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Special Edition Newsletter - Nature Recovery Plan Interim report on implementation 2021 to June 2023 |
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Action Plan for "Coast" |
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Jointly implemented with the North Devon Coast AONB Partnership |
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This is the second of five special edition newsletters on implementation of the Biosphere Nature Recovery Plan. Each will cover one of the five action plans for the different habitats of the terrestrial part of the Biosphere:
The Nature Recovery Plan was launched in mid-2021 in response to the global ecological emergency to address specific nature declines (habitats and species) within the Biosphere. Our Vision is that by 2030 nature will be recovering across northern Devon, and each action plan sets out the priority actions for achieving this. Implementation of each action plan is being coordinated by a group of specialists.
This progress report presents a snapshot of achievements during the first two years of work for our Wetlands and Waterbodies action plan.
To read the Nature Recovery Plan, click here
To Sign our Nature Recovery Declaration as an individual or organisation, click here
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Our 2030 Vision for the Coast |
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By 2030, nature is recovering along the coast. Thriving habitats bursting with life are making space for nature to expand in distribution and abundance, including in well-managed Marine Protected Areas. Along the coast, farmers and landowners are restoring heathland and species-rich grassland, with woodland in the combes and wetlands in the valley bottoms. Carefully controlled grazing is encouraging plants and invertebrates to flourish and rare butterflies have rebounded. Choughs are breeding again on the cliffs and white-tailed eagles are back on Lundy acting as apex predators for the booming seabird colonies; more seabirds are nesting on mainland cliffs too. Dynamic coastal floodplains now feature more wetlands. Shorebirds roost free from disturbance at places such as Horsey Island, and lapwing and oystercatcher have safe places to nest, free from disturbance; seal haul-outs are also less disturbed. New areas of saltmarsh are sequestering carbon and helping the Biosphere to adapt to climate change. RMB Chivenor is recognised as one of the UK’s top bumblebee reserves, and a sanctuary for breeding skylarks. Exemplary management of coastal sand dune systems at Braunton, Northam, Instow, Croyde and Woolacombe is controlling invasive species and scrub growth and allowing rare plants and ground nesting birds to flourish. Local people and visitors enjoy witnessing nature’s recovery in a world class coastal area.
Key Achievements to mid-2023
- Coastal Grassland Restoration
- Dynamic Dunescapes
- Horsey Island and Estuarine Saltmarsh
- Disturbance Reduction for Estuarine Birds
- Seabird Recovery on Lundy
- Water Vole Reintroduction
- Bumblebees of coastal grasslands
- Greater Horseshoe Bats
- Plastic waste reduction on the coast
- Monitoring intertidal Invasive species
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Coastal Grassland Restoration |
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There has been a massive loss of flower-rich hay meadows and pastures due to agricultural intensification and previous land management decisions. These former species-rich habitats are vital to the recovery of threatened plants and their associated pollinating insects, bird and small mammal populations.
The National Trust has launched a large programme to create a network of wildflower grasslands of varying sizes along the coastal strip in northern Devon, from the Hartland peninsula to West Exmoor, and in some other inland sites in the Biosphere. In an area totalling more than 1,200 hectares by 2030, the programme will increase biodiversity and nature recovery at scale. The first batch of sites, covering some 86 hectares, were sown in autumn 2022, producing wildflowers in spring and summer 2023. These sites, which are being monitored to determine the extent of successful germination and growth, will later be used as donor sites providing seeds for new sites in subsequent years – a cost-effective way of scaling up the scheme. Some harvesting is already planned for 2023. At Woolacombe, typical dune and salt tolerant species such as Bird’s-foot Trefoil, Kidney Vetch, Viper’s Bugloss and Salad Burnet have been sown.
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The Trust is also undertaking a range of other work to enhance the diversity of coastal grassland areas, without harming the quality or connectivity of new and existing wildflower meadows. Wildlife-rich grasslands and diverse adjoining habitats will result in better soil health, as well as locking in soil carbon and improving water quality. During 2022, a stream-erosion project was trialled at Ilfracombe Torrs aiming at restoration of eroded gullies and rewetting of drained coastal grassland. A larger project for restoration of small coastal streams in the Morte and Bull Point area is in preparation. Some 33,000 trees were planted during winter 2022/23 at NT sites around Woolacombe, resulting in the creation of new woodland, wood pasture and hedgerows. At Cornborough, NT has implemented ‘green roll-back’ of the cliff-top grassland by moving a fence-line inland, providing an additional 0.33 ha of species-rich grassland and thereby giving more space for biodiversity, as well as for people using the South West Coast Path.
