Latest news with #DevonWildlifeTrust
BBC News
a day ago
- General
- BBC News
Thousands of trees to be planted in Devon
Up to 3,000 trees are to be planted on the outskirts of Exeter, according to East Devon District Council. Broadclyst and Poltimore have been chosen for the project, with a funding boost from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Volunteers have already planted the first 150 trees, forming a new hedgerow at Clyst Meadows Country Park, near Broadclyst project team is now looking for more land in Broadclyst and Poltimore to complete the planting. Once complete, a total of up to one hectare (2.5 acres) of native trees and 600 metres (1,970 ft) of new hedgerow will be planted. Councillor Paula Fernley said: "More trees mean more biodiversity, more shade and shelter, and better resilience to climate change. It's also brilliant for wellbeing." The trees are to be grown locally by volunteers at the Saving Devon's Treescapes Broadclyst Tree Nursery using seeds collected from the Devon's Treescapes is a four-year project led by Devon Wildlife Trust and supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. It aims to plant and nurture 250,000 trees outside traditional woodland settings across Devon by Rogers, project manager at Saving Devon's Treescapes, added: "Even if we don't always notice it, most of us have seen the impact of ash dieback – from isolated trees to whole woodlands losing their canopy. "But we now have new trees growing in their place, thanks to local volunteers who have nurtured saplings from Broadclyst seed."
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Thousands of trees to be planted near Exeter
Up to 3,000 trees are to be planted on the outskirts of Exeter, according to East Devon District Council. Broadclyst and Poltimore have been chosen for the project, with a funding boost from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Volunteers have already planted the first 150 trees, forming a new hedgerow at Clyst Meadows Country Park, near Broadclyst Station. The project team is now looking for more land in Broadclyst and Poltimore to complete the planting. More news stories for Devon Listen to the latest news for Devon Once complete, a total of up to one hectare (2.5 acres) of native trees and 600 metres (1,970 ft) of new hedgerow will be planted. Councillor Paula Fernley said: "More trees mean more biodiversity, more shade and shelter, and better resilience to climate change. It's also brilliant for wellbeing." The trees are to be grown locally by volunteers at the Saving Devon's Treescapes Broadclyst Tree Nursery using seeds collected from the area. Saving Devon's Treescapes is a four-year project led by Devon Wildlife Trust and supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. It aims to plant and nurture 250,000 trees outside traditional woodland settings across Devon by 2026. Michael Rogers, project manager at Saving Devon's Treescapes, added: "Even if we don't always notice it, most of us have seen the impact of ash dieback – from isolated trees to whole woodlands losing their canopy. "But we now have new trees growing in their place, thanks to local volunteers who have nurtured saplings from Broadclyst seed." Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@ Plymouth tree felling fiasco cost more than £3.3m Thousands of trees planted to create rainforest East Devon District Council Devon Wildlife Trust The National Lottery Fund
BBC News
28-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Octopus boom in UK waters
Despite being called the common octopus, it's actually not very common to see these eight-legged creatures in UK fishers on the south west coast of England have noticed an increase in both the numbers and size of the cephalopods over the past few has meant there are fewer lobsters, crabs and shellfish for the fishers to catch and sell, because the octopuses feed on think it could be due to rising sea temperatures or that there aren't as many predators in the water, but say more research is needed. Why is this a problem? Fishers in the UK catch lobsters, crabs and shellfish using pots which they then pull up from the sea floor. But these pots have small openings which the octopuses can squeeze themselves into to feast on the animals inside for themselves. It means there are fewer crabs, lobsters and shellfish for the fishers to sell, but they can still get a decent price for the octopuses they catch. The main concern comes from scientists who are trying to figure out why this is happening and if there are any other consequences. What do the experts say? Carli Cocciardi, from the Devon Wildlife Trust, said: "We typically see two species in the UK, the common octopus and the curled octopus."The south-west of England is really the northern edge of the common octopus's range, so sightings here are significant."These are the species most likely to be involved in the recent increase.""This isn't the first time we've seen a spike. Similar increases were recorded in 1899, 1948, and again in 2022."The most likely cause is rising sea temperatures, which make our waters more suitable for species like the common octopus."Other factors could include changes in ocean currents or increased prey availability. "It's interesting that the gaps between these events are shortening, perhaps it's no longer a rare cycle but a sign of more permanent change."
