It’s been a really busy summer for the Wildlife Warden group, with all sorts going on across Teignbridge – events, surveys, work parties, bioblitzes, and training sessions.

One of the best things, though, is seeing wardens lending a hand not just in their own parishes, but also supporting projects in others – sharing their skills and knowledge. The help, teamwork, and friendships that have grown along the way are what really make this group so special.

In this newsletter:

• Join us for a BIG Wildlife Warden gathering in September at Moor Barton Wilding!

• Murder in the Garden! A curious case at the Powderham Garden Festival

• Pesticide Free Devon

• Training galore! Ferns, yellow flowers and reptiles!

• Making churchyards fabulous

• A farm for nature: Wardens share their space

• Support Newton Abbot tree micro-nursery

• Exploring Dawlish Water community orchard site

• Umbellifer ID: Safety and awareness in the field

• Spread the word! Mow like a cow!

• Book Recommendation: How to rewild by Jonathan Thomson

• Dates for your diary

• Round up of Wildlife Warden activity across Teignbridge
  

Join us for a BIG Wildlife Warden gathering and visit to Moor Barton Wilding!

We’re really excited to tell you about our autumn gathering for Wildlife Wardens, friends, and supporters at Moor Barton Wilding site on Sunday 21st September – we’d love to see lots of you there!

We’re hoping this will be a fabulous day for catching up and sharing ideas, as well learning more about the Moor Barton site and the ambitious work underway there.

Around 10 years ago Moor Barton was dominated by a larch plantation which was replanted with 8,200 native broadleaf trees. Initially, the approach was to intervene minimally but more recently, the team has begun to take a more active role in land management – mimicking the work of keystone species and even introducing species, including beavers!

We are really hoping to catch a glimpse of the beavers on our visit but even if we don’t, we will see the incredible positive impact they have had at the site. We’ll have morning and afternoon tours and for those keen to get hands-on, there is an optional “Tending the Land” practical session in the afternoon too.

Spaces on the site tours are limited so book now!

There’ll be an extended lunch break with plenty of time for meeting other wardens and sharing ideas.

We’d also love it if some of you might be up for giving a 5-minute talk about what you’ve been working on this year – to inspire others and connect people doing similar projects. If you’d be up for doing that, let me know!

Although this event is listed as free, we would be very grateful for a donation towards the cost of the venue and leaders. If you’re able to contribute, you can do so when booking through Eventbrite or bring cash on the day – any amount is very much appreciated. Thank you!

Murder in the Garden! A curious case at the Powderham Garden Festival

Ashton WW Shira gave a very successful talk to her local gardening group titled “Murder in the Garden”, which explored the impact of pesticides on garden ecosystems. We loved the idea so much, we asked her to turn it into an interactive activity for the Wildlife Wardens stand at Powderham.

Shira created a set of photos showing a beautiful garden and lots of different birds, mammals, insects, reptiles – some you’d love to see, and a few you might not! Visitors to the stand were asked to pop the various creatures into their likely habitats in the garden, sparking some great conversations about the variety of microhabitats found even in small green spaces.

Then the story took a turn: the garden was handed over to someone less keen on the caterpillars nibbling their brassicas, the aphids on their roses, or the yellow patches on their lawn. They went off to the garden centre to buy a few off-the-shelf products to deal with these “problems.”

The impact soon became clear. People were asked to place skull-and-crossbones markers on the creatures affected by the pesticides but it didn’t stop there – as food sources disappeared, other species began to vanish too! The food web was collapsing before our eyes!

It was a powerful moment. People could clearly see how using a pesticides doesn’t just remove the “pest”—it damages the whole garden ecosystem, often wiping out the very wildlife we want to see.

The activity triggered chats about habitats, food chains, and how we can manage our gardens without chemicals. One visitor shared that he had worked in the pesticide industry until he read Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring back in the 1960s. The book had a profound impact on him – and he was glad to talk to us about how he manages his garden pesticide free. For those people who were already gardening without chemicals, we set an extra challenge: share what you’ve learned with your neighbours and fellow allotment holders – we need to be spreading this message.

We have the Murder in the Garden activity available for other Wildlife Warden stands. If you’d like to borrow it for an event, please get in touch!

Thank you ever so much to WWs Sheree, Pete, Mariya, Jeremy, and Val for all your help running the stand- I really appreciated the support. And a special thanks to Shira for coming up with such a fantastic idea and creating the activity – we love it!

Lots of us joined the Green Futures team in Newton Abbot for the “Pesticide Free Devon” event in June – and what a day it was!

There was a fantastic speaker line-up, including Amanda Keetley from the Devon Environment Foundation, Martin Wrigley MP, and Guy Singh-Watson from Riverford Organics, along with plenty of breakout sessions for interactive discussions on a wide range of relevant topics.

There was a real buzz throughout the day, with people from all over Devon coming together to listen, share ideas, and talk – all united by a shared goal: finding practical ways to move toward a pesticide-free future.

We’re looking forward to the Green Futures team sharing their event summary soon. In the meantime, take a look at the newly launched Pesticide Free Devon Network website launched as a central hub for resources and advice.

Training Galore! Ferns, Yellow Flowers and Reptiles!

Many of our Wildlife Wardens love learning and we’ve been lucky to have some great training opportunities over the past few months. Any knowledge we gain is invaluable for surveys, bioblitzes, and sharing with fellow wardens and our communities.

Audrey led several brilliant plant ID sessions recently. We explored the world of ferns – spotting “thumbs” on Shield ferns, the frilliness of Lady ferns, and being amazed at just how scaly a Scaly Male fern can be!

We also had a mind-bending session all about yellow composite flowers, which tried their best to confuse us with their slightly different (but very similar!) names and looks! I think most of us would agree – these flowers are a work in progress!   

A big thank you to WW Betina for leading a great session on reptiles at Bovey Heath. We all held our breath as the corrugated sheets were lifted – and were thrilled to spot plenty of slow worms (and ants too!) It was fascinating to learn more about the reptiles in our local area – their preferred habitats, what they eat, and sadly, just how much they’re in decline. Betina also told us about the Devon Amphibian and Reptile Group, who are always looking for more people to get involved.

Making Churchyards Fabulous: A visit to Lustleigh church and cemetery

We had a glorious day in June at Lustleigh church and cemetery with a large group of Wildlife Wardens and others keen to support their local churchyards. We’re really grateful to Kelvin Boot for leading such an informative and enjoyable training session for us all.

Kelvin has been working with churches across Devon, helping them to see how these sites can be managed in ways that work for both people and wildlife. Understandably, some people can be hesitant about changing how these spaces are looked after – there’s often concern that it will look messy or unmanaged, resulting in complaints. As churchyards are used so many different ways, there is always a need for balance – ensuring everyone can use the space in the way they need.

Churchyards do have so much potential though. Many are like quiet time capsules, with old seed banks lying dormant beneath the surface, just waiting for the right conditions to grow again. With a few changes to how key areas are managed, these long-hidden plants can return – bringing other wildlife with them.

Take a look at the brief notes and ideas from the session. It’s been great to hear that as a result of the event, Kelvin has visits planned to both Dunsford and Ipplepen churchyards in the upcoming months.

We hope that WWs can continue to support their local churches. If you have a connection to your church and would like Kelvin to visit and give specific advise, please get in touch.

A farm for nature: Wildlife Wardens share their space

We were so grateful to Wildlife Wardens Helen and Glyn for welcoming a group of fellow wardens to their beautiful farm for a tour and picnic back in June. The couple bought the 16-acre farm in spring 2019 with a vision to transform the land into a thriving habitat for wildlife over the next 20 years.

It was a glorious morning with stunning views over the Dunsford area. The meadows were alive with nursery web spiders, hundreds of Roesel’s bush crickets and meadow grasshoppers. Butterflies were everywhere – small skippers, marbled whites, commas, red admirals, ringlets, and meadow browns, alongside the day-flying six-spot burnet moths. A real highlight came when Glyn lifted one of his corrugated sheets and revealed a beautiful grass snake, which quickly slipped off into the undergrowth!

During our visit, we noted down an impressive 108 plant species and 21 different bird and insect species! A huge thank you -and well done – to Helen and Glyn for all their hard work in making this such a special place for wildlife. We hope to visit again!

Support Newton Abbot tree micro-nursery

Thank you so much to Linda from the Newton Abbot Seed Library for running a friendly session for Wildlife Wardens, all about tree seed collection and growing in a micro-nursery.

Linda has set up her tiny tree nursery, behind the Courtenay Centre in Newton Abbot, with funding from the Devon Treescapes project. She hopes to grow trees from seed to support regular tree giveaway events from winter 2026. She could also grow on saplings for WWs to take back to their parishes.

Collecting a few tree seeds here and there when you are out and about can be easy to do – it could also be a good activity to get children and schools involved.

Linda is looking for seeds from smaller, native trees that can be grown in gardens or used for hedging. Her top picks include rowan, hawthorn, hazel, crab apple, silver birch and spindle.

Moor Trees have created a great handout which includes key points and ID guides for tree seed gathering. You can find a copy here.

Please do get in touch if you’d like to get involved – it would be wonderful if lots of wardens could support this project.

Linda will be hosting a seed processing evening on Thursday 30th October where you can bring along any seeds you have gathered (although, ideally getting them to Linda as soon as possible is best!)

Exploring Dawlish Water community orchard

A big thank you to Wildlife Wardens Ric, Jo, and Tim – along with Rex – for welcoming a group of fellow wardens to their site last month. The aim was to gather as much information as possible about species currently there, to help them see how things change over time, as their work on the site progresses.

It’s been so inspiring to follow the updates from this site in past newsletters. A fabulous hedge was planted last winter which has been has been mulched with compost, cardboard, mushroom waste and sheep’s wool with a barricade of brash, along with over 70 fruit trees in the Orchard.  Middle Earth, the next field, was planted with a majority of hazel, plus oak, birch, Scot’s pine, wild pear, crab apple, hawthorn and rowan. More trees were added to a wet field – alder buckthorn, willow, alder and hazel, with guelder rose doing especially well.  The range of species were chosen for their suitability to each area and now with increasing cover, come more birds. For the first time there are sky larks, with meadow pipits, song thrushes, linnets, willow warblers, goldcrests, greenfinch and blackcaps. A white-tailed eagle was seen, but didn’t linger … While we were there, a kestrel was spotted hovering overhead, and it was great to hear this year’s youngsters have been spotted regularly too.

We had a great morning, heads down, identifying plants and wildlife. By the end, we’d recorded over 40 species of birds and insects, along with nearly 70 different plant species! Reaching the top of the site, we were rewarded with an incredible view out over the Exe Estuary and back towards the wooded slopes of Haldon. We then headed back down and enjoyed sit down, chat and cuppa!

It’s clear how much hard work has gone into the site, and the team’s enthusiasm for the positive changes is a joy to see. We really look forward to watching how it develops in the coming years.

Umbellifer ID Training: Safety and Awareness in the Field

We recently ran a special training session focused on the umbellifer family of plants. These species are easily recognised when in flower by their distinctive umbrella-shaped flower clusters — think cow parsley!

Umbellifers include many familiar native plants that grow in hedgerows, woods, fields, roadsides, footpaths, and along waterways. Some are incredibly useful — like carrots and parsley — while others, such as hemlock and hemlock water-dropwort, are highly toxic.

During the session, Audrey got everyone thinking carefully about how to identify different umbellifers: how to describe them, where they grow, and when they flower. Afterwards, we went for a hunt on the farm to see how many species we could spot!

After lots of reading and research, Audrey and I have come to appreciate the serious risks that some of these plants pose. Hemlock and hemlock water-dropwort are extremely poisonous, whilst others – including hogweed and even cow parsley – can cause severe skin sensitivity to sunlight, leading to painful burns, slow healing, scarring, and even recurrence with sun exposure.

