National recognition for unique Westcountry heaths celebrated
AVAST tract of precious Westcountry heathland and the nature it supports will benefit from extra protection after being designated as a new National Nature Reserve.
The East Devon Pebblebed Heaths, a 1,160 hectare site supporting a huge diversity of flora and fauna, was yesterday officially announced as the latest addition to the UK’s list of nationally and internationally important landscapes.
Leading representatives from Natural England, the RSPB and Devon Wildlife Trust joined Lord Clinton and Clinton Devon Estates staff at the site to mark the new status for the unique heathland close to Exeter.
Recognition as a National Nature Reserve will help protect habitats, geology and species across the site, which stretches from the village of Woodbury towards Budleigh Salterton on the Jurassic Coast.
Chairman of Natural England Tony Juniper, who was among those visiting the site yesterday for the special event, said the organisation was “very proud” to confirm National Nature Reserve designation for the East Devon Pebblebed Heaths.
He said National Nature Reserves supported conservation, research and public access, and were a vital component of a partnership approach to tackling biodiversity loss by linking individual wildliferich areas to create a national Nature Recovery Network.
He said the site offered “opportunities for people to connect with nature, and to experience some wonderful wildlife, including 70 species of breeding birds and many unusual plants, insects and reptiles”.
Mr Juniper told the WMN that protected sites were not enough in themselves, but needed to be expanded, improved and connected as part of the national Nature Recovery Network.
“At Natural England we see National Nature Reserves as really the battery packs, if you will, powering recovery, firing energy into that new network, creating a spill-over effect of animals and plants that can re-populate newly created habitats that over time will begin to address the biodiversity crisis,” he said.
The commons which make up the Pebblebed Heaths are home to more than 3,000 species, including many of conservation concern. Birds which nest on the heaths include the Dartford warbler and nightjar, while rare insects range from the southern damselfly to the silver-studded blue butterfly.
The East Devon Pebblebed Heaths, managed by a conservation trust as part of the Clinton Devon Estates landholding, is the largest stretch of lowland heathland in Devon and among the most highly regarded sites of its kind in Europe. The commons have been dedicated for public access by Clinton Devon Estates since 1930. Management partners for the reserve are the Pebblebed Heaths Conservation Trust, Devon Wildlife Trust and the RSPB, and a new board under the chairmanship of Chris Woodruff, manager of the East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty partnership, will guide the management of the new reserve.
The RSPB manages the area’s Aylesbeare Common reserve and the charity’s chairman Kevin Cox said the East Devon Pebblebed Heaths was a “really unique place, much loved by local people and visitors alike, that well deserves this national recognition”.
Paying tribute to the work of Clinton Devon Estates and the Pebblebed Heaths Conservation Trust, he told the WMN: “The designation as a National Nature Reserve is a real recognition of all the partnership work that has gone on here and the delivery of conservation. This is an important site both for nature and for people and that new designation gives it a national rather than just a local status.” He added: “National Nature Reserves are going to be the hubs of the Nature Recovery Network. We need to join up our best wildlife areas. It is not enough simply to put fences around places and say ‘we’ve designated this, this is where nature lives’. We now need to let this spread out into the wider countryside, bring people here, show them what great looks like, but also use it as a demonstration site of what the rest of the country can do to deliver nature recovery.”
National Natures Reserves, of which there are more than 200 in England, are designated by Natural England, giving rare and precious wildlife and habitats special protection, while supporting research, education and recreation. With a total area of over 98,000 hectares, the reserves are home to one third of all species recorded in the UK.
The East Devon Pebblebed Heaths are located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and have both UK and European designations, including being a Special Protection Area (SPA) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
Clinton Devon Estates head of wildlife and conservation, Dr Sam Bridgewater, said the heaths attract around 400,000 visits a year. “As well as providing space for some of our rarest species, they play an important role in supporting mental and physical health and wellbeing, providing contact with nature and a place to exercise, socialise and enjoy,” he said.
He added: “We know nature has been really squeezed and for many people it is hard to have a nature-rich experience, but the Pebblebed Heaths are large, open and within a stone’s throw of populations such as Exeter and Exmouth and there is no conflict between having a place which is diverse and ecologically healthy and being able to have people connected with that.”
Peter Burgess, director of nature recovery at Devon Wildlife Trust, which manages Venn Ottery and Bystock Pools reserves on the heaths, said: “This declaration recognises the great value to local people and wildlife of this unique and beautiful landscape.”
‘National Nature Reserves are the battery packs, if you will, powering nature recovery’ TONY JUNIPER, NATURAL ENGLAND