National Trust Purbeck Projects

The Cyril Diver project
Poole Harbour
Studland & Godlingston
Heath NNR
South Haven
peninsula
Who was Cyril Diver?
A key figure in British conservation history
Studland’s first champion The Cyril Diver project
1. Repeat Cyril Diver’s ecological study.
2. Conserve, catalogue and make available the Diver collection
3. Build the capacity of local people to engage in conservation and biological recording
What did we achieve?
1
Conserved an important archive from being thrown in a skip
• 80 boxes of maps,
species records, field
notes and
photographs
catalogued and made
publicly available
• Herbarium catalogued
and remounted
• 7000 insect collection
identified, remounted,
catalogued and added
to the Hope
Entomological
collection
What did we achieve?
2
Detailed biological recording
• 40,000+ records of 4,600+ species, including many new
species records for Studland, Dorset, and even the UK!
• We now have as detailed a picture of Studland’s biological
condition as we have for any of our sites
• We can quantify how it has changed over an 80 year period,
and understand what has caused those changes
Hypera arator
Roseodiscus formosus
Mycetophagus multipunctatus
3
What did we achieve?
3
Enable evidence based management
• The new NNR management
has just been written.
• More data means we better
understand the site’s
features
• Better understanding of the
processes of ecological
change means better
management decisions.
3
What did we achieve?
4
Citizen science and engagement
• 200 volunteers have
contributed over 3500 volunteer
days.
• HLF targets exceeded by 350%
• 17 workshops and weekly field
teaching to dozens of regular
volunteers
• 5 bursary recipients have
developed expertise in
particular taxa
• A large group of volunteers
who want to continue recording
now the project has ended.
3
What did we achieve?
5
Build partnerships that benefit local conservation
• The project has tapped into the expertise and enthusiasm of
specialist individuals and organisations
• People have been motivated by the fact that the data they
produce will be used
• Encouraging experts to mentor beginners has been key
What did we achieve?
6
Academic and research partnerships
PhD:
• Examining the role of biological recording (citizen science) in community engagement (BU).
• Investigating changes in plant‐animal interactions over past 80 years, and model future change (BU). MSc:
• Silver studded blue butterflies and black ant distribution (BU).
• Water quality monitoring (BU)
• Dune soil development and ecological succession (MMU).
BSc:
• Grayling butterfly distribution (BU).
• Grasshopper distribution (BU)
• Wood ant distribution and interactions
• Identifying odonata ‘hot‐spots’ through field evidence of exuvia (BU).
Student Research Projects:
• Investigating tidal and salinity influences in key wetland habitats (BPC).
• Rabbit and deer grazing; influence on dune ridge habitats (BPC).
• SERT (BU). • Dormouse nut search (SS). • Student Placements.
Dorset
Flora
Group
Langton Westwood Community Woodland
Langton West Wood
Langton Westwood Community Woodland project
Langton Westwood Community Woodland project
Langton Westwood Community Woodland project
Land, Outdoors and Nature
Land, Outdoors and Nature is about putting nature conservation at the heart of what the National Trust does.
It means working at a landscape scale, thinking beyond our own boundaries, and working more closely with partners and local communities.
Our strategy for LON is based around two main work streams:
A
B
Physical land management projects
Making sure our land is part of a coherent, functioning landscape that is more than the sum of its parts
Cultural and engagement projects
How we work, who we work with, and how we make it relevant to everyone
A
Physical land management projects
The tertiary heathlands
Work with neighbouring estates towards a continuous heathland block from Studland to Stoborough to Povington that is more self‐sustaining and ecologically resilient.
Single grazing unit from Arne – Hartland.
Not rewilding, but a step towards it.
©NT/Will Wilkinson
The Purbeck Ridge
Important corridor from one side of Purbeck to the other: woodland on the north; grassland on the south. Long term butterfly data shows that it doesn’t ‘work’ as well as it should.
Aim to develop a ridge‐wide policy for scrub management and grazing and for woodland. Need to balance with keeping an open landscape for walking
The Purbeck Vale
The balance of priorities is different in a more productive farming landscape – but it has a crucial part to play for conservation:
•
Soil and water conservation
•
Landscape character
•
Habitat value and connectivity
©NT/Will Wilkinson Woodland owned by the National Trust
All woodland
12 & 3‐
acre woods
Gallows Plantation
Pipley Woods
Studland Woods
Kingswood
Higher & Lower Grove
Wilderness
Langton Westwood
Talbot’s Wood
Warren Wood
The South Purbeck Downs
Aim to widen the unfenced coastal strip, with a wider buffer zone from any intensive agriculture. Many of the same issues as the chalk ridge: scrub, grazing
©NT/Will Wilkinson L.O.N. is not just about land management:
1.
Working in partnership
2.
Make our management more evidence‐based
3.
Lead the way in citizen science
4.
Wider public engagement
Thankyou
David Brown
Landscape partnership project manager
National Trust Purbeck Office
Currendon Farm, Swanage BH19 3AA
david.brown4@nationaltrust.org.uk