The Devon and Severn IFCA and North Devon Biosphere are asking for help from people who fish commercially and/or recreationally from North Devon and North Somerset, specifically those that fish for herring, bass, whelk, squid, and skates and rays.

We are conducting a series of telephone interviews focusing on different issues or patterns that you have noticed while fishing and how these have changed over time. The purpose of these interviews is to gather and make the most of local knowledge from fishers (past and present) operating along the North Devon and North Somerset coast to feed into Fishery Research and Management Plans (FRMPs).

This is a real chance to ensure that the views of local fishers are accurately represented in these plans and are incorporated into any future management, where appropriate.

These plans aim to bridge the gap between current, single species style fisheries management and enable the shift towards a more nature based, local approach for commercially important species in North Devon, where appropriate.

If you would like to know more or are a fisher interested in being interviewed, please get in contact with Martin Peverley at m.peverley@devonandsevernifca.gov.uk or ring 07395 358172 and leave a message and he’ll return your call.

​The Landscape Pioneer and Marine Pioneer and our partners at WWF-UK are encouraging filmmakers to bid for two series of films that help people to understand the connection between our coast, rivers and sea and how important it is to us. 
 
We are looking for creative filmmakers who can produce a series of short films that showcase the range of benefits provided by our seas, why our Marine Protected Areas are important, and that will show how connected the land, coast and seas is, including to the people that live here.

On 18th June, over 70 local farmers and land managers attended a free event on the important role of herbal leys and grassland management in improving soils, forage quality and animal health.  The event was organised jointly by FWAG SouthWest and the Taw Valley Facilitation Group, and held at Rothamsted Research’s North Wyke Farm, near Okehampton. 
 
The morning began with presentations by speakers Ian Wilkinson of Cotswolds Seeds and Luppo Diepenbroek from the AHDB (Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board) grazing group.  Areas of discussion included:

• Improving soil fertility and forage with herbal leys
• Rotational and mob grazing vs set stocking
• Improving drainage and preventing droughts
• Reducing the fertiliser budget and improving resilience
• Health benefits of diverse forage
• Benefits of herbal leys for wildlife and water quality.

The Natural Flood Management (NFM) interventions in the Acland Catchment have been log dams and uniquely designed hedgerows. These strategies work with environmental and natural processes, through an ecosystem based approach, to increase flood resilience of communities downstream. 

The Biosphere recently teamed up with Beaford to support Devon Libraries for two events called Nature Tales, which is part of Libraries Unlimited's Unlimited Potential project.

The project, made possible by funding from Arts Council England, enabled the two events to take place.  Held at Torrington and South Molton Libraries, the events were aimed at pre-school families and linked libraries with the great outdoors.

The events began at the library with a mix of entertainment, which included stories, songs and puppets.  The children then went out into the Biosphere to follow a story walk, look for clues and experience the beautiful landscape. The children were also able to look closely at a selection of plants and insects under a microscope and using magnifying bug viewers.

Finally, they all returned to the library for snacks, natural crafts and a free goody bag.

The Biosphere Team recently spent a busy day coppicing on the Tarka Trail with members of local partner organisations, conservationists and dedicated volunteers.

This year we were joined by colleagues Devon Wildlife Trust, Westcountry Rivers Trust, The Biosphere Foundation, National Trust, Northam Burrows Country Park and the North Devon AONB to name a few. As a thank you for all their hard work a festive BBQ and hot drinks were provided.
 
The photo on the left is the 'before' shot. You can clearly see that this area was in need of coppicing.  The many leaves covering the Trail makes the surface slippery and can really damage the tarmac by staying permanently wet.

Coppicing is highly effective way of managing woodlands and has greatly influenced our British woodlands.  The reasons we coppice are much more than just preserving the surface of the Trail for cyclists and walkers.  The increased light reaching the embankments will allow wild flowers and wildlife to thrive.


This photo below is of the area that was coppiced in 2016 and it really shows how much clearer the surface is.

This summer, the project achieved an exciting milestone. Thanks to our expert advisors, Evelyn Moorkens and Ian Killeen from Ireland, we were able to confirm live juvenile mussels for the first time in over 50 years. The juvenile mussels which had previously encysted on brown trout dropped off at our captive rearing facility in North Devon. This enabled us to collect them and return them to the River Torridge in specially selected locations. The captive breeding programme is currently in its second year, and during October 2017, the project was able to confirm a second year of successful glochidia (larvae) attachment on host fish.

