Devon Wildlife Trust has this month awarded a capital work grant to a group of local landowners in North Devon. This grant has enabled ponies to graze a rare Culm grassland site that had been neglected for years.
Clifford Farm Cottages near Woolsery are the proud recipient of the Working Wetlands Project grant and have used the money to carry out scrub clearance and install fencing to improve the management of the 2 ha site. The farm was selected as it fell within one of the project’s three target areas: Knowstone and Witheridge, Hollow Moor and Torridge & Tamar headwaters.
The fencing has enabled much needed grazing to return to the site, allowing better overall management and help to protect key species such as marsh fritillary butterflies which are known to exist in the area.
Devon Wildlife Trust’s Becky Aston oversaw the project. She said: ’Working Wetland’s first priority is to ensure wildlife rich habitats in the Culm are well managed and this grant is a significant step towards this goal. Our small grants initiative is helping landowners carry out capital works, enabling small awkward sites to be managed more easily. This type of work is needed to save such sites from abandonment, scrub encroachment and ultimately losing the wildlife-rich grasslands to more common secondary woodland."
Sidonie Ball, of Clifford Farm Cottages said "It’s fantastic to see these animals set to work on this special little piece of land and we hope in the coming years the site will be transformed!"
The three Dartmoor ponies which are now grazing the site are part of the charity’s Grazing Links initiative which brings people with livestock together with landowners needing grazing on their holdings. Throughout the project expert advice from the Working Wetlands team has been available so that best value and gain is obtained for both people and wildlife.
Working Wetlands has a total of £25,000 to give out each year thanks to funding from Devon Waste Management. Landowners with holdings of Culm Grassland within one of the target areas should contact the Working Wetlands team at the Cookworthy office on 01409 221823 for information.
Working Wetlands has been supported by the Tubney Charitable Trust, South West Water, The Environment Agency, Devon County Council, Devon Waste Management, Grantscape and Natural England.