ITV News
20-05-2025
- Science
- ITV News
Why are we seeing more octopuses along the South West coast?
There has been a noticeable rise in the number of octopuses in South West waters in recent months, but why is that and what threat does it pose to other marine animals? The species of octopus that is being spotted in Devon is the Common Octopus. It is the species most likely to be seen by divers and snorkellers around the UK. But while their name implies they are nothing out of the ordinary, marine experts have told us the more frequent sightings in the region could reveal interesting insight into the state of our natural world. "The increased sightings could reflect the changing sea conditions in our region", marine officer at the Devon Wildlife Trust, Carli Cocciardi, said. "South West England is near the northern edge of the Common Octopuses' typical range. "Recent increases of the octopuses could be linked to climate change, better prey availability and ocean currents." 'The octopus plague' Experts say octopus population booms in the West Country have happened periodically since the late 1800s. Dr Keith Hiscock, Associate Fellow at the Marine Biological Association, said there was a "plague" of Common Octopuses in the late 1800s and early 1900s. "In recent years, we have reported a greater persistence of the species from high numbers in 2022, but then fewer numbers in 2023. He added: "Now, in 2025, the 'outburst' being reported by fishermen and divers suggests larger numbers being a more persistent feature of our waters. 'We will have to wait and see if this year's abundance of common octopus is - like the 1900 and 1950 outbursts - just a one year wonder. "However, they have stuck around the last few years and the finding of a dead female with her hatched eggs in a deep fissure at Porthkerris two year ago was significant - they are breeding in our waters.' A 'highly intelligent predator' Octopuses are known for being effective hunters, with unique biological adaptions. Ms Cocciardi said: "Octopuses are highly intelligent predators. "They have a parrot-like beak that can break into the shells of crabs and lobsters. "They also inject venom that paralyses their prey and breaks down the soft tissue, turning it into a soup that they can suck out." "They're also known for their ability to squeeze into tiny spaces and change colour to blend into their surroundings. "They can instantly change colour from grey to yellow, brown, or green, blending into rocky coasts, shallow waters, and hide 200 metres below the water's surface." Octopuses are climate change 'winners' Alix Harvey, Ecology Laboratory and Research Aquarium Manager at the Marine Biological Association, said:"Globally cephalopods (Cephalopoda such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish) are generally 'winners' when it comes to changing seas, even with issues like climate change and overfishing. "Their short lifespan, rapid reproduction and intelligence allows them to exploit new environments." What impact does the rising number of octopuses have on marine life? Fishers in the region are reporting that their shellfish catch has plummeted, primarily due to the octopuses entering their crab pots, eating the shellfish and then exiting, leaving them with little to no catch. A unique Devon bylaw requires some crab pots to have "escape holes" to protect young shellfish. These holes typically allow young shellfish to escape but they are also providing a gap for octopuses to enter pots, consume the catch, and escape,The Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA) who is responsible for this unique bylaw, has responded with emergency measures, temporarily allowing fishermen to close escape hatches when specifically targeting octopus, provided they release any captured crabs or lobsters.
