thinning out bracken or creating strips through heather, will also help clear areas for the sheep, and as they move, it’s hoped that the grazing will help to open up more areas. ‘The bracken is four foot high in places, and the heather can be two foot high. It’s a struggle to drive sheep through there. In places on the north end, where some work has been done to create space, that helps greatly.’
The practice of moving sheep around with active shepherding, which was common in the uplands in 18th and 19th centuries, is rarely used now. Matt will be on a learning curve, as will the sheep, but if the sheep begin to graze more widely, this will spread the impact on the vegetation.
Shepherding with added interest!
One of the attractions of taking on this shepherding job was to meet people out on the common. ‘I couldn't believe quite how many people use Stiperstones. I was surprised by that. Even at six o'clock in the morning there were people up there.’ A lot of people chat with Matt and enjoy learning about Stiperstones from him. He can learn from them too: ‘Sometimes they’ll tell me where they’ve seen sheep, and that’s a real help.’
Whatever lessons he learns are likely to be useful for farmers in other areas where there’s a wish to bring a balance back to delicate habitats. And along the way, Matt will be learning a lot more about Stiperstones common. ‘You could add more strings to your bow, really, if there was a full time role doing it. You could be a botanist part time! Or a part time twitcher, making a note of when you hear a cuckoo, or see a nightjar or a peregrine. The birds, they are a real interest to me. You could be more than just a shepherd, couldn't you?’
“‘You could add more strings to your bow, really, if there was a full time role doing it. You could be a botanist part time! Or a part time twitcher, making a note of when you hear a cuckoo, or see a nightjar or a peregrine. You could be more than just a shepherd, couldn’t you?”
We’ll be returning to meet Matt again and discover how things go, what more he learns, and how the sheep - and the vegetation - respond.