Given these risks, we’ve updated our safety guidance, which you can access here. As the dangers to both volunteers and the public are significant, we ask that Wildlife Wardens do not cut or handle these plants unless they’ve attended our umbellifer ID training and fully understand the limited and controlled situations under which this can be done.

Your safety and the safety of others always comes first!

Spreading the Word: Mow Like a Cow!

This summer, we’ve been encouraging people to “Mow like a Cow” – a playful reminder that there’s something even better to do after No Mow May!

Please download our leaflet and help spread the message to friends, neighbours, and your local community.

Teignbridge District Council Joins In – We’ve also been working with Teignbridge District Council to introduce random mowing into some of their green spaces. In spring, we ran a training session for the contractor team, chatting to them about how and why random mowing benefits biodiversity.

Since then, a dedicated group of Wildlife Wardens has been out and about surveying the TDC sites throughout June and July. They’ve collected initial data on the species currently found there. We plan to return in future years and hope to see positive changes in species diversity and abundance.

Thank You! Huge thanks to Audrey, Sonia, Helen, Betina, Tess, Sarah, Linda, Julia, Anna, Shira, and Jo for your fantastic efforts – this has truly been a brilliant team effort. Below are some of the stunning invertebrate photos taken by Helen during the surveys.

Book Recommendation

Thanks to Dawlish WW Jo for sending through her book recommendation, “How to Rewild” by Jonathan Thomson.

Based at the Underhill Wood Nature Reserve on the Wiltshire / Dorset border. This guy is direct and extremely helpful. He has oodles of ideas and has tried them all out, from Barn Owl enrichment to the glory if the dead hedge – he has advice for every situation. A brilliant small book available from Folde, Dorset.

Dates for your diary

Round up of Wildlife Warden activity across Teignbridge

Wildlife Warden Survey Team
Our brilliant team of Wildlife Wardens from across Teignbridge has been busy carrying out surveys for County Wildlife Sites, the Big Devon Meadow Count, TDC sites, and bioblitz events. It’s been a fabulous team effort with lots of shared learning and fun! A huge thank you to Helen, Sonia, Julia, Shira, Tess, Jo M, Val, Betina, Linda, Sarah, Jo G, and Anna – your time and expertise are hugely appreciated!

Abbotskerswell WW Emily and the Abbwild team have been busy! A few months ago, they ran a second-hand clothes swap and whilst not directly wildlife-related, it promoted sustainable living and carbon reduction, which of course benefits wildlife. The big highlight was an afternoon and twilight bioblitz in the local churchyard, with local experts and community members coming together and recording as many species as possible. A total of 143 species altogether! Findings were uploaded to a group function in iNaturalist, making it easy to track and share results. Emily has since shared her experience with other Wardens running similar events this summer. Emily and Abbwild have also been working on the local wildflower areas and community orchard with plans for a Sept clothes swap.

Ashburton WW Elaine will once again be offering her “Wildlife Gardening” talks to other parishes through autumn and winter. With a background in garden design, Elaine previously worked with the London Wildlife Trust, where she helped design and manage their award-winning Centre for Wildlife Gardening in East Dulwich. Her relaxed and accessible talks are a great way to get people thinking about how they manage their garden spaces. Get in touch if you’d be interested in Elaine coming to talk in your parish.

Ashton WW Shira has helped survey several unconfirmed County Wildlife Sites and supported other Wardens with meadow surveys as part of the Moor Meadow “Big Devon Meadow Count”. She also created the “Murder in the Garden” stand activity and will be giving a talk based on this for the Teignmouth Gardening Club this month – we look forward to hearing how it goes.

Bishopsteignton – Welcome to new WWs Kirstyn and Laura, it’s great to have more aardens for the parish! The WW team are looking to run some talks for their community over the autumn and winter months – please get in touch if you have any speaker suggestions for them. Kirstyn has also been keeping an eye on a local planning application and building links with the local school with plans to run a bioblitz there in the future.

Bovey Tracey – WWs Janet, Andrew and Linda (Ilsington WW) took part in the Great Big Green Week back in June, running a Wildlife Warden stand at the event. Huge thanks to all of you for your help and time!  

Bridford WW Lucy has been working with the Parish Council and residents after a few concerns were raised about some of the “messy” wildlife-friendly verges. Plans for next year include adding more yellow rattle and using random mowing to help strike a better balance. The good news is that most locals are happy with longer verges, so ongoing chats should help keep everyone on board. Lucy is also keeping an eye on a local planning issue.

Buckland-in-the-Moor WWs have been working closely with parochial church council (PCC) to raise concerns about pesticides being used as part of churchyard management.

Chudleigh WWs worked hard to get their gardens looking tip top for this year’s Chudleigh Open Garden event. They spent time chatting with visitors about wildlife-friendly gardening, sharing tips on creating habitats and going pesticide-free. Overall the open garden event was a great success for the Chudleigh Wild group.

Dawlish The WADE team has been hard at work along Dawlish Brook this summer included regular litter picks, wildflower planting, bank restoration, water quality testing and silt removal in key areas. It’s been a brilliant team effort to improve the health of the Brook for both people and wildlife.     

It was a real pleasure visiting the Dawlish Water Community Orchard last month with Wildlife Wardens Ric, Jo, and Tim, and seeing the great work they’ve been doing. Thanks also to Pete and Mariya, who’ve been helping with planting at the site too. It’s been wonderful to see local Wardens connecting and supporting each other’s projects.    

Dunsford WWs Julia and Pip continue to organise regular wildlife meetings with other interested folk in the Teign Valley area. This has become a monthly event and is a great way for people with a shared passion to share sightings, recommend books and events, and raise concerns – Himalayan balsam was a recent one. Following recent training at Lustleigh churchyard, Julia invited ecologist Kelvin Boot to Dunsford churchyard for inspiration and advice.

Exminster WWs and Greenspaces team had a lovely time visiting Exeter Pre-Prep, chatting with Year 1 and 2 kids about birdsong and looking at nest boxes around the village. Back in April, a small but eager group joined a local ornithologist for a dawn chorus walk, spotting or hearing over 20 different birds in the village.

One of the Greenspaces volunteers kindly made some beautiful plaques, which are now up around the village – including at the mini tree nursery, helping to flag work of the Greenspaces team. There have also been working parties at St Martin’s Churchyard, putting up a bat box high in a beech tree, planting foxgloves, and marking out a wildflower “no mow” area with willow sticks.

Ideford WWs have helped organise an Open Gardens event, showcasing gardens in the parish that have received a DWT Wildlife Garden Award. Hettie from DWT was there on the day to offer advice to visitors. They’re also working to develop a biodiversity database as part of the Ideford Parish Biodiversity Plan.

Ilsington WW Sheree hosted a busy open garden event last month, welcoming hundreds of visitors and sharing her wildlife-friendly gardening ideas. Meanwhile, WW Dawn led another brilliant local walk, this time exploring Emsworthy Mire near Haytor with guide Andrew Taylor from Devon Wildlife Trust. A group of around ten locals enjoyed learning more about the site’s history and wildlife, spotting plenty of plants and insects along the way. Dawn has another walk planned soon with a Dartmoor ranger. WW Linda helped to run the DWT and WW stands at the Bovey Green week back in June and continues to do regular water quality testing in the parish.

Ipplepen Welcome to new WW Chris, who’s also part of the Ippleplanet group – lovely to have you join us! Following Kelvin Boot’s visit and training session at Lustleigh churchyard, a follow-up visit to Ipplepen has been arranged – we’re looking forward to hearing how it goes. WWs and the Ippleplanet team also ran a stand at their village event last month, using Wildlife Warden materials and activities, with a steady stream of interest throughout the day – well done to all involved!

Kingskerswell WW George has been working closely with the Parish Council to create a large wild meadow area in a PC owned field, with plans to add fruit trees soon. The site is already thriving and acts as a valuable habitat corridor, thanks to its location near a large woodland and other wild areas. George has also been helping Decoy School, where the school meadow is looking fabulous too. Excellent work all round!

Kingsteignton WW Hanna re-marked the Kingsteignton Nature Trail route ahead of the summer holidays for families to get out and enjoy. WWs Hanna and Robin had a stall at a local event spreading the word about the Kingsteignton Wild group, giving away nature trail leaflets, information about wildlife and wildlife friendly gardening. A variety of nature craft activities were really enjoyed by children. They have also started raising awareness about the Sibelco quarry expansion and shared a poster from the local campaign group.

Lustleigh and Moretonhampstead WWs Bee and Rachel have been working to improve the management of the Wray Valley Trail to better support wildlife. Back in June Bee and myself, alongside members of Moretonhampstead Parish Council, met with the DCC Rights of Way Warden for a productive discussion about more wildlife-friendly cutting regimes. A longer-term plan is to form a Wray Valley Trail group to help monitor the path, protect active nests, and support the trail management. Rachel has also been supporting residents with wildlife-friendly management at Lustleigh cemetery, where she hosted a recent training session.

Newton Abbot A big thank you to Wildlife Wardens Jules and Christine for running a WW stand at last month’s Party in the Park. The event saw a steady stream of interest, especially from children who were fascinated by the box of wildlife treasures – always a hit at these kinds of events!.

North Bovey WW Susan does regular surveys in her parish, including water quality, river fly and butterflies and has noted that swifts, hedgehogs and butterflies are doing well this year in her parish. She has organised a speaker for a wildlife gardening talk with an emphasis on butterflies, and plans to encourage locals to record their sightings on the Butterfly Conservation ‘My Garden’ survey.

Ogwell In June, WWs Betina and Pauline hosted a wonderful wildlife garden event in Ogwell, where locals toured several nature-friendly gardens and wrapped up with a WW info stand in Pauline’s garden. Thanks to Bishopsteignton WW Sarah for helping on the day too! Betina also organised a successful bioblitz at the community garden and completed the Big Meadow Count survey at Little Green, with support from fellow wardens Sonia and Helen.

Stokenteignhead WW Sam is working with Devon Biodiversity Records Centre on a parish audit survey, with hopes it could be replicated in other parishes. WW Jill has been writing local wildlife articles – one focused on ivy to gently challenge a sceptic – and has organised a visit with ecologist Kelvin Boot to talk bees and biodiversity around the village hall grounds.

Trusham Thank you to WW Helen who wrote a great report to update us on some of her finds in the churchyard – in particular, moths and moth trap intruders! I particularly love the photo of the Scarce Fungus Weevil which looks like a small twig! Both Helen and Anna have also been helping us with multiple surveys throughout July as part of our work supporting Teignbridge District Council with changes to management at some of their sites to help increase biodiversity. Helen has also helped a fellow warden at a churchyard bioblitz recording invertebrates.

That’s it from us for now – thank you to everyone for your amazing work across Teignbridge over the summer!

…. and don’t forget to take part in the Big Butterfly Count (running until Sunday 10th August) and the BTO Blackbird Survey (running weekly until October) – both are brilliant ways to contribute to national wildlife data.

Have a wonderful summer!

Vicky

Spring has finally sprung, and it’s been glorious to see the colours returning to the hedgerows and woodlands. I’m enjoying the sights and sounds of bird activity in my garden, as well as spotting the season’s first butterflies, bees and hedgehog poop! It’s always such a fab time of year in nature!

Apologies for the delay since my last newsletter update—there’s been so much wonderful work happening across Teignbridge, I’ve got a lot to share!

In this months newsletter:

• W.A.D.E : A new project for Dawlish
• Mow like a cow! Training session for the council contractor team
• Lichens: A tiny yet huge world!
• Hairstreak, Dormice and Hedgerows: Collaboration with Teign valley landowners
• Swift action!
• County Wildlife Site survey training
• Have you ever wondered how flies fly??!!
• Dates for your Diary
• Can you help with the Wildlife Warden event stand?
• Round up of Wildlife Warden activity across Teignbridge
• .. and finally!

