Page 32 - Annual Review 2022

The Land Trust Annual Review 2022

The floristic The combined biodiversity baseline of the Land Trust estate included area-based
diversity has habitats that generated 15,950.42 habitat units, and river habitats that generated
been 151.50 river units.
supplemented The Land Trust Estate includes:
by the planting  130.76 ha of Sites of Special Scientific Interest
of hundreds of  18.13 ha of Local Nature Reserves
wildflower bulbs  82.65 ha of irreplaceable habitats
on the  701.15 ha of priority habitats
woodland floor, The highest distinctiveness habitats in the Land Trust estate include:
as well as the  wood pasture and parkland
spreading of  lowland meadows
wildflower seeds  Fens (upland and lowland)
around the site  lowland raised bog
 purple moor grass and rush pastures
 lowland dry acid grassland

Hedgerows were captured as area-based habitats so no linear hedgerow units
were calculated. The Land Trust previously estimated to have 10,000 linear metres
of hedgerow across the estate.
Nature Space of the Year
Winner of the Nature Space of the Year went to Monkton Community Woodlands.
This community woodland spans 4.5km, with four woodland paths and more than
30,000 trees and shrubs. Over the last 12 months a great deal of effort has been
put into the creation of new glades for Dingy Skippers which were recorded on
site for the first time a few years ago, and have now undergone a population
explosion through their extensive scrub removal work. The incredibly hard work of
removing tough Blackthorn scrub has paid dividends.
In addition, as the woodlands have begun to be thinned, (no mean feat in itself),
this has dramatically opened up the woodland floor, increasing the amount of
both scrub floristic diversity and also making the site feel safer for visitors. The
floristic diversity has been supplemented by the planting of hundreds of wildflower CASE STUDY: South East Devon Habitat Regulations Partnership
bulbs on the woodland floor, as well as the spreading of wildflower seeds around
Monkton Community Woodlands, The Land Trust provided input to Teignbridge District Council which, on behalf of South-East Devon Habitat
Tyne and Wear the site.
Regulations Partnership (SED HRP) led on acquisition, instatement works and setting in place long-term
maintenance agreements for Dawlish Countryside Park and Ridgetop Park Matford. This is required
strategic SANG provision to mitigate likely impacts of collective residential development on the Dawlish
Warren and Exe Estuary Natura 2,000 sites.
Our role involved co-designing and writing the management plans with Teignbridge District Council for two
strategic SANGs in Dawlish and Matford, on the edge of Exeter. As part of this partnership working, SED
HRP approved the transfer of the two SANGs to the Land Trust for management in FY 21/22, due to Land
Trust’s experience, expertise, safeguards and cost-effective endowment model.

SED HRP acknowledged that the Land Trust’s endowment model was significantly more effective than
alternative means of funding would be in perpetuity, and that we offered the most favourable option for
security of good-quality management in perpetuity.

The Land Trust works with Teignbridge District Council’s green spaces team for day-to-day maintenance of
the sites. The Dawlish Countryside Park regularly receives 200-visitors per day, has seen the locally notable
Cirl bunting numbers treble – a significant win for the UK’s rarest resident farmland bird with only 1,000
pairs in its population. The site has also supported the reintroduction of the small-flowered catchfly.
Ridgetop Park Matford is being opened in phases, and the extensive heritage offers significant engagement
and sense of place for this exciting site.
Image by Tony Cutter

32 33