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Sand dunes are among the habitats most at risk in Europe. Our vitally important dune systems have become too stable and over-vegetated. On Braunton Burrows a 1940 Luftwaffe photograph shows a decrease in bare sand from over 60% to less than 3% – all in just 80 years. In order to secure both species diversity and abundance we need to take sand dunes back to what we know they were like pre-1950 when there were large areas of bare sand. A number of factors contribute to this dune stabilization including post-war planting of marram grass, a dramatic reduction of rabbit populations, loss of sheep grazing, a reduction of mowing, introduced invasive species and increasingly air pollution. Dogs have a significant negative impact firstly through disturbance; with the loss of breeding birds species, loss and reduction of roosts, impact on bird health and survival, and likely reduction in species breeding success. Dogs have also prevented the use of sheep as a management tool – a tool that has a proven history of success on Braunton Burrows. Nutrient enrichment through dog faeces and urine is known to be significant around car parks. Dynamic Dunescapes has initiated research to look at how dog flea and tick treatments may be affecting invertebrate populations on sand dunes – Braunton Burrows is taking part in the research.
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In North Devon, led by Plantlife, and with support from Christie Estates, Dynamic Dunescapes is an EU LIFE / Lottery-funded four-year partnership project with Natural England and National Trust. The project ends in September 2024. The objective is to improve dune habitats on the Burrows and to increase populations of rare species such as Water Germander, Petalwort, Round-headed Club Rush, Amber Sandbowl Snail, Sand Lizard and Great Crested Newt. This restoration is being achieved by major works to reduce scrub, including removal of invasive species, and by scraping large areas back to bare sand. These works create dynamic processes leading to more open successional habitat and wetter slacks. 30ha of scrub and 23ha of scrapes have been cleared. In early 2023 nine notches were formed – six in the foredune and three inland to increase wind-blown sand mobility.
These are the largest ever conservation works on a UK sand-dune system and it is crucial that immediate continued follow-up management is delivered. Without continued targeted management around 80% of the works will return to scrub within 10 years. Volunteers could provide a vital role in this follow-up management. The Ministry of Defence and Devon Wildlife Trust could also significantly contribute to on-going management.
The National Trust at Woolacombe Warren have established new and innovative winter cattle grazing with the use of ‘no-fence’ collars. The grazing is helping to restore habitat that is once again showing Bee and Pyramidal Orchids in abundance, as well as increasing populations of Bird's-foot trefoil and other common dune plant species.
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Horsey Island and Estuarine Saltmarsh |
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The climate emergency is contributing to the loss of coastal habitats – and the creation of entirely new ecosystems – in sometimes dramatic ways. Horsey Island, near Braunton, was until November 2017 an 80ha triangular area of freshwater grazing marsh protected by flood banks adjacent to the River Caen as it enters the Taw-Torridge estuary. In early November that year, the structural failure of a tidal sluice allowed seawater to flood the entire site, with the consequent loss of hundreds of animal and plant species unable to tolerate salt water.
Very quickly, and within months, new saltmarsh species such as Samphire and Sea Purslane germinated and started to create a new habitat. Saltmarshes are under threat from development and other pressures all around the UK, and Devon Wildlife Trust, with the help of a generous local donor, stepped in to purchase Horsey Island to create a nature reserve.
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The use of Horsey Island by large flocks of overwintering waders such as Golden Plover, Lapwing and Curlew, as well as other species such as Shelduck, Wigeon and Teal, makes this nature reserve very attractive to visitors. Occasional sightings of Marsh Harrier and Osprey hint at further potential for eco-tourism within the immediate area which includes Braunton Burrows and Marsh.
DWT has placed Horsey Island at the core of the Caen Wetlands project, focusing on opportunities to deliver the Trust’s objectives across a wider area of the estuary and building a collaborative partnership with landowners across a landscape of more than 200 ha. A natural capital investment proposition has been put forward, based upon the value of carbon sequestered by the rapidly growing saltmarsh. Saltmarsh elsewhere in the estuary (as in many parts of Britain) is threatened by ‘coastal squeeze’ whereby it is eroded by sea-level rise on its seaward side but prevented from moving landwards by ‘hard’ engineered structures such as sea walls. This makes new saltmarsh such as that developing at Horsey all the more important.