The Biosphere were fortunate enough to be invited to set up a stall for the recent Royal visit, part of a 'Best of North Devon' showcase that took place in Barnstaple's historic Pannier Market.
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall spent over an hour chatting to stall holders and representatives from various organisations including the North Devon Biosphere, Children’s Hospice South West, of which the Her Royal Highness is Patron, North Devon Hospice, and the North Devon AONB.
Andy Bell, Biosphere Coordinator said "I was pleasantly surprised when His  Royal Highness started the conversation by saying "Biosphere, I have heard about this and am very interested".  The conversation followed with talking about the work of the Biosphere Partnership on land and marine issues, and how we aim to improve the links between people and nature"

The Summer meeting of the Facilitation Group was held at Higher Hacknell Farm on 20th July. 21 Members attended and enjoyed an interesting walk around Tim & Jo Budden's 350-acre organic farm.  This was followed by an excellent BBQ and plenty of chat about agriculture and the environment.

The most recent workshop was held on Wednesday 2nd August at West Week Farm titled 'Enhancing Biodiversity and Making Economic use of Woodland'.  This proved to be a very valuable event for the 21 attendees who learned how to both help wildlife, and get some economic returns.  The next workshop is a hedge-laying event on 6th October, so contact us if you wish to attend.

The Facilitation Fund has already held two workshops to help famers apply for Mid-Tier Countryside Stewardship.  Roland Stonex from FWAG has been very positive, knowledgeable and helpful to potential applicants.
A final mid-tier workshop will be on September 6th at High Bickington Community Centre. We have potentially 4 members applying for the scheme this year and we are hopeful that their applications will be successful.

Two new interpretation boards have been erected at Fremington Local Nature Reserve giving information on the wildlife and history of the reserve.  One board is situated near the village green and gives details of the traditional apple trees planted here and shows some of the wildflowers that occur in the meadow.  The second board covers the wildlife value of the recently constructed scrape.  It is situated  on land owned by Barrett Homes, adjacent to the reserve.

​The boards were funded by North Devon Council and were produced by the management group which has representatives from North Devon Council, Fremington Parish Council and North Devon Biosphere.

Councillor Dick Jones, says: "We are very lucky to have a designated Local Nature Reserve in Fremington and Lovell's Field is a really special place. The scrape is the latest initiative to improve the area for birds and other wildlife and these two interpretation boards will explain to local residents and visitors how important the nature reserve is."

The next event at Fremington LNR is a bat and moth walk at Lovell's Field on Thursday 24 August, more details to follow.

"The North Devon Biosphere are currently working on a project, funded by the Environment Agency and Natural England, constructing new hedgebanks on a farm above Braunton. These Devon hedges are specially designed to slow the flow of water off the land, thereby reducing flood risk in the village. The new hedge banks have small raised spines (baffles) jutting at right angles from them. These act like groynes on a beach, but trap water rather than sand. They hold it until it drains gradually through pipes (weepholes) set just above ground level, which pass through the hedge into the drainage ditch beyond.
Tom Hutchings, Devon County Council’s Flood and Coastal Risk Manager says "The Devon Banks look so established already. I like the idea of the spines to limit the lateral flows along the toe of the bank and then the weepholes to allow the flow to be conveyed through the banks. These are really useful photographs that can be used to promote such actions elsewhere around the County.

Learn more about this and other hedge related projects by joining the Devon Hedge Group on Facebook.

Hoping to catch a glimpse of ospreys using the new nest pole, the Gaia Trust has installed a solar-powered webcam at Home Farm Marsh. Footage is streamed live on the internet and shown on a big screen at Fremington Quay Café. 

​Two telegraph poles erected beside the estuary carry a nesting platform that will hopefully be used by ospreys and a camera focussed on the platform.  

Home Farm Marsh nature reserve at Yelland is open to the public (please, no dogs) with access from the Tarka Trail.

The first Meddon Green Management Plan has served the Local Nature Reserve Group well and it is now time to look ahead to the next 10 years.  A new plan is open for consultation until Friday 14th July 2017.  Please send your comments to  biosphere-mailbox@devon.gov.uk 

Following a slight lull in recent activity, the group are now suitably revitalised and are looking forward to implementing some exciting projects identified in the draft management plan.  These include new interpretation boards and clearing out the large pond which has become very silted up.  It is hoped that light summer grazing will recommence in July with two cattle being brought in to help control the scrub which is trying to dominate the site.  The many different wild flowers species are currently threatened with being shaded out by willow and more willow.