Telegraph
18-05-2025
- Telegraph
Britain still has rainforests – but they need protecting before it's too late
To step into Emsworthy Mire is to be transported into a different world. With the jagged peak of the much more visited Haytor Rocks overhead, the surrounding Dartmoor uplands are relatively bare: grass, sheep and rocky natural Stonehenges. Opposite our vantage point overlooking Emsworthy is a patch of grass so unnaturally green it looks like Wimbledon's Centre Court. Not here in the mire. A path leads through scrub down into a valley where life is untamed and abundant. Birds and insects are everywhere. In March, when trees around the country are still bald and brown, it is a vibrant turquoise. Every branch and trunk is almost completely covered in plants, from lichens and ferns to bryophytes (liverworts and mosses). They live on trees, the floor, even a picnic bench. We are in one of Britain's remaining patches of rainforest. 'The whole of Dartmoor could have tree cover,' says Matt Boydell, land manager at the Devon Wildlife Trust, as he surveys the landscape. Since the charity took over in 2012, sheep grazing has radically reduced (we spot a few offenders among the trees; they always find a way), resulting in rising scrubland, which could eventually turn into rainforest. On a slope opposite, birch are recolonising common land. Boydell reckons 50 per cent of Dartmoor could be rainforest in the future. Wonderfully named organisms proliferate here, including old man's beard, a wispy lichen that looks like wool hanging from branches, and the similar string-of-sausages. Sphagnum moss, heavily harvested during the First World War to dress wounds, carpets the floor. In this valley, from an environmental stance, things are positive, says Boydell. 'When you look closely you realise there's lichens on top of lichens on top of lichens. On a misty day, when everything is dripping wet, it's hard to go anywhere more magical in this country.' A few years back, my first contact with what I now recognise as temperate rainforest was unexpected. Hiking in the Peak District on a scorching day, we descended into Lud's Church, a chasm full of moss-covered trees and rocks, seemingly 10C cooler. I didn't realise it then, but that tiny site was becoming part of what is arguably Britain's most exciting conservational field. These are the remaining fragments of a unique, dense type of forest that once covered an estimated 20 per cent of the country (it is less than one per cent today) and is part of our folklore. From Arthurian legends to medieval Welsh, the Mabinogion stories to Tolkien, Britain's literary history is full of tales centred on these ethereal, verdant landscapes, inspired by the gnarled, plant-covered oaks like Dartmoor's Wistman's Wood. There has been a surge of interest in our domestic rainforests. Earlier this year, the Soil exhibition at Somerset House in London featured a film focused on them. In March, it was announced that an unnamed donor is spending almost £18 million to purchase an estate near Ullapool, Scotland, partly to create new rainforest. In 2024, England's biggest temperate rainforest, Borrowdale in the Lake District, became a National Nature Reserve in a bid to improve restoration. A year prior, Aviva announced a landmark £38 million fund to restore temperate rainforests with The Wildlife Trusts. This month the Chelsea Flower Show will feature a garden celebrating mosses, ferns and lichens. Its designer, Zoe Claymore, grew up visiting Devon's rainforests. 'Lichen and moss are definitely odd for Chelsea,' she says. 'The whole point is to shout about our wild wet woodland and give them a voice. It won't be your average Chelsea garden, some won't like what I'm doing. But it will be a lot less controversial than a few years ago.' Why are rainforests in vogue? Partly because so little remains – just an estimated 18,000 hectares in England. Last year a University of Leeds study revealed that up to two thirds of the world's temperate rainforest could fall victim to climate change by 2100. Found in Atlantic Europe, the Pacific north-west of the US and Canada, southern Chile, Japan, Korea, Tasmania and New Zealand, temperate rainforest is much rarer than its tropical counterpart. In the UK, it stretches from the tip of Cornwall to Scotland through the entire west. Described as 'green on green on green', there are lichens, liverworts, mosses and ferns covering trees. They require an oceanic climate: wet, humid, without extreme hot or cold, and year-round moisture. You'll find rare plants and fungi, such as hazel gloves, which campaigner Guy Shrubsole describes as 'looking like Donald Trump's tiny orange hands'. These forests are home to important threatened bird species, including wood warblers, pied flycatchers and redstarts. Many environmentalists point to Shrubsole as a key figure in the movement. In March 2021, he launched a call to action, asking the public to help map Britain's lost rainforests. Hundreds sent submissions, buoyed by a wave of interest in nature during the pandemic, and Shrubsole's subsequent 2022 book, The Lost Rainforests of Britain, showcased their ecological importance. Boydell says that though he has worked in these woodlands for decades, he only became aware of the term 'temperate rainforest' five years ago. Known previously as Atlantic oak woodland, wet woodland and native broadleaf oak forest among other monikers, a recent rebranding is helping their cause. Some of the biggest environmental campaigns have involved saving tropical rainforests – a word that immediately conjures images of both beautifully dense and biodiverse habitat but also deforestation for beef and soy. 