Waterways Around the Dawlish Environment (W.A.D.E) Project

An ambitious new project has been launched by Wildlife Warden and Town Councillor Scott in Dawlish. The Waterways Around the Dawlish Environment (WADE) group aims to get together a band of local volunteers to help care for “The Brook”, which runs through the centre of the town. The group will focus on clearing debris, removing litter, conducting regular water testing, and will be exploring future planting, to support wildlife, along the riverbanks.

So far, there has been a fantastic response to this project, with around 30 new volunteers signed up and receiving training to become wildlife wardens. We look forward to hearing about what they are getting up to in the months ahead. Please contact either myself or Scott if you would like to find out more about getting involved.

Mow like a cow!

Training for the Teignbridge District Council contractor team

Audrey and I ran an early morning training session for Teignbridge District Council contractors before they headed out for the day. With coffee in hand, we chatted about the benefits of random mowing for biodiversity—how it can mimics the role of large herbivores in shaping the landscape.

This year, Teignbridge District Council is introducing a random mowing schedule on several sites—fantastic news! Our goal was to help contractors understand why they’re being asked to mow squiggles into greenspaces and how best to do it. Audrey created some wonderfully clear (yet squiggly) diagrams to illustrate the concept. Check out the full set of random mowing diagrams here!

We also asked everyone what in nature brightens their day while working outdoors. Responses ranged from butterflies and woodpeckers to slow worms, sparking a great discussion about how random mowing promotes plant diversity and varied grass heights which in turn, supports more insects—and ultimately birds, slow worms, and other wildlife higher up the food chain.

We hope that if contractors are challenged as to why these greenspaces look “messy,” they might feel better equipped to talk about how random mowing is one way to help people to see what they love!

This summer, we’ll be surveying selected TDC sites to gather baseline data and track changes in the years ahead. If you’d like to get involved, we’d love to hear from you!

Lichens: A tiny yet huge world!

Thank you to our wonderfully knowledgeable Wildlife Wardens Sonia and Anna for running a fantastic beginners lichen training session last month.

A large group of us gathered at the church hall in Trusham for an introduction to the world of lichens before heading into the local woods. At a large ash tree, we became completely engrossed, peering through hand lenses to discover the many lichen varieties growing on its bark. The walk back was even slower as we stopped to examine lichens on gates, trees, fallen wood – just about everywhere!

Sonia and Anna did a fantastic job guiding us through the first steps of this otherwise overwhelming and complex subject. We left feeling more confident in our understanding of lichens, their reproduction, and how to categorise them into the three main types: crustose, foliose, and fruticose. Plus, we had fun spotting “wine gums,” “jam tarts,” and “volcanoes”!

The day ended on a high when Trusham warden Helen, who looks after the Trusham churchyard, led us to a gravestone where some intriguingly camouflaged creatures were blended among the lichens. To our amazement, they started moving! Take a look at Helens incredible video capturing these Ramshorn Bagworm (Luffia lapidella) on the move! 

Hairstreak, dormice and hedgerows!

Wildlife Warden collaboration with Teign valley landowners

The Teign Valley Facilitation Fund (TVFF) has been set up to help farmers and landowners work together to reduce flooding, support biodiversity, create habitat for priority species, and contribute to tackling the climate emergency. To support this, we have teamed up local Wildlife Wardens with TVFF members to conduct brown hairstreak butterfly and hedge surveys on their land over the past few months.

Wildlife Wardens are now shifting focus to dormice, and last week, we were extremely grateful to have mammal expert (and Chudleigh WW) Sue Smallshire lead a training session in the sunshine! After an introduction to dormouse ecology, we headed out to learn how to identify suitable sites for nest box tubes. Wildlife Wardens will now help landowners to install 50 monitoring tubes per site and the information collected at the end of the season will help determine the presence (or absence) of dormice and guide future land management decisions.

A huge thank you to the dedicated Wildlife Wardens involved in this project – it has been a fantastic collaboration, supporting local landowners!

Swift action!

We’re thrilled to welcome Jerry Horn to the Wildlife Warden group! Jerry set up and runs the Devon Swift Project, and last week he was awarded the Wild About Devon Award for his incredible work on this project!

Jerry has kindly provided an introduction to himself. We hope the warden network will be a valuable resource in supporting swift conservation across Teignbridge.

“I moved into my current home in Dawlish 10 years ago and noticed swifts nesting in my neighbour’s houses. I decided to put up nest boxes on my own house, and over the years, I’ve managed to attract six pairs. One of those pairs has been returning for six years.

At first, I wasn’t fully aware of the swifts’ nesting requirements. I didn’t realise that maintenance work on houses in my area was unknowingly blocking swift nest sites. Modern construction techniques were obstructing access to the nest chambers, meaning the nesting pairs – who mate for life – were returning from Sub-Saharan Africa only to find they couldn’t get into their chambers.

This is one of the main reasons swift populations have declined by 60% over the past 20 years, and why the species now holds red-listed status. In Dawlish, the swift population dropped during the years my colony was becoming established, dwindling to just a few pairs. Thankfully, by 2024, the numbers have risen to around eight pairs, with many more prospecting sub-adults scouting out potential nest sites.

The Devon Swift Project was set up in 2022, and I installed my first nest box at St. Gregory’s Church in Dawlish. Since then, the working group has grown, and I’ve just completed my 37th church installation in Devon, funded by Devon Birds and the Devon Environment Foundation. I currently have funding for 30 more church installations, all of which are already allocated. We’ve applied for additional funding, so we’re hopeful we can continue supporting this incredible species!

The primary focus of the project is to install nest boxes in Devon’s churches. However, I’ve realised there’s a need to connect more with the wider community, and I’m working on developing this. If there’s enough interest and support, I’d like to propose a package for communities, where several nest boxes would be installed in a village or town, prioritising public buildings, schools, halls, community centres, etc. This package would include the installation of nest boxes and ‘swift callers’ on suitable buildings, along with guidance and a talk, in exchange for a donation to the project, helping us to continue our work.”

If you think this fabulous offer for communities could work well in your parish please do get in touch with Jerry for more information.

County Wildlife Site survey training

Last week, we were out and about in Yarner Woods with Jack Rivers from the Devon Biodiversity Record Centre, learning how to survey a woodland for potential designation as a County Wildlife Site (CWS).

County Wildlife Sites are recognised for their importance for supporting specific habitats or species. These valuable sites are then considered in local planning and development decisions once they are designated.

We have a fantastic team of Wildlife Wardens now trained to carry out surveys at new sites – however, we’d love to get more wardens involved!

Why would you want to be involved?

• You’ll get to see some beautiful places that you wouldn’t normally have access to.
• You are an important part of the process in getting these special sites recognised.
• You’ll learn so much about species ID when you are out with a group – I know I have!
• It’s lots fun!

How can you get involved?

Join us for the Grassland survey training on Thursday, May 1st with Jack Rivers from DBRC. During the session, you’ll learn how to complete a grassland CWS survey.

Come along and help survey unconfirmed sites with a group of trained wardens. No survey experience is required; you’ll learn as we go! Let me know if you’d like to be added to the email list.

Find and speak to local landowners: If surveys aren’t your thing, you can still play a key role by finding local landowners of unconfirmed sites to request permission for surveying. Wardens with local knowledge and connections are incredibly valuable for this. Get in touch if you think you could help in this way!

Have you ever wondered how flies fly?

A big thank you to Linda (WW Ilsington) for writing the article below. Linda shared her images of halteres with me, which got me looking – so I thought others might enjoy getting the haltere-spotting bug too!

We all know that the majority of insects including bees, butterflies and dragonflies have 2 pairs of wings that gives them the ability to manoeuvre expertly in flight.  So how do true flies, part of the large Diptera Order with approx. 100,000 known species, manage with only one pair of wings?

The fore wings of true flies provide lift whilst the hind wings of true flies have been reduced to small pin shaped discs, known as halteres, which are used to maintain flight stability by acting as gyroscopes to assist balance.  If you look closely at flies, you can see these small discs on stalks, like miniature lollypop sticks attached towards the rear of the thorax, in the same position that other insects have their hindwings.

The halteres beat rapidly with forewing movement when the fly is in linear flight but if it starts to move off this course the halteres oscillate on their axis (going right and left, as well as up and down) which creates a force that is picked up by sensors at the base of the halteres. This information is then used to provide information to the fore wing and head stabilisation muscles to correct the fly’s position in space. The sensory organs at the base of the halteres are very similar to that of the rear wings of 4 winged insects so this is thought to be an evolutionary development.

With the temperature rising as spring arrives go on a search in your garden to spot the extraordinary anatomy and flight of flies.

Dates for your diary

Can you help with the Wildlife Warden event stand?

We’ve got a lot of events lined up over the summer where we’ll be taking the WW stand. It’s a fantastic opportunity to connect with people, share what we’ve been up to, spark interest in local nature and wildlife …… and potentially find some new volunteers!

We’d love to have some helpers for these events, so if you’d like to join us for one or more dates, please ping me an email.

Round up of Wildlife Warden activity across Teignbridge

Ashburton A big thank you to Elaine for helping run the Wildlife Warden stand at the Ashburton Thrive event this weekend. There was a steady stream of interested visitors and plenty of great conversations about local wildlife, what people enjoy seeing in their area, and sharing the great work the warden group is doing.

Ashton WW Shira gave a really creative and interactive presentation for the Bridford and Teign Valley Gardening Club which she entitled “Murder in the Garden“. Shira prepared cards featuring garden wildlife—from mycelium and invertebrates to birds and small mammals—each with details of their diet and vulnerabilities on the back. Some creatures were welcomed by gardeners (e.g., robins and hedgehogs), while others were not (e.g., slugs and greenflies). The group was invited to arrange these creatures in a ‘garden,’ creating a food web of thriving biodiversity.

However, the scenario shifted when new homeowners took over the garden. Unhappy with anything eating their plants or disturbing their lawn, they turned to a big-chain DIY store and the local garden centre to buy pesticides-many of which harm non-target species and aquatic life. And who knew that while neonicotinoids are banned in agriculture, gardeners can still readily purchase them?

The impact on the groups imagined flourishing garden was clear. The group unanimously agreed on the need to stop using chemicals and to dispose of those stored in sheds. Shira then introduced the upcoming launch of Pesticide Free Devon in June, which Wildlife Wardens are invited to support, with hopes for a district-wide pesticide collection in the future. What a fabulous way to help people discover the impact they can have for themselves!

Bridford With the help of her husband (an honorary WW!), Lucy has planted 12 trees in the Bridford playpark and has written an article for the Parish Council to include in the upcoming parish magazine. She has updated the verges management plan for this year, which will be discussed this at the next Parish Council meeting. Lucy has also been out and about helping with brown hairstreak surveys for farmers and landowners in the Teign Valley as part of the TVFF project and will be putting up dormouse nest boxes, next month as part of this project.

Christow Welcome to new warden Edmund! WWs Jane and Mike have been supporting Christow School by renovating a hedge within the school grounds for the benefit of wildlife. Jane has also attended our recent dormouse training session and will be setting up nest boxes on her land in the coming months. Edmund would like to be a hedgehog champion for Christow, and is going to be looking at putting up signs to make residents more aware of hedgehogs and the connectivity needed by them to thrive. 

Chudleigh WW Sue came and ran a fabulous dormouse training for wardens involved with the TVFF project this month, thank you! WW Tess is involved with this project too and will be helping to site the dormouse nest boxes next month.

Dawlish A big welcome to the 27 new Wildlife Wardens joining the W.A.D.E. project! Also, a warm welcome to Jerry from the Devon Swift Project, Sonia, who led a great beginner’s lichen training session in February (thank you!), and Tim, an active member of the Dawlish Water Community Orchard team. Dawlish now has an incredible 38 Wildlife Wardens—wow!

A huge congratulations to Jerry for winning the Wild About Devon Individual Award last week, recognising his incredible work on the Devon Swift Project. Well done!

