This is the fourth 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:

Wetlands and Waterbodies

Coast

Towns and Villages

Grassland and Arable

Trees, Woods and Hedges

The Nature Recovery Plan for the North Devon Biosphere Reserve is a leading regional UK response to the global ecological emergency. The massive loss of Earth’s biodiversity is exemplified in northern Devon by the collapse of populations of once common species and habitats from wildflower meadows, bees and butterflies to farmland birds, migrating salmon and coastal heath. The Biosphere’s Nature Recovery Plan was launched in mid-2021 and aims to restore a wide range of animal and plant populations and vital habitats by 2030. This report presents a snapshot of achievements in the first 36 months of work for the Grassland and Arable Action Plan

To read the Nature Recovery Plan, click here

To Sign our Nature Recovery Declaration as an individual or organisation, click here

By 2030, nature on farmland in northern Devon is recovering. Wildflowers abound in broad field margins and across many entire fields. Insects like moths, bumblebees and hoverflies are recovering; clouds of butterflies on hot summer days are once more commonplace and fields resonate with grasshoppers. The song of yellowhammers, skylarks and cuckoos once more fills the countryside, and barn owls, kestrels and red kites are a common sight. Brown hares and harvest mice thrive. To achieve this, 24,400ha of intensively managed grassland and arable land present in 2020 have been converted, or are under conversion, to wildlife-rich semi-natural habitat that include broad tussocky or flower-rich margins, herb-rich grassland, wetlands, scrub and native broadleaved woodland. Over at least 2,000 ha of this, natural processes prevail ((re)wilding). The management of all remaining intensive grassland and arable land follows sound agroecology principles ensuring sustainable production, good soil health and condition, avoiding soil and nutrient run-off into watercourses, with biocides like herbicides, insecticides and nematicides minimised or avoided altogether. Every remnant of flower-rich grassland and heathland is treasured and managed well, and every opportunity seized to expand and connect them. Bracken and scrub are managed as valuable wildlife habitat, at times cleared to create early successional habitats, at times allowed to develop into woodland. A degree of dynamic change is welcomed. Public money is supporting many more farmers and landowners to assist nature’s recovery and to deliver wide benefits for society, such as flood risk management, pollution control and carbon sequestration. Simultaneously, the land is generating quality farm produce highly valued by locals, visitors and businesses.

Intensively farmed grassland and arable habitats together cover around 70% of the land area of the North Devon Biosphere. Nature recovery in these areas requires the integration of conservation into farming practices as well as setting aside / restoring more of this land primarily for nature. Implementation of the Grassland & Arable Action Plan intersects with all other components of the Biosphere’s Nature Recovery Plan including grasslands of the coastal zone, silvo pasture, agroforestry and watercourse buffers, as well as work on common land and/or with community groups and volunteers.

Implementation of the Grassland & Arable Action Plan therefore provides common ground from which the entire Nature Recovery Plan can work towards united shared goals.

The vast majority of grassland and arable land in the North Devon Biosphere is privately owned or in the hands of large estates or organisations with tenant farmers. The support, engagement and actions of the farming community is therefore crucial to successful implementation of this plan. The following reports pick out key projects that have been working with farmers to deliver nature recovery. In addition, many individual farmers and landowners are making important contributions independently through measures under agri-environment schemes such as Countryside Stewardship and the new Sustainable Farming Incentive

• National Trust including the North Devon Grasslands Project
• Northern Devon Natural Solutions (NDNS)
• Coordinated Response for Intertidal Taw Torridge Estuary Restoration (CRITTER)
• Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG SW)
• Farmer Facilitation Fund Success
• Environment Agency's Land Management Team
• Environment Agency’s Agricultural Regulatory Taskforce

Between 2015 and 2025 the National Trust aim to create 25,000ha of species-rich habitat nationally (5,000ha in the SW). Some key achievements to date include:

• Up to the end of 2022, 359ha of grassland and heathland are on their journey towards being species rich (through significant changes to management and sward enhancement through over sowing / green haying);
• 259ha of wood pasture is underway or completed;
• Prioritising nature on its land where farming is deemed to have a high risk affect and nature has a good opportunity – potential or wilding opportunities being identified;

North Devon Grasslands Project

In 2022, the National Trust announced that through the North Devon Grasslands Project, they are looking to create 1,200 hectares of species-rich grassland in northern Devon. Over the next 8 years the aim is to create pockets of species-rich grassland across 70 miles of North Devon, from Torridge to West Exmoor.