'We've been doing brilliant work since the 1980s,' says Luke Barley, tree and woodland adviser at the National Trust. 'They've been rebranded more recently, and it's been a brilliant thing, it's hugely raised their profile.' Barley argues that Aviva's £38 million fund 'probably wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for that increased focus'. For Shrubsole, 'We have the best opportunity in Britain of anywhere on Earth for restoring temperate rainforest, because so much has gone, and because we have the ideal climate for it in that 20 per cent of the country that we have is an oceanic rainforest climate.' Devon sits firmly within Britain's temperate rainforest zone. Yet its tree cover is below the national average. Rainforest sites such as Wistman's Wood and Emsworthy Mire are rare, and small. Boydell is part of the movement to change that. At Bowden Pillars, on a hill overlooking the hippy enclave of Totnes, he shows me the Devon Wildlife Trust's new forest, purchased with funds from the Aviva grant. Other new locations enabled by the insurer include Trellwyn Fach in Pembrokeshire, Bryn Ifan in North Wales, Skiddaw in Cumbria and, most recently, its largest rainforest recovery project to date, at Glen Auldyn on the Isle of Man. It is an ambitious 100-year journey to restore this precious habitat across Britain, hoping to create 1,755 hectares of rainforest and sequester 220,000 tonnes of carbon by 2050. 'Our temperate rainforests have this incredible lower plant flora, the lichens, ferns and mosses – you have hundreds and hundreds,' says Rob Stoneman, director of landscape recovery at The Wildlife Trusts. 'Some of the richest diversity in northern Europe is in our temperate rainforest, and there's hardly any left. We chopped the vast majority down, we've been chopping it for thousands of years.' The Devon Wildlife Trust purchased a 105-year leasehold on Bowden Pillars, taking on 75 acres that will become a new rainforest. Through a mix of planting and natural regeneration, it hopes to create a vast new woodland, expanding the remaining fragments. When I visit in late March, the last of 7,000 trees – a mix of 21 native species including oak, elm, hazel and blackthorn – have been planted, mostly by local volunteers; 10,000 will be planted next year. The sloping fields are covered in biodegradable tree tubes – some might consider them an eyesore – which protect the saplings, currently no taller than a foot, from deer. Grazing has been removed for similar reasons. The project has involved plenty of bureaucracy, from public consultations to being on the public register for six weeks. There was almost no opposition, says Boydell, although some queried the thousands of tree tubes overlooking Totnes. How long until it resembles woodland? Around 20 years. 'For it to be really temperate rainforest, we're probably talking great-grandchildren,' Boydell adds. A 50-mile drive west, another patch of rainforest is being resurrected. As I exit the A30 towards Bodmin Moor I see the telltale signs: stone walls along the single-lane roads are green with moss. I'm heading towards Cabilla, a 250-acre upland farm in Cornwall with a hidden secret: 100 acres of some of Britain's most magical temperate rainforest. Bought in 1960 by the explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison, the woodland has persevered, despite the advice of countless agricultural consultants. A recent soil sample revealed there has been continuous forest here for at least 3,664 years, remaining because the valley is too steep and rocky to be farmed effectively. It is a sanctuary. Deep into the woods one hears the trance-like flow of a river. Boulders are covered in moss, plants hang from trees – you half expect Tarzan to swing past. A fallen oak forms a bridge over the river, and is covered in a fungus reminiscent of oyster shells. When I arrive it is misty and drizzling; ideal weather for a rainforest visit, says Robin's son Merlin, who now runs the farm. Merlin Hanbury-Tenison hopes to bring back 100,000 trees, 40,000 through planting, the rest via natural regeneration. On the edges of the existing woods are newly planted celtic oak, hazel, rowan, alder and more. 