The Dawlish Water Community Orchard team has been busy over the winter months! They’ve planted a long fruit hedge across the orchard and built additional dead hedges using brash to protect the new growth from deer. They’ve also been renovating old hedges, resulting in plenty of logs for edging fruit trees, ample firewood, and even more wildlife habitat.

Beyond the orchard, the team has planted hazel and other trees in the surrounding fields. They hosted a well-attended Wassail -fruit trees were thoroughly blessed, and any bad spirits were (presumably) driven off by the lively hullaballoo… though two deer strolled across the field above, completely unfazed by the noise!

Pete and Mariya have also been helping with planting at the orchard. Mariya has a keen interest in violets and their historical presence in the Dawlish area. She has planted violets at four different sites, each with varying light levels and soil conditions, and will be monitoring their progress.

We’re hoping to gather at the community orchard in July to survey a wet field and see the fantastic work happening at this site, ping me an email if you’d be interested to come.

Doddiscombleigh WW Jo has been out and about helping with brown hairstreak surveys for farmers and landowners in the Teign Valley as part of the TVFF project and will be helping with dormouse nest box siting in the upcoming month.

Dunsford WW Julia has also been involved with brown hairstreak surveys as part of the TVFF project and continues regular litter picks and water quality monitoring.

Julia and Pip organise a monthly Teign Valley wildlife meeting to share local sightings, information, and upcoming events with the group. At a recent meeting one member shared top tips for managing gardens for butterflies, which ideally includes three different grass-cutting regimes: monthly cuts, annual cuts, and leaving grass long until August/September before cutting. Additionally, Butterfly Conservation is encouraging people to register any wild areas they have created as a ‘wild space’.

Exminster A huge congratulations to WW Jeremy and the Greenspaces team for winning the Wild About Devon Community Group Award, in recognition of all their fantastic hard work. Well done!

In January, the group held their fourth annual Wassail to celebrate the turn of the year and highlight the village community orchard. For the first time, the event took place in the evening, adding a magical touch. They also promoted the RSPB Garden Bird Count earlier this year and despite poor weather, the village-wide results showed an increase from last year, with some special sightings, including a goldcrest and a kingfisher. The group have tracked local bird numbers for the past few years and share this with the community.

Jeremy recently met with the Kenton and Starcross groups to discuss mowing regimes, upcoming events in Starcross (27th April, 2-4pm) and Exminster (23rd May, 6.30pm start) as well as plans for better connectivity as part of the wider local nature recovery network.

Ilsington WW Dawn led another successful parish walk to the Great Plantation at Liverton and was joined by Shaun from the Forestry Commission who gave an interesting overview of the site. Dawn will be leading another walk to the Haytor quarries this week.

North Bovey WW Susan continues to survey the water quality in her area as a Westcountry Rivers Trust citizen scientist and is planning to resuming other wildlife activities this spring.

Ogwell Several members of the Ogwell team are supporting staff and the Eco Council at Canada School this year, helping with activities that strengthen the school’s connection to nature and also the local community. In January, they held a Wassail at the Eco council’s request, and they are now working on plans to make the area near the front entrance more wildlife-friendly. The team have also donated apple trees, helped with maintaining some of their planters for pollinators and purchased a bird box camera to bring nature into the classroom.

Shillingford WW Peter and the Shillingford team have set up two ground-feeding stations to attract and support cirl buntings, after spotting a single pair in a village hedgerow three years ago. Following RSPB advice, they use the same successful seed mix as at Labrador Bay—80% canary seed and 20% millet—sourced from Eyebrook Wild Bird Feeds (available by phone order only). Both feeders are kept topped up year-round and now attract 10–15 birds daily! (One feeder had to be slightly modified after a trail camera caught a squirrel stealing the feed!) Peter is happy to advise others interested in setting up feeders—just drop me an email to connect you.

The Shillingford group hosted three winter wildlife talks, including a fantastic presentation by Mateo from the Barn Owl Trust, an great wildlife gardening talk from Ashburton WW Elaine, and an upcoming April talk, The Colour of Birds (Monday 14th April at 7.30pm).

They also organised a successful Devon Wildlife Trust Saving Devon’s Treescapes tree giveaway, with 500 trees going to new homes to help replace those lost to ash dieback.

In December and January, huge flocks of noisy linnets—sometimes around 300 —were spotted congregating on the village phonelines!

Starcross WW Ali recently met with the Exminster and Kenton groups to share ideas and plan ways to link the groups as part of the wider nature recovery network. Ali is also busy organising the Starcross Goes Wild event on Sunday, April 27th. If you’d like to help, let me know, and I’ll connect you with Ali!

Stokeinteignhead WWs Jill, Charlie, and Sam have revived the Teign Wildlife Interest Group (TWIG) after a five-year break which is fantastic to hear! As a first event they have organised a talk by a local medical herbalist on hedgerow herbs and foraging. Meanwhile, Sam has been exploring parish habitat mapping and is in discussion with the Devon Biodiversity Record Centre about the project. It will be great to hear how this progresses.

Teignmouth WW Peppy, along with Audrey, gave an fab talk on ‘How can our farmers and communities have a positive impact on the Teign?’ The room was packed with a lively crowd, and the discussion really got people talking and could have gone on much longer! Great to hear so many people are passionate and interested.

Trusham WW Anna teamed up with Sonia (Teignmouth) to run a really fun beginners’ lichen training session last month. She also attended the dormouse training and will be supporting TVFF landowners to install nest boxes over the next month. Anna has also been asked by a group in Shaldon to help create a more wildlife-friendly area following a garage development and will be doing so with the support of Iso (Buckfastleigh WW).

If you’ve made it to the end, well done! Hopefully, you’ve been enjoying a cuppa in the sunshine, listening to the birds!

As always, please don’t hesitate to let us know if there’s anything we can do to support you with all your amazing work for wildlife and nature in Teignbridge! Hope to see you at an event or training session soon.

Vicky

I can hardly believe it’s already December! The festive season might be upon us, but there’s still so much amazing work happening across our Teignbridge parishes. Just a few weeks ago, several of us attended the Stars of Teignbridge award ceremony, where the Wildlife Warden Scheme was nominated in the Collaboration category. While we didn’t take home the top prize, being recognised as one of the final four was a fantastic achievement. The event was a lovely celebration of the incredible efforts volunteers dedicate to their communities—thank you for the fabulous work you do in yours! (I’m sure our wildlife agrees!)

In this months newsletter:

• Farmwise Exeter: A Fun-Filled Day of Kids, Food, Farming, and Wildlife!
• Exploring Ancient Trees and the Ancient Tree Inventory
• Resources to Engage Your Parish Council on Biodiversity Duty
• Waxcap Walks: Hunting for Grassland Gems
• Using Native Bulbs to Guide Contractors
• Book Recommendation
• Dates for Your Diary
• Round Up of Wildlife Warden Activity Across Teignbridge
• Final Thoughts

Farmwise Exeter: A fun-filled day of kids, food, farming, and wildlife!

Thank you to Audrey Compton, for writing about our recent trip to Exeter:

In early October Chudleigh Warden Tess, Vicky and I set off for Westpoint and the annual Farmwise day. Every year around 1,500 excited children spend a day finding out how their food is grown, how farm animals are looked after – and how our wildlife fits in. The children move around the many stands in groups of about 15, stopping for about 10 minutes to find out key facts. 

We had put together a short activity about trees – their seeds, nuts and fruits, plus some really important stuff about how trees help us: taking in and storing carbon dioxide, producing the oxygen we need to survive, capturing the sun’s energy (that ultimately gives us our food), as well as providing wonderful habitats for the wildlife we all love. 

We asked the children to tell us what trees do – and it was great to find that a good number of these 9 and 10 year olds knew a lot already! We gave each of them a postcard with pictures of a tree, its flowers and fruits and asked them to hunt for its fruits or nuts from one of our baskets – we had acorns, crab apples, maple ‘helicopters’, conkers and hazel nuts. They just loved feeling the different textures and enjoyed the absolute beauty of acorns and conkers! For me, the best thing of all was when a 9 year old boy thoughtfully stroked a hazel leaf and said ‘If I dyed my hair green, could I catch the sun’s energy too?’

An absolutely knackering day, but very worthwhile!

Exploring Ancient Trees and the Ancient Tree Inventory

Thank you so much to Dunsford WW Jess for writing this fantastic article for her local Parish News. Following on from last weeks National Tree Week, I thought it would be a good time to share it with everyone here too! It’s a great activity to get involved with during the winter months.

With the leaves falling, autumn is a good time to look up and enjoy the beauty and variety of the trees around us. As the patterns of branches begin to show, the many different shapes and sizes of our trees become apparent. 

But how often do we stop to think about how old our trees are? 

The Ancient Tree Inventory is a mapping project run by the Woodland Trust. Since the project began, in 2006, well over 200,000 ancient and veteran trees have been recorded, although there is still a long way to go. These very old trees are important for their wildlife value and carbon-storing capacity, and for their links to local stories and culture. Protecting such ‘living legends’ is one of the Woodland Trust’s top priorities. 

An ancient tree is defined as one in the third and final stage of its life. Since different species have varying lifespans, there is no set age for when a tree becomes ancient. Birch trees, for example, are fast-growing and relatively short-lived, and can be ancient at 150 years old, whereas the common yew (Taxus baccata), the longest living of all the UK’s native tree species, may be 800 years old before it starts to show ancient characteristics and can live for over 3,000 years! Meanwhile oaks (Quercus species) and sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) can have a lifespan of over 1,000 years. 

Identifying the age of an ancient tree isn’t easy. Its trunk may be hollow, so there is no chance of counting its growth rings. But despite varying greatly in size and shape, ancient trees share several common features which may help us to spot them.  Along with hollows and crevices, these features include: a reduced canopy, a low or squat shape and a wide trunk; dead or broken branches and possibly a ‘stag-headed’ appearance, with bare antler-like branches in the crown; and the presence of fungi, indicating wood decay. A veteran tree is a mature tree that shares some of the characteristics of ancient trees. These features will develop further over time, meaning that veteran trees are the ancient trees of the future. 

The most likely places to discover ancient trees are traditional hunting grounds and parkland, along with wood pasture and wooded commons. However, they can also be found in urban areas and open countryside. 

The older a tree is, the more important it becomes to wildlife and biodiversity. Fungi, for example, break down the wood that the tree no longer needs, releasing the minerals for the tree to re-use. The fruiting bodies of fungi provide food for red squirrels, badgers, wood mice, beetles and slugs. Invertebrates rely on dead and decaying wood, while lichen communities, some of which grow only 1-2mm per year, depend on ancient trees for a stable environment where they can thrive.

There are thousands of veteran and ancient trees in the UK. Most are not legally protected but mapping their location through the Ancient Tree Inventory is a step towards caring for them and the habitats they support. For tips on identifying very old trees, and having them added to the inventory, have a look here. Further information can also be found through the Ancient Tree Forum, which has a Devon group. 

Ancient and veteran trees are a significant part of our natural and cultural heritage. Let’s spread the word on how we can help to protect them for generations to come.

Resources to Engage Your Parish Council on Biodiversity Duty

We’re excited to let you know that the Wildlife Warden biodiversity resources are now LIVE on the website! Hurrah!

We hope these materials are a useful starting point to help you engage Parish and Town Councils that have yet to address their Biodiversity Duty. Thank you so much to all the wardens who have contributed to these.

Here’s a quick preview of what you’ll find:

Introductory PowerPoint
A short, ready-to-use presentation for you to use at a parish or town council meeting to introduce the topic of biodiversity duty. Feel free to download and modify to suit your council’s needs or to add extra pages to include the great work you are doing already.

Example Actions
A selection of actions already happening across Teignbridge, which could inspire similar actions from your own council. We encourage you to select the actions that seem relevant and achievable in your parish. Use them to inspire and engage your councillors to take similar steps!