The pastures created through this project (equivalent to 120 football pitches) will become ‘donor’ sites, which will produce the seed needed to improve the variety of wildflowers in 1,275 hectares (3,151 acres) of grassland over 8 years (equivalent to 1,786 football pitches).

All this builds on the National Trust commitment for half of all NT land to be of “High Nature Status” (North Devon is currently on 42%). High Nature Status is a National Trust metric that takes a holistic approach to farm management, looking at what’s there and what can be done: existing habitat, potential to restore and create habitat, nature friendly farming practices and so on.

Northern Devon Natural Solutions (NDNS) is a Devon Wildlife Trust project working with northern Devon’s farmers, land managers, communities, volunteers and schools. All these groups have some role to play in the goals of the Grassland & Arable Action Plan, but the overarching focus of the project is on land manager engagement and working with them to build resilience, create habitat and protect our environment. This is being achieved through a focus on interventions targeting the four project pillars: improving water quality, reducing flood risk, sequestering carbon, and increasing biodiversity. 

The project covers 49 sub-catchments of the Taw and Torridge Rivers. These have been carefully selected and agreed through analysing water quality, biodiversity and flood risk data

The project takes multi-faceted approach when engaging with land managers:

• Developing Whole Farm Natural Solutions Plan – what can be done and how to fund it
• an NDNS capital grant offer
• assistance with accessing agri environment schemes such as Countryside stewardship (Mid Tier, Higher Tier and Capital Grants) and the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)
• surveying
• training
• habitat creation and restoration

As well as working with land managers, the project promotes engagement across the rural community by working with parishes, community groups, schools and volunteers . This builds on Devon Wildlife Trust’s array of experience, expertise and working relationships across northern Devon. The project is funded by and in partnership with the Environment Agency with support from other partners and charitable trusts.

Coordinated Response for Intertidal Taw Torridge Estuary Restoration (CRITTER) is a North Devon Biosphere project running from 2022 – 2027 and consists of working with landowners to undertake two complementary strands, freshwater and saltwater marsh habitat creation and land management work, funded through the Environment Agency’s WEIF fund and private finance opportunities.

        CRITTER GOALS:

1. Freshwater and saltwater marsh habitat creation within the Taw Torridge Estuary works to build coastal flooding resilience, supporting local community flood mitigation as a result of sea-level rise and salinity ingress
2. Land management, whole farm one-to-one advice/support and 50% competitive grant funding is available to landowners, land managers and tenants within seven key catchments: Braunton Marsh and Great Field, Knowle Water, Kenwith Stream, Horwood Stream, Bideford Yeo, River Duntz and the River Mole to Estuary waterbody. Catchment resilience with regards to natural flood management and water quality is the driver for the project in these catchments. Tackling soil erosion issues is also focused upon to support step changes in Water Framework Directive Status.

The organisation helps farmers understand the environmental value of their land and make the most of the agri-environment options available.

They are active in the North Devon Biosphere and have become expert at using Countryside Stewardship and now ELMS to secure wins for the environment and contributions towards the nature recovery plan.

• Working with 15 farms covering approximately 600ha (with about 500ha of that within an Agri environment scheme.
• Designated 11ha of Culm Grassland and supported a further 25 hectares into options leading to species rich pasture
• 10ha of land has gone into herbal leys – with that number set to increase as the SFI action, SAM3, gains in popularity.
• 2 sites are in the process of creating wood pasture ( low density planting within pasture fields)

Ever keen on promoting soil health, the FWAG SW team regularly carry out: Visual Examination of Soil Structure (VESS) analysis; 300ha of land with soils analysed, of which 100ha has included the increasingly important Organic Matter.

Some land owners working with FWAG SW are looking at longer term land use change including taking land out of traditional agricultural production – 3ha removed from agriculture entirely and 30ha moving towards low density conservation grazing.

There are now 3 Farmer Facilitation Fund groups operating within the Biosphere.

Facilitation Fund groups, funded through the Rural Payments Agency, are a potentially powerful way to work towards the Nature Recovery Plan goals generally and the Grassland & Arable Action Plan specifically.