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Disturbance Reduction for Estuarine Birds |
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The Taw & Torridge is the only sizeable estuary along a significant stretch of the South West Peninsula from Bridgwater Bay in Somerset to the Camel Estuary in Cornwall. As such it provides a strategic ‘stepping-stone’ for migratory waterbirds – including egrets, herons, ducks, geese and waders – some of which travel vast distances stretching from Siberia to sub-Saharan Africa. The Taw & Torridge is particularly important as an overwintering area for wading birds, such as Lapwing, Golden Plover, Curlew, Redshank and Dunlin, though numbers of some of these are in steep decline due to habitat loss and climate change, both in the UK and further afield. At high tide, waders concentrate in large numbers at a few specific roost sites, where they can rest until their intertidal feeding areas are exposed again by the falling tide. Among the most important roosts are those at The Skern, Penhill Marsh, Horsey Island, and several places between Instow, Yelland and Isley Marsh.
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A detailed study published in 2019 showed that recreational disturbance of roosting waders – particularly from dogs off the lead – is a significant problem on the estuary. When forced to take flight by dogs or people approaching too close, the birds use up crucial energy reserves at a state of the tide when they are unable to feed. When this happens repeatedly at different roost sites – as is commonly the case locally – birds can lose condition and be unable to survive harsh winter weather or long migratory flights to their breeding grounds when spring arrives.
Fixed-term Public Service Protection Orders (PSPOs) were subsequently introduced by North Devon and Torridge District Councils requiring dogs to be on the lead when walked close to designated high-tide roost sites or (in the case of Torridge) as directed by an authorised official to avoid disturbance to wildlife, including roosting birds. However, in the absence of sufficient information, maps and signage to support public awareness and understanding, the impact of the PSPOs has been limited. The two local authorities are now working together on an estuary-wide approach to managing a significant pressure on biodiversity and one that is only likely to grow with increasing housing development in the region. Priority is being given to the development of leaflets, signage and the use of social media to engage and inform key audiences, including dog walkers and recreational water users.
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Seabird Recovery on Lundy |
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Back in 2002, a partnership between Natural England, Landmark Trust, National Trust and RSPB was formed to take action for the recovery of Lundy’s dwindling seabird populations, primarily through the eradication of rats. These had been accidentally introduced to the island long ago by visiting ships. As shown by evidence from other islands, introduced rodents such as rats and mice can be major predators of seabird eggs and chicks, posing a significant threat to their long-term future. Following an intensive eradication effort, Lundy was declared ‘rat free’ in 2006.
The response has been spectacular. By 2021 the total number of seabirds on Lundy had tripled to more than 21,000 individuals. This was fantastic, though there is still a considerable way to go to restore the 80,000 birds reported in 1939. The island’s iconic Puffins have increased from a handful of remaining birds in 2001 to over 1,000 individuals currently, though in 1939 there were in excess of 3,500 pairs. Another burrow-nesting species, Manx Shearwater, increased from at most a few hundred pairs (probably none of which succeeded in rearing chicks to fledging) in 2001 to more than 5,500 pairs by 2019, with a further big increase thought to have occurred since then. This will be verified once the analysis of data from an all-island shearwater census led by RSPB in June 2023 has been completed. Other big increases have occurred in numbers of cliff-breeding Guillemots and Razorbills, whilst the diminutive Storm Petrel (not much bigger than a House Sparrow), which nests in rock crevices, is colonising the island having bred successfully for the first time in 2014. The results of another RSPB-led census, focusing on that species and carried out in July 2023, are eagerly awaited.
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On the down side, Lundy’s breeding gulls, including the cliff-nesting Kittiwake, are faring much less well, with all showing long-term declines. Although the reasons are not completely understood, they are likely to be mainly factors beyond the control of the island’s Conservation Team, such as climate-change impacts and a shift by some gull species away from natural nest sites towards urban areas.
In the coming years, work will focus on continued monitoring of the post-rat recovery, including through regular censuses and vigilance for potential outbreaks of avian influenza, as well as the ongoing concerted effort to ensure that the island remains rat free.