Waxcap Walks: Hunting for Grassland Gems

Many thanks to Audrey for leading two fantastic waxcap walks this month! We were fortunate to have a stunning days and delighted in discovering twirling pink ballerinas, the soap-scented oily, and the fascinating colour-changing parrots! As a special highlight, we even encountered the gruesome-looking Devil’s Fingers—a first for the farm this year!

Waxcaps are rare treasures of unimproved grasslands and with over 20 different species recorded, Deer Park farm is a nationally important site. During our walk, we talked about the fungal indicator species, grouped under the acronym CHEGD (derived from their scientific family names) which include spindles, clubs, waxcaps, earth tongues, pinkgills, and crazed caps. These fungi thrive in low-nutrient, unimproved grasslands making them good indicators of traditionally managed land. Plantlife run a “Waxcap Watch” every year and by tracking the presence of waxcaps and other CHEGD species, we can gather valuable data to help protect and manage these rare grassland ecosystems more effectively.

For those keen to learn more, the book Grassland Fungi: A Field Guide by Elsa Wood and Jon Dunkelman is highly recommended.

Marking No-cut Areas: Using Native Bulbs to Guide Contractors

If you’re responsible for maintaining a local verge, now is a fantastic time to consider planting native daffodils (Narcissus pseudonarcissus). These bright, easily recognisable flowers serve as a natural reminder to contractors to avoid cutting during the spring months. By planting daffodils across the area you wish to protect, you can create a visual cue that encourages contractors to steer clear. Hopefully, this will allow for other wildflowers to show, making it evident that the verge should remain uncut throughout the summer season. Gee Tee bulbs currently have these in stock.

Book Recommendation

Thank you so much to Ashton WW Shira for this fabulous review of a local book:

Tim and Jan Deane of Northwood Farm, Christow, set up the first organic veg box scheme selling to local households in 1991.

As well as the delights of their produce, a regular treat was to read Tim’s newsletter, his writing so vividly conjuring up life as a grower. This gift was recognised by the Organic Grower Magazine which, over many years, published a regular column called Nature Notes and it is these we can now enjoy in this book.

In the fifty short chapters we accompany Tim on the farm as he lends you his acute powers of observation and, through his elegant descriptions, experience with him the weather and the soil, and get up close to the plants and creatures with which he shares the land. We hear the sound of the hornet buzzing in the paper lampshade on an autumn evening, are taken into the remarkable life cycle of the oil beetle and discover frog spawn deposited in hopeless places. We listen to the song of the thrush ‘so sweet, so perfect, so delightful to the senses that you’d like to fold this moment around like a parcel and carry it with you forever’.

The reader shares Tim’s puzzlement at how the tractor engine compartment became filled with straw, and the trials of growing vegetables with capricious weather and opportunistic wildlife his accounts often accompanied by a dose of rye humour. And who knew that rose hips were a constituent of itching powder?

Although Tim’s humility is evident, regularly telling us that he is no expert in the things that he describes, his curiosity and undoubted intelligence combine to make this a book rich with knowledge about the natural world (and beyond to the night sky). I have so enjoyed this book and I urge you to read it. You can get a copy by emailing Tim and Jan or by visiting The Organic Growers Alliance.

Dates for Your Diary

Citizen Science Projects
Many of our wardens actively participate in the growing number of citizen science projects, which help collect valuable data. Over the winter months, there are a couple you might like to get involved in:

• New Year Plant Hunt run by the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (29th Dec – 1st Jan)
• Brown Hairstreak butterfly egg surveys run by Saving Devon’s Treescapes throughout winter. Contact Lindsay Mahon to sign up. There are already many wardens involved, so if you’d like to find others to survey with, let me know!

Round Up of Wildlife Warden Activity Across Teignbridge

Ashburton A big thank you to Elaine, who has been out and about again, delivering her fantastic wildlife gardening talk in Ilsington this month. The talk was wonderfully accessible to the whole community, regardless of their prior knowledge or level of interest. Everyone left inspired with practical ideas, and I’m excited to start a “dead hedge” this winter!

Ashton Shira continues to be busy, attending several events with the Teign Valley Facilitation Fund, including a deer management day, a hedgerow workshop, and a fungi event where she enjoyed beefsteak fungus cooked over an open fire—delicious! Shira has also shared our biodiversity resources at a recent Parish Council meeting, and we’re excited to see how this develops.

Chudleigh Chudleigh Wild and Wardens are always busy! Their jam-packed newsletter is a fantastic read, featuring events and great work happening across the parish including bat walks, verge management and supporting hedgehogs. Sue also highlights an informative video by Prof. Dave Goulson (Sussex University) about the impact of neonicotinoid pesticides on our wildlife and declining insect populations, with a focus on products used for pets. Have a watch!

Dawlish At the Dawlish Water Community Orchard, 17 new fruit trees have been donated and planted. The trees were mulched with organic oak/straw, a by product from the local mushroom farm, and some have been covered with local sheep fleeces to suppress grass growth as the trees establish. Plans to plant a long fruit hedge across the top of the orchard are also underway, using mixed native whips with cherry, rowan, and crab apples as specimen trees. Homemade biochar will be used during the planting. The group hope it will be a connective, deep hedge, with plenty of food and habitat for wildlife. We look forward to hearing how it goes.

WW Scott has been hard at work starting a new group to care for the Dawlish Brook, with a long-term goal of increasing wildlife and flood resilience. The newly formed W.A.D.E. (Waterways Around the Dawlish Environment) group will receive support and training from ACT to help them get started next year.

Dunsford The Dunsford team is getting a lot done! Julia has been packaging and distributing free wildflower seeds at the village shop, while Jess wrote a great article on the Woodland Trust’s Ancient Tree Inventory. Julia, along with a small group including Doddiscombsleigh warden Jo, have been recording trees in the area as part of this initiative. Julia and Pip have also started Brown Hairstreak surveys, and anyone interested in doing this in their area can sign up through the Devon Wildlife Trust Treescapes project. Monthly activities, such as water sampling, riverfly surveying, Smatters, and supporting the Dunsford Eco Church Award continue!

Exminster The Exminster Greenspaces team announced the winners of their summer photo competition, with the winning photos featuring a close-up of an elephant hawkmoth caterpillar and a meadow sunrise. This competition helped celebrate the natural world on the community’s doorstep, with prizes kindly donated by local businesses.

This autumn, the team has been busy working on key sites, including the churchyard and community orchard. They are pleased to report a 100% success rate, with nests found in every village nest box! In addition, a fantastic bug post has been installed in the orchard, generously donated by NHS New Leaf.

Hennock Chris has been developing a biodiversity database for the parish, which recently went live. It brings together data from national and local sources, along with sightings contributed by parishioners. You can explore this great community resource on the Parish Council website. Looking ahead, Chris plans to add pictures and create maps highlighting biodiversity hotspots in the area. 

Ilsington As part of a series exploring “special places in the parish,” Dawn led a group of locals to a private site nestled below Haytor Rocks. The wet woodland has the River Lemon running through it and featured stunning old trees, lush ferns, and vibrant mosses. Dawn introduced the Ancient Woodland Inventory to the group, and there was discussion around what makes a temperate rainforest. Since the visit, she has returned to document the old trees noted during the walk.

Linda organised the fantastic “Wildlife Gardening” talk at the village hall this month. A big thank you to Elaine from Ashburton for joining us and delivering such an great presentation!

Ipplepen Ippleplanet and the wardens have received approval from the Parish Council to trial the planting of two apple trees in the newly established community orchard—an exciting step forward! Given the area’s thin, stony soil, they aim to assess its suitability before expanding the planting. The group also hosted a well-attended talk by Teignbridge ranger Sian, who shared insights on managing the region’s nature reserves, with a focus on the nearby Orley Common.

Lustleigh Rachel is exploring the idea of starting a ‘Lustleigh Wildlife Society,’ and we look forward to hearing more as plans take shape.

Stokenteignhead Jill recently discussed alternatives to plastic laminator pouches for posters with a parish member. The Warden WhatsApp group shared many helpful ideas, including waterproof printing paper, A4 display boards in prominent public spots, Swedex eco-friendly pouches, and even creative reuse of waste plastic by ironing greaseproof paper. If you would like to join us on the friendly WhatsApp group please email me.

Teign Valley Wardens Many wardens in this area have been actively supported events organised by the Teign Valley Facilitation Fund which has been established to help local landowners and farmers collaborate in efforts to reduce flooding, support biodiversity, create habitats for priority species, and address the climate emergency. It’s fantastic that wardens can also benefit from these training opportunities, and we hope they will be able to assist landowners with future surveys.

Starcross Ali has been pleased to see people in Starcross showing interest and motivation in supporting the local hedgehog population. She recently wrote an article for her local parish magazine to raise awareness about how to help hedgehogs and to share the good work she and other volunteers have been doing in the wild area at Bonhay Park. Their efforts include allowing grasses to grow longer, adding new hedging, and creating gaps under fencing to welcome their prickly visitors!

Trusham Anna has been assisting Fiona Mathews from the University of Sussex with a project aimed at tracking Barbastelle bat populations. The survey at a wood in Trusham was a great success, revealing not only Barbastelle bats, but also Noctules, Common Pips, and Serotines.

Helen updated the informal Teign Valley wildlife group on the incredible species lists she has compiled for Trusham churchyard since she began recording in 2021. She has now documented 539 invertebrates, 290 moths, and 154 plant species!

It is a great time to get ahead for the coming season, so please feel free to email me if:

• You’d like to help us find landowners in your parish who may be interested in having a County Wildlife Site survey next season.

• You’d like to connect with other wardens who have successfully run projects that could provide insights or practical advice for your own parish.

• You’re interested in training opportunities on a specific topic or would like to offer training to other wardens on something you’re passionate about.

A huge thank you to each and every one of you for your incredible work for nature and wildlife over the past year. Your efforts really do make a difference, and we couldn’t be more grateful for your ongoing support and dedication. You’re an amazing group, and together, we’re accomplishing so much!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and looking forward to more great work together in 2025!

Vicky

There has been a noticeable shift in the season over the past few weeks, with a distinct feeling of autumn in the air. While some of us may feel a touch of melancholy as we watch our summer visitors leave the skies, it’s also a great time to reflect on a busy and productive summer, filled with a great variety of events and projects across our parishes.

And news, just in!

The Wildlife Warden scheme has been shortlisted for a Stars of Teignbridge Award! Hurrah!

In this months newsletter:

• Connecting Kids with Nature: Warden Training in Nature-Based Activities

• Bowden Pillar’s Walk: A New Atlantic Rainforest Site Near Totnes

• Are You a Website User? Help ACT with an Indoor Project This Winter!

• Resources for Engaging with Your Parish Council on Biodiversity

• Book Recommendation

• Wild About Devon Forum

• Dates for Your Diary

• Round Up of Wildlife Warden Activity Across Teignbridge

• Final Thoughts

Connecting Kids with Nature: Warden Training in Nature-Based Activities

Thank you so much to Abbotskerswell Warden Emily for sharing her expertise and hosting a training session last month. I’ve received fab feedback from the event, and we hope to run another session in December. Please get in touch with me if you’d like to come!

Emily’s notes about the training:

In August I ran a training session in my little woodland all about nature based activities for children. Luckily we were blessed with great weather! We talked about health and safety around working with young people and considering the weather conditions and season when planning activities. I laid out lots of my resources and offered the group a chance to have a good look through for ideas. After this I demonstrated some activities and encouraged others to have a go too. We tried out making Nordic slinging bracelets, making beads (or snakes or handles for bubble wands) out of pieces of elder, hapa zome printing using ferns and making “poo” from a mix of flour, soil and water to investigate signs animals have been present. 

Emily’s Basic Kit List:

• A duck caller, but anything to call children back to you works!
• Double-sided tape for instant stick during craft work: it’s much easier than waiting for glue to dry!
• Scissors, colouring pens and paper.
• Selection of wool and string (amazing what you can do with string and some sticks found on the ground!).
• Branch saw and secateurs for harvesting materials.
• “Go Find It” cards, my go-to warm up or gap filling activity which can be used anywhere, anytime!
• A tarp and paracord if you need to provide quick shelter or keep things clean, dry, or off the ground.