The three groups are:

Hidden Heart of Devon (in and around Hatherleigh)

Taw Valley & Little Dart Facilitation Fund

Torridge Valley Network (in and around Torrington)

Please click here to see an interactive map on where the groups are operating, or go to: https://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/northern-devon-natural-solutions-what-we-offer

The groups are all committed to navigating the agricultural transition and finding a way for nature and land management to live alongside each other. They recognise the full spectrum of land management techniques and value all contributions that bring the natural environment into their decision-making process.

Topics that the groups have covered thus far include: Sustainable Farming Incentive, Riparian and Natural Flood Management, Soil Management, Grassland species ID, and Hedge management. They are a cross section of all the NRP groups. Collectively, the groups are addressing: soil run-off, compaction, over grazing, limited buffer strips, poor hedge management, and lack of nutrient storage.

Also, being a member of a Facilitation Fund group allows you to score more points (with an endorsement) in your Countryside Stewardship applications.

Taw Valley & Little Dart Facilitation Fund – facilitated by the North Devon Biosphere with co-facilitation from NDNS – across area of over 18,000ha area with 68 holdings registered, making up 4,164ha of that area. Click here to find out more.

Hidden Heart of Devon (HHoD)– Facilitated by DWT – 4,424ha area with 20 holdings, making up 1,252ha of that area

Torridge Valley Network (TVN – Facilitated by DWT – 8,910ha area with 23 holdings, making up 2,837ha of that area

Click here to find out more about HHoD and TVN and there is also a map of the Facilitation Fund areas for all of the above

EA's Land Management Team

The Land Management Pilot project was created in response to the increasing need recognised across our business, our partners, local communities, and the media for a dedicated and targeted resource focussed on improving land management practices in Devon and Cornwall.

Changes to agricultural practice, increasing agricultural intensification and unsuitable agricultural land use (that which is incompatible with soil type) has led to widespread soil compaction. The resultant unnatural overland flow of water has led to significant impacts on the water environment and decreased flood resilience of local communities.

Our focus is to work proactively with land managers to reduce the risks associated with poor land management and also to respond to incidents where poor land management has caused flooding of property and pollution of watercourses.

We have not targeted areas, as yet, in North Devon as our Agricultural Regulatory Taskforce (ART) is working across that area but have attended a number of incidents across the area where runoff from land has caused flooding to property mostly from land associated with maize growing. We are deeply concerned about the scale of maize growing in this area on unsuitable land and soil types.

EA's Agricultural Regulatory Taskforce

The Environment Agency’s Agricultural Regulatory Taskforce (ART) has been continuing its farm inspections in the Taw, North Devon Streams, and Torridge catchments, with 3 dedicated officers currently working in the area. They have completed 148 farm inspections since the start of the ART project in November 2021 and found that overall, 75% of farms are non-compliant with one or more of the regulations inspected. 82% of farms were non-compliant with the NVZ Regulations and 60% were non-compliant the Farming Rules for Water (FRfW).

Approximately 400 actions have been issued with almost half already completed.

Farming is in a period of transition as subsidies and incentives change, with the Basic Payment Scheme phasing out and being replaced by the new Environmental Land Management Scheme which pays farmers to deliver public goods, including nature. New green finance opportunities such as Biodiversity Net Gain and also carbon funding are also emerging. Whilst uncertainties remain around these new schemes many farmers are rightly cautious about changes to their farming model.

Intensification of farming in the area continues, particularly in the dairy sector, but also with land being farmed to feed biodigesters. These trends are putting increasing pressure on critical habitats for nature, such as permanent grasslands and also on the quality of our rivers.

The Next Steps:

The Group responsible for overseeing the Grassland and Arable Action Plan will continue to drive forward implementation of the plan, seeking opportunities to provide more support to the farming community to assist with sustainable farming and nature recovery. 

There have been some interesting and positive developments in the New Year, with a recent announcement from DEFRA of a significant uplift in payments for the Countryside Stewardship and Sustainable Farming Incentive schemes here. There are a few highlights, but one big one for northern Devon’s grasslands is a significant uplift for maintaining species rich grassland (GS6 in mid and higher tier Countryside Stewardship agreements) from £182/ha to £646/ha. There are also several “premium payments” covering areas such as making space for water and managing/connecting floodplains, agroforestry, heathland, moorland, floodplain meadows and creating scrub and open habitat mosaics. This is a promising move in terms of policy and a step in the right direction supporting both land managers and the environment.

For further information contact: Ewan Wallis ewallis@devonwildlifetrust.org