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Water Vole re-introduction |
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In the past, it is believed that healthy populations of water voles existed on Braunton Marsh and elsewhere along the Taw & Torridge estuarine grazing marsh. A number of factors contributed to their decline and extinction, not least the growing numbers of North American Mink since the 1960s. A Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) was produced for the Internal Drainage Board in 2021 by the Biosphere team. The IDB obtained funding from Natural England to review and update its Water Level Management Plan. One issue that has been addressed is the annual ditch maintenance programme, which has been adjusted to reduce the impact of ditch scrape-outs on marsh vegetation and invertebrate populations.
Suitable habitat and the absence of predators are pre-requisites for any successful re-establishment of Water Voles on Braunton Marsh. Using funding obtained from Natural England, the Biosphere contacted conservation expert Derek Gow to advise on habitat quality and suitability, commissioned habitat surveys from Devon Biodiversity Records Centre (DBRC) and set up mink traps to assess the population level of this voracious predator. As of the end of July 2023, no mink had been caught. Provided a stock of suitable animals and funding can be sourced, re-introduction could commence on Swanpool Marsh near Braunton in 2024.
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Bumblebees of coastal grasslands |
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‘West Country Buzz’ covers the whole of the North Devon coast and focuses on two of the rarest bumblebees in the county; the Brown-banded carder bee (Bombus humilis) and the Moss carder bee (Bombus muscorum). Once widespread in Devon, these nationally declining species are now restricted to fragmented parts of the North Devon coastline.
West Country Buzz is a front-runner project, piloting Defra's Nature Recovery Network initiative, aiming to restore these priority bumblebee species and their key habitats, having been largely lost from the wider countryside. It is working in partnership with landowners, farmers and volunteers to create and restore well-connected flower-rich habitat throughout the project area to safeguard the future of these threatened species. Raising awareness and engaging with local people and communities is a vital part of the project, to increase surveying and monitoring of bumblebees, which have been under-recorded in Devon. New Beewalks have been set up to monitor bumblebees and field sessions, talks and bioblitzes have been taking place across the coast.
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The project provides free, bespoke advice to landowners, farmers, nature reserves, estates, smallholders, local councils, holiday parks and golf courses to increase the amount of bumblebee-friendly habitat and to join it up at a landscape scale. The target bumblebees are in decline in the project area largely due to a lack of flower-rich habitat, and habitat fragmentation restricting population size and dispersal. Between April 2022 and March 2023, 30 landowners received in-depth management advice and follow-up support (target number is 15), across 40 different sites. A total of 574.6 ha of new land was advised on, plus ongoing advice given to 1,148.59 ha of land on existing sites (totalling 1,723.19 ha). Land management advice focuses on promoting the importance of flower-rich habitats, particularly wildflower grasslands and their management.
Just over 150 ha of new habitat has been created since the start of the project, with a target of 160 ha hopefully to be achieved by project completion in March 2024. Habitat creation we have helped to implement has included: restoring wildflower meadows with locally harvested seed and green hay, changing grazing regimes to graze rotationally, allowing more flowers to bloom, planting new fruit trees in orchards, supporting our volunteers to establish wildflowers in their local green spaces and controlling scrub and bracken to enable delicate wildflowers to flourish. As a result of targeted habitat creation, new sightings of Brown-banded carder bees have been made from a number of locations in the project area over the last two years, with the species spreading out from Braunton Burrows to Croyde and Fremington. The legacy of the West Country Buzz project will be to secure a future for the target bumblebee species and other pollinators that can benefit from the increase in high-quality, well-connected habitat across the North Devon coast.
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The population of Greater Horseshoe Bats hibernating in four disused mines along the coastal cliffs of North Devon and Exmoor has been monitored since 2010. This work has been led by Greena Ecological Consultancy, assisted by independent bat researchers, under licence from Natural England, and has focused especially on the ringing and recapture of individual bats. The bats establish nursery roosts during the summer months, located in barns and similar structures and may range up to 16km from the roosts to feed.
During the period covered by this report, Devon County Council’s North Devon AONB Sustainable Development Fund provided a grant used to cover the costs of roost enhancements and radio tags. In March 2022, a summer roost-site in a Combe Martin barn was repaired, and radio tags were fitted to four bats in a mine at Great Hangman. Follow-up searches were conducted a few weeks later, in late April and early May, aiming to detect the tagged bats and – potentially – to identify new roost sites as a result. This work was supplemented in late May by further GPS and radio tagging of bats, self-funded by Greena, at a known roost-site in West Down.