Emily’s Top 5 Tips for Doing Nature Activities with Kids:

1. Try to make it seasonal or or tie it in with the weather, special events, or a theme.

2. Keep it simple; don’t overcomplicate activities for children or you’ll end up having to provide a lot of support.

3. Don’t reinvent the wheel! Use Google or Facebook and you’ll find tons of suggestions for nature or forest school activities. The Wildlife Trusts, Natural History Museum, RSPB, and Woodland Trust all have numerous free printable spotting sheets, ID guides, colouring pages, and much more available to print at the touch of a button!

4. When crafting, always do a trial run yourself first to make sure the activity is correctly resourced and easy to engage with.

5. Always consider health and safety but don’t let it prevent you from doing activities with children, it can be so fun and rewarding! 

Bowden Pillar’s Walk: A New Atlantic Rainforest Site Near Totnes

Wildlife Wardens enjoyed a sneak peek of the new Devon Wildlife Trust “Bowden Pillars Atlantic Rainforest Project” near Totnes last month. Claire Inglis, land manager for the site, led wardens and members of the Teign Valley Small Woodlands group on a tour of the land, explaining their plans to create and develop a diverse woodland ecosystem.

The project is funded by Aviva, which has committed several million pounds to similar projects across the UK, with the Bowden Pillars project being the first to launch.

Located on a 30-hectare (75-acre) plot, the site’s steep valleys, naturally high humidity, mild climate, and high rainfall make it an ideal setting for woodland regeneration. Once part of a larger, intensive beef and arable farm, this land is now shifting focus towards nature, people, and food. Adjacent land is set to be part of a community-driven regenerative farming project, while the farm and farm buildings are likely to become an eco-village.

DWT has worked closely with the local community, gathering input and explaining the project’s vision. Detailed surveys have been carried out to understand the site’s archaeology, flora, fauna, soil composition, and current carbon capture.

The plan includes roughly 20 acres of open spaces and paths, 25 acres for tree planting, and another 25 acres left for natural regeneration. Different tree species will be planted in wet and dry areas, with approximately 1,600 ‘stems’ per hectare. Ash trees affected by dieback will only be felled if they pose a safety risk. The carefully planned layout includes buffer zones and interconnected areas to enhance overall biodiversity, with green lanes and bridle paths maintained, and new permissive paths added over time. Access for dog walking may be restricted to certain areas, and deer-fencing will protect some of the newly planted zones. Outside fenced areas, trees will be protected with non-plastic guards, and no herbicides will be used on-site.

This ambitious project not only aims to restore nature but also to build strong connections with the local community, offering a sustainable future for both people and wildlife. Thank you very much to DWT for allowing the wardens to visit the site and we look forward to seeing it develop in future years.

Are You a Website User?

Help ACT with an Indoor Project This Winter!

Our main group, Action on Climate in Teignbridge, is working on making the ACT website more user-friendly. They are putting together a small working group and are looking for a few people who regularly use websites, to help with this – no technical expertise needed! It won’t take up much of your time, but your input would be incredibly valuable. If you’d like to get involved over the winter months (when it’s a bit too wet or chilly for bug hunting!), just drop me an email, and I’ll connect you with the ACT team members working on this.

Resources for Engaging with Your Parish Council on Biodiversity

These resources are well underway, and I hope to send out a link soon so you can access and use these documents. I will also upload them to the website.

We have put together a collection of local projects and actions, thanks to the wardens who kindly provided the details for these. Additionally, we will include a document with a brief summary of biodiversity duty, along with a short PowerPoint presentation that can be used to introduce the topic to your council. We hope these resources will enable wardens to approach and engage with their parish and town councils about their Biodiversity Duty, providing examples of actions they could consider supporting or initiating to fulfil this legal obligation.

Book Recommendation

Thank you so much to Jo (Dawlish) for this recommendation and review:

A history of life on Earth, written in an immediate and mind-blowing style. The way the story of Earth is woven, with each era described intimately, is both beautiful and incredibly educational.

The authors’ grip on fossil records and the complex scientific research over time is gobsmacking. Plates crunch, continents drift, life arises, and life goes out—sometimes with a bang, sometimes with a whimper. This book is an antidote to the depressing news of our own era, a tonic for the soul …. mesmerizing ….

Wild About Devon Forum

We will be heading to the Wild About Devon Forum in November, and it would be great for some of you to join us too. This free event is a great opportunity for connecting with others involved in community nature projects, sharing ideas, and learning about all the exciting work taking place across Devon. Book your place here.

Dates for Your Diary

Round Up of Wildlife Warden Activity Across Teignbridge

Ashburton A huge thank you to Elaine, who has been giving fantastic wildlife gardening talks in other parishes, including Ideford, Chudleigh and Shillingford, with another talk scheduled for Ilsington later this month. We really appreciate Elaine sharing her expertise with other parishes – getting communities engaged and excited about wildlife gardening.

Bovey This summer has been particularly busy in Bovey. The Hedgehog Group, which includes warden Janet, continues to thrive, with increasing involvement from locals. The group have been actively promoting hedgehog-friendly gardening, distributing leaflets and sharing videos of local hedgehogs, including one resident at the Bell Inn Pub! Hedgehog sightings are also mapped on “Hedgehog Street”.

Janet and Andrew have been supporting the DWT’s Bat Safaris throughout the summer months, leading well-attended walks at National Trust Parke. During these walks, they’ve recorded various species, including Greater and Lesser Horseshoe bats, Daubentons, Pipistrelles, Noctules, Serotines, and Barbastelles.

In addition, Andrew conducts regular water quality tests, while Janet participates in River Fly surveys. This year, sightings of dippers, kingfishers, salmon, and otters have all been reported. In August, the WI, alongside wardens, hosted a “meet the public” event in the park to discuss water quality. They distributed leaflets on river protection and the environmental impact of flea and tick treatments on dogs.

The Bovey in Bloom judging took place in August, with Janet meeting the judges to discuss native wildflower verges, bulb planting, and wildlife-friendly gardening. The new “Growing Spaces” initiative, a collaboration between WWs, the Garden Society, and the Friends of Mill Marsh Park, is also getting going.

Janet regularly assists with school group events in NT Parke and Yarner Nature Reserve, recently leading bug hunts for 90 primary school children. WW David has also run several “Wildlife Walks” over the summer, and Andrew has helped with Himalayan balsam clearance at NT Parke. Wardens supported the Great Big Green Week, which will hopefully continue to grow in future years.

Meanwhile, Andrew, in a professional capacity, has produced a really interesting report commissioned by Moretonhampstead Parish Council on the source and management issues surrounding waste silage wrap in the area. You can access the report here.

Bridford Lucy has been actively collaborating with the Parish Council, offering insights on hedge management and proposing a practical plan to improve the area’s approach. She’s also contributed some exciting ideas for tree planting in the village play park and these will be discussed at upcoming council meetings. Over the summer, Lucy has been involved with the ongoing management of the village verges and took part in the Devon Bat Survey, recording an impressive 13 species of bats on the edge of Bridford—a fantastic result!

Buckfastleigh A warm welcome to new warden Aaron!

Christow Poor Jane has been recovering from a broken foot, but she still managed to launch a local wildlife WhatsApp group for people to share their sightings and stories. The group has quickly gained members and will hopefully inspire more interest in local wildlife.

Thank you so much to Val (Chudleigh), Jo (Doddi), Mike (Christow), Andrew (Bovey), Julia (Dunsford) and Janet (Bovey) who all collectively helped run a Wildlife Warden stand at the Christow Show. We really do appreciate your time and help making these events a success.

Chudleigh Welcome to two new wardens, Jayne and Charlotte! Several bigger verges in Chudleigh continue to be managed by the Chudleigh Wild group, including wardens, as hay meadows with these areas scythed and raked during July and August. The verges serve as examples of what can be done in gardens, providing vital stepping stones for insects and other wildlife to move through the town. Barbara has written a great article for the parish news with lots of helpful information about wildlife friendly outdoor lighting; a great topic to raise awareness about as our evenings draw in.

Chudleigh also welcomed Elaine from Ashburton, who gave a fantastic talk on wildlife gardening for the local community. The feedback from the talk has been fabulous!

Dawlish Pete and Mariya have been helping out at Ric and Jo’s community orchard. Meanwhile, Dave is pleased to see the success of a newly planted area near the leisure centre, where wildflowers have been blooming this season. Yellow rattle has also emerged this year at St. Gregory’s Church, as part of the ongoing biodiversity project.

Exminster A group of volunteers helped clear invasive bamboo from an area known as the ‘Wilderness,’ a natural woodland at risk of being overtaken. As an added benefit, the bamboo was then donated to the NHS occupational therapy team at New Leaf in Exminster, who will use it to build bug hotels.

This month, the Greenspaces team received a new feather banner, partially funded by a successful ‘Wild about Devon’ grant. Jeremy met with the newly forming ‘Kenton Nature and Green Spaces’ community group, and we look forward to welcoming them to the network soon.

Hennock/Chudleigh Knighton Chris and Becky organised a “Big Bug Hotel” building event at Chudleigh Knighton Village Hall, alongside members of the Parish Climate and Sustainability Group and children from the village. The event was a great success, with many children eager to talk to their school about creating a similar one there too! Plans are also afoot to develop a new wildlife corner at the site with new planting and possibly a small pond. We look forward to hearing how plans progress.

Ilsington As part of a series of walks to “special places in the parish,” Dawn led a group to a private site in Liverton. Once a conifer plantation, the site is now being converted to broadleaf woodland and the group enjoyed learning about the transformation and its benefits for local wildlife. A further walk is planned for later this month along with a community wildlife gardening talk in the village hall with Elaine (see diary dates).

Ipplepen Ippleplanet, including wildlife wardens, have secured a grant from the Co-Op to create a community orchard and possible wildlife site, on part of the Parish Council recreation ground. We look forward to hearing about these plans as they develop.

Kenton Daisy has successful gained a Wild About Devon grant which she has used to order spring flowering bulbs from Habitat Aid including snowdrops, native daffodils, bluebells and wood anemones. These will be planted in the churchyard during the autumn. Also, many congratulations to Daisy for the safe arrival of her baby boy last month! 

Kingsteignton Hanna hosted a successful table at the Kingsteignton Community Festival event, promoting Kingsteignton Wild. The table featured various nature-based activities that kept children busy, while Hanna had great conversations with locals about local wildlife in the parish and the newly opened nature trail.

Kingskerswell George has been working closely with the Parish Council to apply for a ‘Wild About Devon’ Community Grant, with hopes of using it to establish a new community orchard. Alongside Val (Chudleigh), Shira (Ashton), and Sarah (Newton Abbot), he also ran a Wildlife Warden stand at the Kingskerswell Community Day, alongside an Action on Climate in Teignbridge (ACT) stand. Fortunately, the weather cooperated, and the mini turbines and solar panels on the ACT stand generated a good amount of power! The team had many engaging conversations with the local community about wildlife and climate.

This month, George met with Parish Councillors and the local Natural History Group leader at Kerswell Downs Woods to assess the state of the woodland and identify areas for biodiversity improvements. This will be an ongoing project.

North Bovey Susan has continued her weekly butterfly transect walks, though she has been saddened by a disappointing year, as reflected in the recent Big Butterfly Count results. Alongside the North Bovey Conservation Group, she also conducts regular water quality and riverfly surveys. Additionally, Susan has been involved in a Marsh Fritillary larval web surveys and meadow plant surveys locally. Recently, she visited the site of a new large pond construction in the village and plans to monitor its progress in the future.

On a more positive note, hedgehogs are thriving in and around the parish, with the distribution of hedgehog boxes to the community going well.

