JP Rural Services Ltd — The sky’s the limit

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James Poynton · Leicestershire

Practical skills.
A personal service.

I run JP Rural Services Ltd, combining a farming and countryside management background with agricultural drone technology.

Whether you need crop support, woodland work, timber milling or hedge restoration, you’ll deal directly with me. We start with your site, agree the approach and quotation, then plan the work.

James Poynton at his mobile timber mill in woodland
James Poynton operating his agricultural drone in the field
From the ground to the air

The person behind the work.

My background is rooted in farming and practical land management. I grew up on an organic farm in Wales, with experience across horticulture, arable crops and livestock.

More recently, I managed farm tenancies, parkland and woodland on behalf of a local authority. I then worked as a farm instructor at Brooksby College, before progressing to lecturing in countryside management and agriculture.

During my four years at Brooksby College, I also helped with the agroforestry project and worked closely with Alex Gray on regenerative farming and sustainable food. This strengthened my practical understanding of how crops, livestock, trees and habitat management can work together.

That experience shapes how I work today: understanding the land, listening to the people who manage it and choosing a practical approach to each job.

Explore agricultural drone services ↗

Training & experience

Assessed qualifications and practical training in agricultural drones, pesticide handling, forestry and machinery operation.

View qualifications and training ↓

Traditional skills

Fifteen years of hedgelaying experience, supported by Level 1 and Level 2 hedgelaying certificates, alongside mobile timber milling.

Planned around your site

Qualified and insured for the services I undertake. Large agricultural drone work operates under SAS’s operational authorisation.

Skills behind the service

Qualifications & training

A summary of my certificates, grouped by the work they support.

Drone operation

  • General VLOS Certificate (GVC) — multi-rotor, Specific category.
  • Lantra Certificate of Competence — Remote Pilot Drone Spraying Certification, delivered through Drone Spray Precision and Harper Adams University.

Pilot qualifications support my competence. Large agricultural drone work operates under SAS Land Services’ operational authorisation and its agreed scope.

Forestry & tree work

  • City & Guilds / NPTC Level 2 — Chainsaw and Related Operations: maintenance and cross-cutting.
  • City & Guilds / NPTC Level 2 — Felling and Processing Small Trees.
  • City & Guilds / NPTC Level 3 — Felling and Processing Trees over 380 mm.
  • City & Guilds / NPTC Level 2 — Safe Use of a Powered Pole Pruner.
  • City & Guilds / NPTC Level 3 — Emergency Treework Operations.
  • Lantra Certificate of Competence — General Winching Theory and Practice.

Agriculture & pesticide handling

  • City & Guilds Level 2 — Agricultural Tractor Driving and Related Operations, including tractor attachments and loader operation.
  • City & Guilds Level 2 — Principles of Safe Handling and Application of Pesticides.
  • City & Guilds Level 2 — Safe Application of Pesticides Using Pedestrian Hand Held Equipment.
  • Lantra Level 2 — Safe Use of Pesticides: principles of safe use and application.

Pesticide principles and hand-held equipment qualifications are separate from permission to apply pesticides by drone.

Additional practical training

The following certificates record course attendance or familiarisation rather than separate assessed qualifications.

  • Lantra — Chainsaw Maintenance and Cross-cutting: attendance training.
  • Keith Cook Training — Safe Use of Table Saw: non-accredited, non-assessed basic training.
  • SMB College Group — tractor-mounted post knocker training.
  • Först — TR6 woodchipper familiarisation and safety operations course.
Where I work

Based in Leicestershire.
Working across the Midlands.

Enquiries welcome from Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire. Travel and availability depend on the project.

01 / Tell me about the jobLocation, size, access and preferred timing.

02 / Agree the approachSite assessment and a quotation before booking.

03 / Plan the workSuitable dates and practical arrangements agreed together.

Let’s talk about your land.

Tell me what you need, where it is and when you have in mind.

Discuss your project ↗