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One of the AONB-funded radio tags led directly to the discovery of a new roost at Bradwell (between West Down and Woolacombe), whilst follow-up analysis and further visits confirmed additional roosts located in buildings at Saunton (where more than 200 bats were counted in June 2022) and at two sites near Ilfracombe, only one of which could be entered due to serious concerns about the structural safety of the second building. In addition, tracking confirmed linkages, already established from ringing, between the Hangman mines and the main known roost-site at Braunton (Caen Valley Bats SSSI).
The results of this work, combined with ongoing monitoring at Braunton, Saunton and West Down roosts, indicate a minimum overall North Devon population of at least 800 Greater Horseshoe Bats. However, the nursery roosts and hibernation sites used by a large proportion of the population, amounting to several hundred individuals, still remain unknown. Use of the Braunton roost-site resumed in 2022 following temporary abandonment for a couple of years. In mid-July 2023, totals of up to 367 adults and about 140 pups were counted there; though significant, this is down on the 2019 peak of over 500 individuals.
Work is ongoing to expanded winter searches further east across Exmoor, in collaboration with ENPA, and further south, as far as the Umberleigh area, taking on regular monitoring of sites previously investigated intermittently by local people.
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BBC’s Blue Planet II
exposed the colossal amount of plastic waste being dumped in the marine environment and its effect on biodiversity and ecosystem health. This contributed to the success of a grassroots community group, who launched their campaign in 2017 as part of the Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) plastic-free communities campaign. Since then it has developed its aims and objectives to not only tackle the plastic issue but also to protect and improve our environment through community action across a growing array of successful projects and campaigns. Plastic Free North Devon (PFND) has been a registered environmental charity since 2019 and continues to have a significant impact within the North Devon Biosphere.
PFND’s initial visitor campaign, launched in 2021 with the support of North Devon AONB, supplies free resources to over 180 signed-up businesses and aims to encourage all visitors to help ‘protect our playground’ whilst on holiday. New elements of the campaign have targeted cleaning services staff, to encourage them to modify or change the products they use and how they address waste management. PFND is also working more intensively with two different types of accommodation to try and build best practice case studies and has installed six toy libraries at local beaches and holiday parks.
The ‘Ocean Explorer’ education programme is also building impact and momentum, in 2022/23 engaging 96 secondary students on a six-week programme, involving 34 sessions and over 230 person-hours of service to local conservation partner organisations, in the form of pollinator surveys, tree-planting, gorse and bramble clearing, habitat box production and marine egg-case collection and survey completion, as well as summer trips to Lundy and other parts of our coast.
The ‘cleanse and clean’ campaign covers all of PFND’s community clean-up activities, with regular events planned at Saunton and Instow, and support provided for many others. In 2022 the campaign mobilised 600 volunteers, ran 22 clean ups, removed over 1500 kg of rubbish, and made citizen science contributions to SAS and the Marine Conservation Society.
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Monitoring intertidal invasive species |
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Discovering Citizen Science and how to get involved on the coast, Coastwise North Devon has been a leading exponent since its launch thanks to a Lottery Millennium Award over 15 years ago by Paula Ferris, of Braunton. Meeting weekly in winter and carrying out regular rockpool surveys in spring and summer, the group is a community member of the Coast habitats team.
The intertidal marine ecosystem is an important indicator of the health of our seas. It has an ability to bounce back quickly from apparently catastrophic losses of biodiversity, but this richness also permits the rapid advance of non-native species that find the conditions to their liking. Coastwise is involved in two important projects, firstly working alongside Coral Smith of Devon Wildlife Trust. The Wildlife Trusts' Shoresearch methodology is used to collect data that contributes to understanding the effects of climate change and invasive alien species. Two surveys at each of 3 locations are carried out each year, the data submitted to the Wildlife Trusts. Participation has enabled Coastwise to improve the group’s identification skills, and to participate in the Biosphere Nature Recovery Plan.
