west weald landscape project conference: west weald landscape project its aims and achievements
DESCRIPTION
Presentation from West Weald Landscape Project Conference 22 May 2014TRANSCRIPT
The West Weald Landscape Project
– 10 years.…and counting!Rich Howorth
ex- West Weald Landscape Project Officer
Project Context
• Drivers: landscape ecology; natural processes;
naturalistic grazing; re-wilding; ‘ecosystem
services’
• Inspirations: – Frans Vera, Hans Kampf, Tony
Whitbread, Charlie Burrell, Butcherland fields,
IALE UK
• Idealistic nature state vs.
mainstream land use & conservation?
The Team: Partnership & Staffing
• West Weald Landscape Partnership 2004+, 15
bodies
• Project Officer (3) to manage work from mid-
2004
• Monitoring Officer from mid-2005 (temp, 1
year)
• Landowner Advisor from 2009 (temp, 3 years)
Funding
• Early support - English Nature & HLF
• Environment Agency research & monitoring
support
• Other partner support from CDC & WSCC
• BBC Wildlife Fund support for bats and pre-
TCT landowner work
• Major funding bid (£1/4 million) to Tubney
Charitable Trust in 2008, for 2009 start over
5-year project
• SWT membership appeals x2
Research & Monitoring
• Major focus from outset
• Applied rather than academic research, +
IALE/BES
• ‘Land Use Change and the Water Environment
of the West Weald 1971-2001’ – WWLP / EA
study• Butcherland succession vegetation monitoring
04/05+• ‘The State of the West Weald’s Natural
Environment 2006’• Long-term forest plots re-survey of The Mens –
Anna Swift 2006 • Barbastelle (+ other) bats population studies –
Ebernoe Common (08), The Mens (09), Butcherland, wider landscape
Working with Landowners –
development phase
• Ad-hoc contacts from outset, mostly reactive
work
• Environmental Stewardship promotion – ELS v
HLS
• A few key landowner relationships developed
• Barbastelle landscape ecology (flightlines,
foraging) as early driver for proactive work
• GIS targeting for key species groups – bats,
birds & butterflies
• Initial capital works – hedgerows planting
especially
Working with the Public –
becoming native?
• Local schools
• Volunteers & conservation works
• Student projects
• Walks & Talks
• Events – Batz n’ Bratz, Apples & Animals
• Information materials - walks guide
Provisional thoughts
• Long project development, vs extensive baseline studies
• Balance between information gathering and action
• Partnership working & challenges • Difficulty of working across administrative
boundaries• External funding critical to project viability and
impact• Great insights and impacts realised through
perseverance
Evaluation? – Improved environment; & socio-economics?
or “A Living Landscape – are we there yet?”
Future? - WWL focus of resource effort vs rest of Sussex?
West Weald Landscape Project – Where We’ve Got
To
Petra Billings
Landscape Projects Officer
A Living Landscape
A visionary partnership project that promotes the integrated management of a viable and enhanced landscape in the West
Weald for people and nature
WWLP Objectives
• Enhanced conservation of the core
forest areas
• Wider landscape improvements
through working with landowners and
farmers
• Research and monitoring eg surveys of
important wildlife species
• Enhanced public enjoyment of the
landscape
Achievements: Landowner Work
• >260 visits to 125 landowners of 11,000 ha (46% of project area)
• English Woodland Grant Scheme:– 21 planning grants– 10 WIGs– 3 creation grants– 1 regeneration grant
• Environmental Stewardship (30 farmers)– 15 HLS with ELS– Further 15 ELS only
50 practical worksprojects:
• >8500m hedgerows
• 12 orchard creation or restoration
• 6 woodland planting schemes
• 3 scrapes
Capital Works
Case Study 1: Gandersgate Woodland
Case Study 2: Orchard House
• Agri-environment funding schemes
• Hedgerow management
• Woodland management
• Wetland management
• Tree health • Meadow creation
and restoration • Deer management
Landowner Workshops
Habitat No. surveyed
Results
Meadows 55 28 of particular interest; condition variable with many under-managed
Hedges 105 34 (33%) in favourable condition
Traditional orchards
76 4 (6%) excellent 32 (48%) good 31 (46%) poor
Woodlands 45 39 (88.5%) fair/good 6 (11.5%) poor
Ponds 91 1 (1.3%) excellent 13 (16.9%) good 28 (35.1%) moderate 36 (46.8%) low
Habitat surveys
• Invertebrate Survey,The Chiddingfold Forest (2009)
• Wood White (2009)• Saproxylic Invertebrates of
Cowdray Park (Summer 2011)
• Woodpeckers and their Nest-Holes (2006, 2009)
• Barbastelle Bats in the West Weald 1997 – 2008
• Baseline Audit of Bat Activity in the West Weald Landscape, 2010, 2011 and 2012
Species Surveys
© Mark Monk-Terry
©Alan Price, Gatehouse Studios/SWT
• Developing a land management targeting framework for the West Weald Project area (2009)
• Arun & Rother Catchment Habitat Potential Model (2011)
• An Ecological Connectivity Approach to Planning for Adaptive Landscapes: A Case Study of the West Weald (2010)
Landscape Studies
• Parish meetings• Wild Walks in the West
Weald (15,000 copies)• Oral history project• Community habitat
mapping• Community orchards• School hedge-planting
Community Engagement
• Project website • Project newsletters x13• Walks, talks and courses
~40• TV and radio interviews x6• Local press ~60• Conference presentations
x3
Dissemination
1. Strength of partnership working
Lessons learned
2. Importance of building long-term relationships with landowners
Lessons learned
3. Means of targeting landowners:1. Proximity to core forest
areas2. Barbastelle flightlines3. Local wildlife sites4. Grant scheme expiry/not
in grant schemes5. Results of habitat surveys
Proactive ►Reactive
Lessons learned
4. Mechanisms for
engaging with
landowners
• Landowner workshops
• Habitat surveys
• Website and e-
newsletter
• Mailshot
Lessons learned
What did it cost?
£240,721£246,352
Match-funding
Tubney Charitable Trust £198,260£65,749
£81,517
£5,499
Total salaries plus travel
Total surveys (incl. equipment)
Landowner work (capital works plus workshops)
Other costs
Total Income 2009 - 2014 Total Expenditure 2009 - 2014
The Future?
… bigger, better, more joined up