​The next event at Meddon Green is a bat and moth evening late August.  Details to follow 

At the start of this month Matt Edworthy from the Biosphere Service led the fifth Riverfly citizen science training event in the Biosphere since 2014. Nine volunteers came to the Fox and Hounds hotel in Eggesford to learn more about the project that uses volunteers to sample, identify and count stream invertebrates to help monitor the health of our local watercourses.

Since 2014, our 32 Riverfly volunteers have taken 408 samples from 54 different sites in the Biosphere, mostly in the River Taw catchment. Our nine new volunteers will add to those numbers in 2017 and will spread project coverage further into the River Taw catchment. 

​Wayne Thomas, one of the volunteers has written about the training day on his blog

Following a couple of years of nominal activity at Meddon Green Local Nature Reserve, a new group of local volunteers are keen to help with management and study of this important culm grassland site.  18 volunteers came out to help with path clearance in early March.  The group were given a brief history of the site and given an update on its current requirements by Tom Hynes, North Devon Biosphere.  They then proceeded to clear the whole of the path around the reserve meaning that people can once again access all of the site, including the viewing area over the pond.

There are now plans to improve the entrance to the reserve in order to make it easier to drop off cattle which are needed to graze the central open area.  There are also plans to dig out one or both of the ponds which have become overgrown.  Some of this work will be included in a grant application which is currently being drawn up.  There are discussions being held with a local farmer about re-introducing grazing to the reserve to help prevent willow scrub shading out the more interesting culm grassland plants.  It is also proposed that a bat watching event be held over the summer.

For more details of volunteering opportunities and future events at the reserve please contact Tom Hynes on 01271 388534

Anstey Young Farmers Club members, who were keen to learn traditional hedge laying, took part in a practical workshop run recently by our own 'Mr Hedge', Tom Hynes.  Two of the group members had applied for mid tier Countryside Stewardship and have a lot of hedge laying to do over the next couple of years.

The participants learned how to lay a hedge at Westlake Farm in Oakford using traditional hand tools.  During the day they were joined by Mr Stevens, the grandfather of the family farm, who recounted tales of hedgelaying in his youth.  Mr Stevens was pleased that the same rules applied today such as always laying "steepers" uphill but the introduction of the chainsaw has helped to speed the whole process up. 

"It's good to see this kind of enthusiasm to learn traditional rural skills" said Tom. "I was very impressed by the quality and quantity of hedge laying that  the group carried out during the workshop. They will now be able to take those skills and put them into practice at their own farms".
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Should you know of a group who would be interested in learning  hedgelaying, please get in touch with us via the Biosphere mailbox.

Come rain or shine, fishermen are often beside the river and are well placed to help look after them. Here are some of the things that the Taw Fishing Club have been doing and are planning for 2017;

This year the Club will be improving access to the river and enhancing in-river and bankside habitats. Coppicing is vital technique for this and in 2017 Club members will coppice about ¾ of a mile of river-side growth. 

Maize is an increasingly important crop in the Biosphere area but one that, without careful management and husbandry, can have significant detrimental effects on the local environment, especially after harvest.

Local farmers are invited to this free workshop in Merton on 26th January to meet with John Morgan of the Maize Growers Association and learn more about making the most from this crop with the minimal effect on the environment. Includes farm walk.

With funding from the Tarka Country Trust's Community Wildlife Fund, Phil Metcalfe, who volunteers with the Biosphere Service, has been making barn owl boxes to give to landowners with suitable habitat and buildings. Modern agricultural sheds are generally unsuitable for barn owls because they do not have ledges where nests can be built.  But the addition of a nest box can change a new building into a desirable residence for barn owl.

​The boxes follow the tried and tested design produced by the Barn Owl Trust.  Most of the boxes will be going in barns but where no suitable barns can be found the boxes will be put in trees. The entrance hole on all the boxes is high up so that fledglings owlets have to be able to fly a certain amount before gaining access to the outside platform. 

​Phil will be making 20 barn owl boxes and although many already have an agreed location, there are still some available.  If you have a suitable barn and suitable feeding habitat nearby (rough grassland) and are interested in putting up a box please contact Phil Metcalfe
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The last Riverfly sampling for 2016 was completed in September. During the year, our 32 volunteers took 144 samples from 33 different sites in the Torridge catchment and, new this year, 1 on the Taw. Only 4 samples failed their trigger level test, and after investigation, the Environment Agency attributed them to the dry Autumn and low flows.

Download the full year report

Communities will have access to funds, equipment and expertise to help them manage their chosen verges and promote their achievements. Case studies and best-practice guidance will help recruit more communities and sustain he volunteer network once the project ends. The project is supported by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund with a variety of contributions from other partners.

Clare Manning has just been appointed as the Project Coordinator.