Starcross Ali has continued developing the wild area at Bonhay Park, leading working groups to mow the meadow at varying heights to create a more diverse habitat. She recently wrote a great article for her local parish magazine, highlighting the importance of dark skies at night for both people and wildlife. In the article, she referenced a recent headline from National Geographic:

“People all over the world are living under the night time glow of artificial light, and it is causing big problems for humans, wildlife, and the environment. There is a global movement to reduce light pollution, and everyone can help.“

If you would like access to the shared Wildlife Warden folder, which contains fantastic collection of past articles to view and use, please drop me an email.

Stokeinteignhead A warm welcome to our new warden, Charlie, who will be jumping right in alongside Jill this month to plant native wildflowers grown on her farm!

Teignmouth A warm welcome to new wardens, Amelia and Dale! Wardens in Teignmouth were called upon by the local rangers and guides to assist with nature-based activities for children, and Peppy and Debs eagerly stepped up to help! Thank you!

As we move into the winter months it would be great to get ahead and start planning for next year. Please feel free to get in touch with me if:

• You would like to be connected with wardens who have already run a project that you might be interested in for your own parish
• You are keen for us to provide training in a specific area.
• You would like to help identify landowners in your parish who may be interested in County Wildlife Site surveys.

Thank you to all of you for everything you do – all our collective actions really do make such a difference.

Vicky

What a glorious spell of weather we have had! It has certainly made all our wet days feel like a distant memory. With the arrival of warmer weather, it has been wonderful to see more insects back on the wing after a very slow start. There is also exciting news for Deer Park Farm: Audrey has the first barn owl chicks starting to fledge from a nest box that was put up on the farm 24 years ago!

In this months newsletter:

• Dragonfly and Pond ID Training
• Grass ID Training at Deer Park Farm
• Butterfly and Day Flying Moth Walk
• Turn the Tide Festival
• ACT Planning Tool
• Wildlife Gardening Talk for Your Parish
• DWT Pine Marten Update
• Bats in the Teign Valley
• Book Recommendation
• Dates for Your Diary
• Round Up of Wildlife Warden Activity Across Teignbridge

Dragonfly and Pond ID Training

Thank you so much to Dave Smallshire for leading a group of us for a dragonfly, damselfly and pond ID training session last month. We had such a glorious day and all came away with heads buzzing with new knowledge! We saw some stunning dragonflies up close and also witnessed nature’s brutal side when a freshly emerged Broad-bodied chaser took its maiden flight, only to be snatched mid-air by an incoming Emperor, leaving only the wings behind!

Thanks also to Jo at Oxen Park Farm for allowing us to run the training at his pond. We were able to collected a good set of botanical and invertebrate species list for him which add to the data we collected last year.

Grass ID Training at Deer Park Farm

Many of us feel a bit bamboozled when it comes to grass identification, so it was great to have a training session at Deer Park Farm last month to help boost our confidence. Top tips were to pick grasses right at the base to find helpful clues, observe known grasses throughout the season to appreciate how they change, and use your sense of smell and touch to help cement IDs in your brain!

Check out the Field Studies Council Grass ID Guide, which is really handy when you’re out and about.

Butterfly and Day Flying Moth Walk

Thanks very much to Pete Hurst from Butterfly Conservation for leading a well-attended butterfly and day-flying moth walk at Deer Park Farm this month. A lucky break in the weather allowed everyone to see plenty of butterflies and moths in flight, which was heartening given that numbers have seemed low this year.

Don’t forget to participate in the Big Butterfly Count, which runs until Sunday, August 4th. Simply record butterfly species for 15 minutes in your garden or a public open space and upload your observations to contribute to this nationwide citizen science survey. It provides a valuable snapshot of butterfly populations over the years.

Photo credit: David Tilsley

Turn the Tide Festival

Thanks to the Dawlish Team for putting on another superb Turn the Tide festival last month. The Dawlish Lawn had a fantastic atmosphere, with many environmentally-themed stalls and activities, including a giant walk-in whale where you could hear stories about turtles and other sea creatures! We had a wonderful day talking with many people about wildlife – a great event to be part of!

ACT Planning Tool

Did you know that you can sign up to receive alerts about planning applications in your local area? Check out the Action Climate Teignbridge planning area and planning tool. You can also find planning information for your area by clicking on your parish in the wildlife warden map feature.

While planning might seem like the less glamorous side of wildlife watching, it would be great if more wardens were involved in monitoring in their local area. We need to ensure that wildlife considerations are prioritized in planning decisions. Please contact Audrey and myself if you have any concerns about a planning issue. If you are going to use the ACT Wildlife Warden title to submit a comment on an application, please run these past us before sending.

Wildlife Gardening Talk for Your Parish

Wildlife Warden Elaine participated in the recent Ashburton Wildlife Gardening Festival in June. She was on the panel for a Wildlife Gardeners’ Question Time evening, which launched the event, and later gave a great presentation on the basic principles of wildlife gardening.

We are extremely grateful to Elaine for offering to give her presentation to other parishes and groups if there is interest. She would just need a room, a projector, and a minimum of 10 attendees. The presentation takes an hour, including time for Q&As, and covers the principles of wildlife-friendly gardening for private and community gardens, including schools and allotments.

For anyone interested in hosting the talk in their parish, we ask that you attend our “Leading Volunteers and Events” training so you are covered by our ACT insurance. Please email me if you would like to be connected with Elaine or to book on to the training.

Daniel Brown from Devon Wildlife Trust recently updated wildlife wardens in the Teign and Wray Valley areas on the Two Moors Pine Marten project. The update aimed to bring everyone up to speed as the project enters the reintroduction phase during late summer and autumn this year. We hope wardens will share this information with their local communities and direct any concerns or questions from landowners to Daniel, who is eager to engage with everyone about the project. Click here if you would like to watch this meeting.

Bats in the Teign Valley

Fiona Mathews, who was a speaker at the recent Wildlife Warden Spring Celebration, has reached out to see if wardens in the Teign Valley would like to participate in a project focused on Barbastelle and Bechstein’s bats in the area. Fiona is looking for contacts among woodland landowners and any wardens interested in deploying bat detectors. If you haven’t yet expressed interest in this project and want to be involved, please do email me.

Book Recommendation

This book is a compelling and engaging read about an important topic – how we try to manage the imbalance caused by species we have introduced to places where they simply do not belong. The author is a hedgehog specialist, telling us about the problem New Zealand has with hedgehogs introduced to make settlers feel less homesick back in the 19th century and which have caused havoc with the indigenous wildlife.

Warwick addresses at each turn, whether he is talking about rats, squirrels, mink or pythons, the challenges of getting it right for nature, getting people on board, managing the cost, and avoiding unintended consequences. It is a fascinating and complex issue that we increasingly have to face, and Hugh Warwick has created a very readable, entertaining, and important book which I highly recommend. Shira (Ashton WW)

Dates for your Diary

Thank you to everyone who has helped run WW stands throughout the summer. These stands are a fantastic way to engage with people and ignite an interest in local wildlife within communities. We have a few more events scheduled this month, so if you’d like to help please get in touch. The more, the merrier!

Round Up of Wildlife Warden Activity Across Teignbridge

Ashburton Elaine was a panel expert at the recent Ashburton Wildlife Gardening Festival and also gave a talk about wildlife gardening. Check above for her kind offer to share her presentation with other interested groups.

Ashton Shira has been out and about with the County Wildlife Site (CWS) survey team assessing several new grassland sites over the past month. In June, she met with the Swift project team at Ashton Church to check out the tower installation, and for the first time, swifts showed interest in the boxes thanks to the swift sound recordings being played. This month, Shira has met with several local landowners to discuss CWS surveys, management practices to support skylark nesting, and to gain permission for bat surveys. We are also extremely grateful to Shira for helping out on the WW stand during the recent “Nature on Your Doorstep” event in Newton Abbot.

Bovey Andrew joined the Bovey Cubs for the National Trust ‘Balsam Bash’ at Parke, where they enthusiastically cleared a corner of a meadow of the invasive plant. The kids really got into it and did an amazing job!

Andrew also attended the Great Big Green Week in Bovey, which was well attended. His kids had great fun cycling for smoothies!

Christow Jane and Mike are planning to run some nature-based activities for children at Christow School, including a possible moth trapping experience. Jane will be attending our upcoming training session to gather more ideas for these activities.

Chudleigh Val and Tess have been involved in several grassland surveys with the CWS survey team. It’s great to have everyone’s collective knowledge for these surveys, and we all learn a lot from each other too!

Dawlish WWs in Dawlish continue to be busy in so many ways! Ric and Jo are working hard on their community orchard and rewilding project. Dave and Scott are engaged with the “Our Green Futures” project, which aims to get local people thinking about how they can address the twin challenges of climate change and nature depletion. There has also been success with wildflower and yellow rattle planting earlier in the season in several areas in the town. Mariya has been growing violets to be transplanted into Ric and Jo’s site, researching Dawlish’s history with violets, and discussing her ideas on this topic with the Mayor.

Doddiscombleigh Jo has been busy out and about with the CWS survey team this month and also helped Julia and Jess survey Dunsford churchyard.

Dunsford Julia has been busy with the CWS surveying team over the past few months. She, Jess, and Jo also surveyed Dunsford churchyard and found over 90 species of wildflowers! Julia continues to organise and take notes at the popular Teign Valley monthly wildlife meetings, along with conducting water testing and riverfly surveys. Jess writes regular, engaging articles for the parish Unity magazine. This month, Pip and Julia have also participated in the RSPB Cirl Bunting surveys.

Exminster On a midsummer’s evening, the Exminster Greenspaces team hosted a bat detection event at St. Martin’s Church in the village. The event was supported by Hannah Worthington, who is currently leading the ‘Connecting People and Landscapes‘ project. With a collection of detectors beeping away, attendees were thrilled to see pipistrelle bats zipping around and, later, to pick up high-flying noctule bats overhead.

Part of the Exminster ‘Nature Recovery Project’ is looking to make connections with the wider landscape. In June, a small group from the new Brook Academy school in the Matford development, the ranger from Teignbridge’s Ridgetop Country Park, and representatives from the local NHS facility at New Leaf in Exminster walked the route of what is hoped will become a ‘green wildlife corridor’ between Matford and the core village.

Ideford Robin organized a bat walk, which was kindly led by the Chudleigh wildlife wardens. Many local residents attended and were excited to see and hear bats flying overhead. Robin and Dom are also in discussions with the county council about making the street lights in the area more bat-friendly.

Hennock Becky and Chris continue to do fabulous work with the Climate and Sustainability group. Chris writes a regular, vibrant newsletters for the parish, filled with information about local wildlife, and encouraging people to upload their sightings to the parish database. They have also created wonderful “Spotters Activity Sheets” for children to enjoy as a holiday activity—great fun!

Ilsington Linda, Sheree, and Dawn had great plans to attend the local village show with a wildlife gardening stand this month. Unfortunately, a very wet day led to many stallholders being rained off, which was a real shame given all the time and preparation that goes into these events. Dawn will be running a second walk for local residents this month, visiting a private site in Liverton. This site, formerly a conifer plantation, is being converted to broadleaf woodland. Fingers crossed for better weather for this one!

Ipplepen WWs in Ipplepen and the Ippleplanet team held a stand at the local village show. Despite the wet weather, there was still a steady flow of visitors interested in local wildlife. The team focused on encouraging residents to fill out a questionnaire about their thoughts on the planned community orchard.

Kingsteignton Hanna has been involved in launching a new nature trail in the town, engaging with local schools, the library, and the town council to spread the word. She also ran a stall at the local “Ram Roast Fair,” where she talked to residents about the nature trail and accompanying spotter sheets. The stall featured nature-based activities for children, including making nature crowns, a scavenger hunt, and creating stickers from ink stamps with images of bugs, butterflies, and more. The event was very well supported, and Hanna will be hosting a similar stall at the upcoming Kingsteignton Community Day on August 10th. If anyone would like to help Hanna with this event, please get in touch.

