Agri-Environment Turtle Dove GPS tracking for the Upper Beult and Marden Farm Clusters

Description

This contract will provide the GPS tags to be owned by Natural England and to be subsequently loaned out to a third party to study Turtle Doves in the 2025/26 breeding season. Defra's Agri-environment schemes include both the existing Environmental Stewardship, Countryside Stewardship, and the newer Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Landscape Recovery. Natural England's Agri-environment team is working closely with farmers and landowners to use the schemes offered by DEFRA to deliver nature recovery at a landscape-scale. Understanding how species respond to Agri-environment actions is crucial to target investment properly. Turtle doves are a Red-Listed species and a species of European Conservation Concern (Vulnerable). Kent holds one-third of the UK's population and more than any other individual county. The project aims to investigate turtle dove use of agri-environment schemes in the Low Weald area including hedges and scrub creation for nesting and roosting, agri-environment feeding plots, cultivated margins and areas, and ponds, and to evaluate their distribution across agri-environment landscapes. An understanding of the population dynamics of these populations could potentially be generated as an outcome. To apply for this opportunity you must submit your quotation meeting the requirements detailed in the Request for Quotation (RFQ) attached. Your response must be sent to elyse.ward@naturalengland.org.uk by 23:59 on 09/02/2025. If you have any clarification questions linked to this opportunity or the procurement process please submit these via email to elyse.ward@naturalengland.org.uk. Please note that, unless commercially sensitive, both the question and the response will be circulated to all tenderers.