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A second citizen science initiative, the INNSHORE (Invasive Non Native Species) project, is led by Coastwise members Pip Jollands and Nicola Mello and mentored by the Marine Biological Association, Plymouth to whom the data is submitted. It focuses on a dozen invasive species from other parts of the world, including Darwin's Barnacles, Slipper Limpets, Pacific Oysters, Sea Squirts, and algae, most notably Wireweed, Pom-pom Weed (Caulacanthus okamurae) and Oyster Thief. Some of these, such as the slipper limpets and oysters, have colonised South Devon’s reefs and estuaries, with serious impacts on intertidal biodiversity. It appears that a significant increase of invasive species may be under way in North Devon. Two surveys, at each of two locations are being undertaken in spring and autumn. Early results appear to show that Darwin's barnacle is now well-established and appears to be outcompeting other barnacles. The spread of Pom pom weed is already extensive. Oyster Thief is showing a significant increase, and Slipper Limpets, although only present in relatively small numbers, are increasing steadily. Other invasives seem to be only sporadic in distribution at this stage, but regular monitoring is necessary to pick up any changes
Coastwise science has therefore already enabled a greater understanding of the effect of non-native species in the North Devon coastal ecosystem, an important piece of work that would otherwise not be available to the scientific community in the South West.
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As a big part of putting the Nature Recovery Plan into practice along the North Devon coast, the partners for individual projects and initiatives are working to ensure that the ‘ingredients for success’ are in place and that challenges encountered along the way are solved as swiftly and constructively as possible. This entails intensive background work on fundraising and project planning to secure sufficient finance, equipment & materials, and to make sure that there are enough people with the right skills, expertise and time. It also means a big emphasis on engaging with farmers and other landowners and land managers, as well as reaching out to – and involving – local communities in the places where NRP actions are ongoing or proposed.
The global climate and biodiversity emergencies mean that actions to boost nature recovery are needed more urgently than ever but also bring the challenge of making sure those actions are adapted to take account of a rapidly changing environment. North Devon’s coastal habitats – and the range of species they are able to support – are certain to evolve in response to climate change impacts such as rising sea levels, increasing air and water temperatures, and the growing risk of extreme rainfall, storminess, and prolonged droughts. By recognising and taking account of likely changes, and by working together at a joined-up, ‘whole landscape’ scale, we can maximise resilience to change and give wildlife the best chance of thriving into the future. This can be achieved in practice by using habitat creation and restoration to link up surviving nature-rich areas. The fragmentation of such habitats poses a particular challenge to plant and animal species that have specialised requirements and which are unable to move across the hostile barrier of more intensively managed coastal land, which in parts of our coastline reaches almost to the cliff edge.
A key element will be the future roll-out of government payments to support nature-friendly land management, so-called agri-environment schemes (AES). A lack of clarity and delayed implementation of post-Brexit AES for England has increased uncertainty for farmers and other land managers, exacerbating the current patchy take-up of AES locally, itself likely due to the limited options and low payment rates available for grassland/pastoral farming systems – which account for the vast majority of farmland in coastal North Devon – under the former schemes.
The North Devon coast is a renowned hotspot for tourism and recreation, which account for a large part of the local economy. Whilst much of this is focused on beaches and water-based activities, the location of many campsites, holiday parks and popular villages – as well as the excellent access offered by the South West Coast Path, Tarka Trail, National Trust sites and Exmoor National Park – bring large numbers of people into close contact with some of our most nature-rich landscapes and habitats. This brings huge opportunities for engaging, inspiring and involving visitors when it comes to nature recovery, but also brings many challenges, ranging from footpath erosion to littering, and from disturbance of wildlife and grazing stock by poorly controlled dogs, to an increased risk of damaging ‘wildfires’, such as the one that burnt a large area of Baggy Point in August 2022, having been started by a disposable BBQ. NRP partners are investing in many forms of public outreach and engagement, to help maximise the opportunities but also to reduce – or mitigate as far as possible – the risks associated with large numbers of people visiting some of our richest but often vulnerable places.
The Coast Group partners are committed to playing their part but hope that as many people, communities and organisations as possible will be inspired to play their part in making the North Devon coast truly nature rich once more.
The members of the Nature Recovery Plan ‘Coast Group’ are:
Andy Bell – North Devon UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
Jenny Carey-Wood – North Devon AONB
Jonathan Fairhurst – National Trust
Paula Ferris – Coastwise
Christine Goodall – Natural England
Rupert Hawley – Dynamic Dunescapes
Tim Jones – Lundy Field Society/Coast Group Lead
Ed Parr-Ferris – Devon Wildlife Trust
With special thanks to Geoff Billington (Greena Ecological Consultancy) and John Breeds (Braunton Countryside Centre) for their contributions on Greater Horseshoe Bats and to Claire Moodie (Plastic Free North Devon) for summarising action to reduce plastic waste.
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