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 Arts 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 Riverfly citizen science programme now has a total of nine active sites in the River Taw catchment, up from two last year. There are another 37 in the Torridge catchment. Through monthly volunteer sampling of invertebrates, all of them provide regular data on river water quality. If there are any problems, the Environment Agency is informed so that they can investigate and take remedial action.

The Riverfly programme was started in the Biosphere in 2014.

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.