Russell Ashfield

Senior Consultant – Team Lead

Russell is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable land management professional with a wealth of practical experience across the UK. Great at building relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders, he excels at working collaboratively to find solutions to complex issues.

At 3keel Russell is a Senior Consultant in the Landscape Innovation team, developing the Landscape Enterprise Networks (LENs) programme and helping clients identify and plan practical land management solutions to the challenges they face. Prior to 3keel Russell worked for the National Trust for 18 years, in a number of different roles in the Midlands and latterly the South West, including all aspects of land management, nature conservation, livestock welfare and team leadership. Previously Russell worked as a Farm Conservation Adviser with FWAG, the Peak District National Park Authority and also self-employed providing advice to farmers and landowners from the moorland of the uplands to the floodplains of the lowlands.

Russell has managed a wide and very diverse range of projects including many for habitat restoration and improvement, usually on sites designated for their historic or biodiversity interest. The list includes developing and delivering a ten-year sustainability programme for the Sherborne Park Estate, writing and implementing national guidelines for livestock management, overseeing large scale building and landscape restoration projects and managing projects to implement policy and long-term planning within the National Trust.

Russell was a founding Director of the Farming Life Centre, supporting farming families and communities in the Peak District. Russell is passionate about all aspects of farming, land management and nature conservation, and loves inspiring others to explore challenges and opportunities and develop pragmatic practical solutions. Outside of work he enjoys getting out in the countryside with his dog or on his canal boat, gardening, vintage buses and horseracing.