The West Weald Landscape Project

– 10 years.…and counting!Rich Howorth

ex- West Weald Landscape Project Officer

Project Context

• Drivers: landscape ecology; natural processes;

naturalistic grazing; re-wilding; ‘ecosystem

services’

• Inspirations: – Frans Vera, Hans Kampf, Tony

Whitbread, Charlie Burrell, Butcherland fields,

IALE UK

• Idealistic nature state vs.

mainstream land use & conservation?

The Team: Partnership & Staffing

• West Weald Landscape Partnership 2004+, 15

bodies

• Project Officer (3) to manage work from mid-

2004

• Monitoring Officer from mid-2005 (temp, 1

year)

• Landowner Advisor from 2009 (temp, 3 years)

Funding

• Early support - English Nature & HLF

• Environment Agency research & monitoring

support

• Other partner support from CDC & WSCC

• BBC Wildlife Fund support for bats and pre-

TCT landowner work

• Major funding bid (£1/4 million) to Tubney

Charitable Trust in 2008, for 2009 start over

5-year project

• SWT membership appeals x2

Research & Monitoring

• Major focus from outset

• Applied rather than academic research, +

IALE/BES

• ‘Land Use Change and the Water Environment

of the West Weald 1971-2001’ – WWLP / EA

study• Butcherland succession vegetation monitoring

04/05+• ‘The State of the West Weald’s Natural

Environment 2006’• Long-term forest plots re-survey of The Mens –

Anna Swift 2006 • Barbastelle (+ other) bats population studies –

Ebernoe Common (08), The Mens (09), Butcherland, wider landscape

Working with Landowners –

development phase

• Ad-hoc contacts from outset, mostly reactive

work

• Environmental Stewardship promotion – ELS v

HLS

• A few key landowner relationships developed

• Barbastelle landscape ecology (flightlines,

foraging) as early driver for proactive work

• GIS targeting for key species groups – bats,

birds & butterflies

• Initial capital works – hedgerows planting

especially

Working with the Public –

becoming native?

• Local schools

• Volunteers & conservation works

• Student projects

• Walks & Talks

• Events – Batz n’ Bratz, Apples & Animals

• Information materials - walks guide

Provisional thoughts

• Long project development, vs extensive baseline studies

• Balance between information gathering and action

• Partnership working & challenges • Difficulty of working across administrative

boundaries• External funding critical to project viability and

impact• Great insights and impacts realised through

perseverance

Evaluation? – Improved environment; & socio-economics?

or “A Living Landscape – are we there yet?”

Future? - WWL focus of resource effort vs rest of Sussex?

West Weald Landscape Project – Where We’ve Got

To

Petra Billings

Landscape Projects Officer

A Living Landscape

A visionary partnership project that promotes the integrated management of a viable and enhanced landscape in the West

Weald for people and nature

WWLP Objectives

• Enhanced conservation of the core

forest areas

• Wider landscape improvements

through working with landowners and

farmers

• Research and monitoring eg surveys of

important wildlife species

• Enhanced public enjoyment of the

landscape

Achievements: Landowner Work

• >260 visits to 125 landowners of 11,000 ha (46% of project area)

• English Woodland Grant Scheme:– 21 planning grants– 10 WIGs– 3 creation grants– 1 regeneration grant

• Environmental Stewardship (30 farmers)– 15 HLS with ELS– Further 15 ELS only

50 practical worksprojects:

• >8500m hedgerows

• 12 orchard creation or restoration

• 6 woodland planting schemes

• 3 scrapes

Capital Works

Case Study 1: Gandersgate Woodland

Case Study 2: Orchard House

• Agri-environment funding schemes

• Hedgerow management

• Woodland management

• Wetland management

• Tree health • Meadow creation

and restoration • Deer management

Landowner Workshops

Habitat No. surveyed

Results

Meadows 55 28 of particular interest; condition variable with many under-managed

Hedges 105 34 (33%) in favourable condition

Traditional orchards

76 4 (6%) excellent 32 (48%) good 31 (46%) poor

Woodlands 45 39 (88.5%) fair/good 6 (11.5%) poor

Ponds 91 1 (1.3%) excellent 13 (16.9%) good 28 (35.1%) moderate 36 (46.8%) low

Habitat surveys

• Invertebrate Survey,The Chiddingfold Forest (2009)

• Wood White (2009)• Saproxylic Invertebrates of

Cowdray Park (Summer 2011)

• Woodpeckers and their Nest-Holes (2006, 2009)

• Barbastelle Bats in the West Weald 1997 – 2008

• Baseline Audit of Bat Activity in the West Weald Landscape, 2010, 2011 and 2012

Species Surveys

© Mark Monk-Terry

©Alan Price, Gatehouse Studios/SWT

• Developing a land management targeting framework for the West Weald Project area (2009)

• Arun & Rother Catchment Habitat Potential Model (2011)

• An Ecological Connectivity Approach to Planning for Adaptive Landscapes: A Case Study of the West Weald (2010)

Landscape Studies

• Parish meetings• Wild Walks in the West

Weald (15,000 copies)• Oral history project• Community habitat

mapping• Community orchards• School hedge-planting

Community Engagement

• Project website • Project newsletters x13• Walks, talks and courses

~40• TV and radio interviews x6• Local press ~60• Conference presentations

x3

Dissemination

1. Strength of partnership working

Lessons learned

2. Importance of building long-term relationships with landowners

Lessons learned

3. Means of targeting landowners:1. Proximity to core forest

areas2. Barbastelle flightlines3. Local wildlife sites4. Grant scheme expiry/not

in grant schemes5. Results of habitat surveys

Proactive ►Reactive

Lessons learned

4. Mechanisms for

engaging with

landowners

• Landowner workshops

• Habitat surveys

• Website and e-

newsletter

• Mailshot

Lessons learned

What did it cost?

£240,721£246,352

Match-funding

Tubney Charitable Trust £198,260£65,749

£81,517

£5,499

Total salaries plus travel

Total surveys (incl. equipment)

Landowner work (capital works plus workshops)

Other costs

Total Income 2009 - 2014 Total Expenditure 2009 - 2014

The Future?

… bigger, better, more joined up