'All rainforest varieties,' says Hanbury- Tenison. A pioneering planting project by the Woodland Trust has scattered seeds by drone. Livestock have been temporarily removed to allow regeneration. Hanbury-Tenison hopes to one day pioneer 'agro-rainforestry', rearing high-quality cattle within the forest, and to show farmers how upland farms can both restore nature and provide high-quality food. Something even more ambitious is at foot, too. Cabilla is not merely reforesting. It is home to a new charity, the Thousand Year Trust, which will become Britain's first dedicated temperate rainforest research centre. A recent Crowdfunder aims to raise £50,000 to facilitate the project. The name, inspired by the sessile oak's lengthy life cycle, hints at Hanbury-Tenison's long-term vision: 'Can we fix climate change by 2030? Probably not. But we can fix it by 3025.' Everyone knows about tropical rainforests: how the Amazon is the planet's lungs, a major carbon sink, creating weather patterns. Countless university courses focus on them; there are many research institutes and field stations in the tropics. For temperate rainforests? Barely anything, at least in Britain. Hanbury-Tenison wants 'a place where scientists, academics, students and volunteers can come together'. The location is also symbolic. Europe's temperate rainforest zone stretches roughly from Bergen in Norway to Braga in Portugal; Cabilla is almost slap-bang in the middle. Yet there is more to a rainforest than its environmental benefit. A former soldier, Hanbury-Tenison's tank hit a landmine in Afghanistan in 2007. A decade later, working as a management consultant in London, he was diagnosed with PTSD. Returning to the family farm and spending time in its rainforest helped. At the same time, his wife had suffered multiple miscarriages. 'We healed here,' says Hanbury-Tenison (who stresses he'd never suggest anyone shun conventional medication and treatment). Since 2020, Cabilla has also become a well-being retreat, not only for the typical wellness crowd who can afford it, but helping those who might not normally attend such spaces, including army veterans and burnt-out NHS nurses. Scattered in the woods are cabins for attendees, which look like hobbit huts, if they were designed in Sweden. So far, 3,000 people have benefitted. The Western world has long lectured tropical countries, where more than half of the rainforest has been destroyed. But 3,000 years ago, Britain was a rainforest island; an area the size of Birmingham was felled in the 20th century alone. 'We need to realise how much we have denuded and destroyed our own habitats,' says Shrubsole. 'You've got politicians going to the Amazon later this year to Cop30, and the West is expecting countries like Brazil to stop cutting down the Amazon. Obviously it's vital that this happens, but we really need to be going one better, to restore some of our lost rainforest.' Hanbury-Tenison hopes the Thousand Year Trust will help to triple Britain's rainforest coverage. What happens to the traditional farming that dominates areas such as Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor? For Boydell, the areas being restored are 'small in the grand scheme of things'. Does removing land from farming threaten food security? 'We use an estimated 22 per cent of the UK for sheep farming to provide just one per cent of our calories,' says Hanbury-Tenison, who believes we should eat more wild venison instead, helping to control deer populations that blight new woodland. For Stoneman, 'We need to encourage landowners and farmers to transition from loss-making sheep farming to profitable agroforestry.' In Shrubsole's book, he points to hill farmers who've replaced sheep with less destructive native cattle at far lower densities, and received greater income for a premium product as a result. One such site is Rhemore Wild Croft on Scotland's Morvern peninsula, home to some of Britain's largest rainforests. Sam Firth took over the site with her partner, Alasdair, a woodland ecologist, in 2020. More than half is temperate rainforest, predominantly hazel, and it runs as both woodland and farm, with 200 sheep removed and replaced by about 12 cattle at any one time. Firth was 'keen not to have livestock, but it became clear in the first year that some areas need grazing', to protect meadows and push back bracken, which can inhibit regeneration. The meat, 'conservation beef', as Firth calls it, has proven 'incredibly popular' and is sold locally, including to a renowned restaurant in nearby Lochaline. Already there are signs that new hazels and willows are emerging, the rainforest expanding. The couple receive grants and funding for natural regeneration, woodland management and farming, proving they're not mutually exclusive. In late 2023, the government, under Rishi Sunak, published a temperate rainforest strategy, to 'protect' and 'enhance' them. It was the first dedicated government policy on temperate rainforest, and a key pillar of Shrubsole's campaigning. 'It's only a start, but it was recognition of the national importance of this habitat.' For Boydell, meanwhile, 'they are as special as tropical rainforest, they're rarer'. Barley points out they're still threatened, by conifer planting, invasive species such as deer and rhododendron, development, climate change, overgrazing, and neglect and poor management. 'Britain doesn't have that many unique responsibilities to global conservation, but this is one.' The word 'rainforest' captures our imaginations, but few realise we have it on our doorstep. Ecologists have long described important British habitats like chalk streams and peat bogs as 'Britain's tropical rainforest'. Actually, says Shrubsole, the truth is less metaphorical: 'Britain's rainforests are 'our rainforests'.'