Kingskerswell George met with two church wardens at a woodland and wetland site, where he is working with them to regain access to the wildlife pond. The plan includes reinstating the path around the pond, placing a bench along the path, and considering bird and bat boxes. George also met with a parish councillor to discuss applying for nature and tree grants. They are considering projects such as creating a willow tunnel and den at the children’s play park, adding a pond, and planting trees at the local allotments.

North Bovey Susan had a stand at the local village show this month, but unfortunately, it was another rainy Saturday. She continues to promote recording hedgehog sightings in the local area, and it’s great news that the population seems to be thriving. Susan’s husband, John, has been busy making hedgehog feeding stations, which have now been distributed throughout the village. She also regularly walks and records local wildlife sightings in her area and has spotted many scarlet tiger moths in her garden!

Ogwell Wardens and members of Ogwild held an event at the Community Rectory Field to celebrate 50 years of the Woodland Trust owning the site and its current management by Ogwild. The event featured numerous children’s activities and stands, making it a great success.

Stokenteignhead WW Gill successfully got the Biodiversity Plan onto a recent parish council agenda. There was a positive discussion and a “Biodiversity Champion” assigned which is a great step forward. Well done Gill!

It’s been a busy couple of months for everyone, with many positive stories, actions, and events happening around Teignbridge. Thank you all so much for your hard work and continued support – you really are a fantastic bunch!

Vicky

Wow! We have been so busy for the past few months! With a very wet, cold and slow start to spring this year we have all been dodging showers and switching between wet weather gear and sunscreen! Everything feels like it is in full swing now though – so nice to see the swallows and swifts back, birds nesting and insects finally making more of an appearance! There has been lots to pack into this newsletter so apologies if it a bit long!

In this months newsletter:

• Spring Celebration
• Woodland Plant ID Training
• County Wildlife Site Survey Training
• Wray Valley Trail
• Meet Your Wildlife Wardens
• Leading Volunteers, Running Events and WW Stands
• Book Recommendation
• Connecting People and Landscapes Meeting
• Dates for your Diary
• Round Up of Wildlife Warden Activity Across Teignbridge
• ACT with the ARTS
• Dawlish Turn the Tide Festival

Spring Celebration

At the end of April, over 50 of us gathered at Dawlish Warren for a full-day event to celebrate the achievements of the wildlife warden scheme. It was a wonderful opportunity to listen to some fantastic speakers, share ideas and reconnect with friends.

Tim Kendall and Fiona Mathews gave an fun and insightful talk about mammals. We learned about a thriving water vole population in urban Glasgow, parachuting beavers, and their ongoing quest to glimpse the elusive pine marten—not just its scat! Cath Jeffs, the Devon Wildlife Trust Wildcat project officer, then painted a vivid picture of the elusive wildcat and how they might once again live alongside us. Cath shared recent video footage of her encounters with wildcats, which was fascinating to watch.

During our delicious homemade lunch, we had the chance to sit at topic-focused tables, allowing wardens to exchange ideas and information on various subjects. We rarely get the chance for face-to-face discussions between wardens in different parishes, so it was great to see so many people actively sharing their experiences.

After lunch, some of us took a gentle stroll in the Dawlish Warren Nature Reserve to observe the rare plant species, while another group visited the Dawlish Countryside Park, with Teignbridge Ranger Sian Avon, to learn about the site management for both wildlife and people

Thank you so much to everyone who attended and made this event so wonderful, and also to everyone who helped in so many ways! We couldn’t have done it without you!

Woodland Plant ID Training

On some cold, damp, and soggy days in April, several woodland plant ID sessions were held at Deer Park Farm. Despite the challenging weather, the hardy bunch of plant enthusiasts braved the conditions and were rewarded by finding twenty ancient woodland indicator species within the narrow strip of woodland on the farm. We all know the joy these beautiful treasures can bring us, even on the murkiest of days!

County Wildlife Site Survey Training

Jack Rivers from the Devon Biodiversity Record Centre has run several training sessions recently for Wildlife Wardens. These sessions have focused on the survey methods DBRC use to assess sites in order that they can potentially be designated as a County Wildlife Site. A woodland session was held at Ausewell Woods near Ashburton, followed by grassland survey training at Spara meadow in Lower Ashton this week.

With our growing team of Wildlife Wardens now well-trained for survey work, our confidence and knowledge continues to improve with each outing. Teams have already surveyed multiple sites this year, including two woodlands, several orchards, and a grassland site, with more scheduled for the coming months.

If you’re interested in joining us for future surveys, whether you’ve attended training sessions or simply have an interest, let me know. It’s a fantastic opportunity to learn from experienced wardens and explore some stunning yet typically inaccessible sites.

Wray Valley Trail Survey

Rachel, our Wildlife Warden in Lustleigh, frequently uses the walking and biking trail that connects Bovey Tracey and Moretonhampstead along an old, disused railway line. It has become obvious to her that the trail has become an important wildlife corridor alongside it’s benefits for people. Rachel was keen to bring awareness to this so management of the trail can be done in a way to best enhance wildlife habitats while maintaining user-friendliness for bikers and walkers.

We were enthusiastic about supporting Rachel’s initiative and recognized the need to document the trail’s species and habitats to raise awareness of the wonderful stuff found there! In late April, a team of ten wildlife wardens set out from each end of the trail, compiling species lists. We were thrilled by the diverse plant life, documenting around 150 species!

We anticipate that this initial survey will spark some discussions aimed at managing the trail in order to conserve and improve its biodiversity whilst ensuring enjoyment and accessibility for all users—both human and wildlife alike. Thank you to everyone who came along on the day and we look forward to revisiting the trail and expanding our list further during the summer.

Meet Your Wildlife Wardens

Have you considered running a “Meet Your Wildlife Wardens” drop in session for your parish?

Hosting a drop-in event is a fantastic way to engage with your community, allowing people to come along, learn more about their parish wardens, what you’re doing, and perhaps even get involved.

The BIG GREEN WEEK is approaching from 8th to 16th June, which could provide a great opportunity to connect with your community or even collaborate with other wildlife groups in your parish to share ideas. For parishes with only one warden, please do contact the wider warden network for support (using GroupIO or our WhatsApp chat).

Pearl-bordered fritillary (Photo credit: David Turrell)

Leading Volunteers, Running Events and WW Stands

Thanks to the wardens who came to our most recent ‘Leading Volunteers and Events’ training which we ran in April. The training focuses on how to be well prepared and lead events safely, ensuring everyone has a good time!

ACT provides public liability insurance to cover Wildlife Wardens leading events, running stands at village fetes, and conducting habitat management with volunteers however, you must undergo this additional training and complete the practice risk assessment forms BEFORE you are covered! Please get in touch if you are interested in this training.

Also, please be aware that our public liability insurance ONLY covers working with hand tools currently; you will not be covered if you are using power tools.

Book Recommendation

Thank you to Marije for sharing this book recommendation with us.

“I recommend this book because it dispels the commonly held belief that animals perceive the world with the same senses as humans. 

A better understanding of their unique experience not only enriches our view of the animal kingdom, it is essential for effective species conservation and habitat restoration.”

I hope lots of you can come along to this evening talk and find out more about this project; how you can get involved as a warden and how the project could support you in your parish.

Dates for your Diary

Round Up of Wildlife Warden Activity Across Teignbridge

Ashburton New WW Elaine has already jumped in to her warden role and will be one of the experts on a wildlife gardening panel discussion, at the Ashburton Arts Centre in June. This event is ahead of the Ashburton Wildlife Gardening Weekend on the 15th and 16th of June. We look forward to hearing how it goes!

Ashton WW Shira wrote a great piece for her local magazine about invasive species and their impacts on native plants and biodiversity. She has been surprised by how many people have read it and started taking action locally. The article covers three-cornered leek, Himalayan balsam, skunk cabbage, and gunnera, looking at their origins and how to manage them. The full article is available on our shared drive for you to read or use for your own parish magazine. If you need access to the shared folder, please email me.

Shira is also one of our County Wildlife Site champions, having participated in several surveys this year and identifying new potential sites in her area. She also kindly allowed wardens to visit her beautiful meadow for our DBRC grassland training last week. If you can visit her open meadow in June, I highly recommend it. Thank you, Shira!

Bovey Tracey WWs recently held a collaborative meeting to plan for the upcoming Big Green Week in the town and a possible WW stand at the event. Additionally, WW Janet has been in discussion with a local church, supporting their progress in the churchyard. Meanwhile, WW David has lead another walk at NT Parke looking at the Marsh orchids.

Bridford WW warden Lucy continues to monitor local planning in the area, ensuring that wildlife considerations are prioritized. We greatly value her dedication with this. Lucy is also compiling a document about hedgerows to share with her parish council, aiming to educate them on the benefits of slightly messier hedges!

Buckfastleigh WW Iso has been very busy organizing a bioblitz for Holy Brook Meadow, an area she has been involved with for many years. If anyone is interested in helping Iso on the 4th or 5th of June, please get in touch.

Chudleigh The Chudleigh Wild team, including wardens Sue, Tess, and Val, have been involved in the annual count of rare orchids on the A38 verges. This survey data is shared with DCC and Highways England to ensure proper management. Two evening bat surveys confirmed that Greater Horseshoe bats continue to navigate past new developments to reach pasture at the north end of town. These are only in small numbers, highlighting the need for ongoing monitoring as further development takes place. The team has also planted ox-eye daisies, forget-me-nots, and primroses in the town centre verges, with yellow rattle starting to get established.

Val, Tess, and Sue have all been involved with several County Wildlife Site surveys this season, with Tess bravely tackling the paperwork! We are enormously grateful for their knowledge, time, and experience with these surveys. Thank you all!

Dawlish WWs Dave and Scott, along with Carolyn Ballard from Sustainable Dawlish, have secured funding for a project called “Our Green Futures”. The project’s goal is to inspire and support local community groups in addressing both climate and ecological challenges. Meetings will be held across Dawlish to involve as many residents as possible, raising awareness and encouraging action. Funding will be available for groups to implement their “Green Futures visions”.

WW Scott has also started a Dawlish Climate and Wildlife Action Journal , a new project launched by Dawlish Town Council’s Climate Declaration Working Group. The journal will be a permanent record of the stories and actions taken by people in Dawlish to help move towards a greener/lower carbon future. Designed as a community scrapbook, the journal will capture stories through photographs, handwritten notes, artwork, newspaper clippings, and other relevant items. 

Doddiscombsleigh WW Jo is one of our CWS surveying heroes! We value her knowledge so much on these surveys, thank you Jo!

Dunsford WW Jess has been regularly contributing wildlife articles to the Unity Parish magazine, while WW Julia continues water testing and litter pick-ups with the Dunsford Smatters (Small Things Matter) group. WWs Pip and Julia, as part of the Dunsford Climate Initiative, are collaborating with the Parish Council to create their biodiversity plan. Julia, is also one of our County Wildlife Site superstars having joined survey teams on several unconfirmed CWS sites this season. Thank you Julia, for all your experience and knowledge!

Exminster The Greenspaces team spent time in the village churchyard putting together a log edged bed for wildflowers, including foxglove, lily of the valley and betony. Hopefully this area will be safe from strimming later in the season. In the village meadow willow cuttings have been added into a boggy area with a plan to pollard these overtime. In 3 or 4 years these should be an attractive feature for those enjoying the meadow;  added wildlife value and soaking up a bit more carbon. 

Holcombe Burnell WW Kate has been instrumental in getting mobile speed cameras installed in her parish, which will be great for reducing causalities at several wildlife collision hotspots. As a parish councillor, she has revised the standard paragraph, used by the PC when commenting on planning applications, regarding steps developers can take for wildlife with the intention of putting a spotlight on the wildlife in the village. Kate has also participated in a consultation with the University of Exeter, addressing the harmful use of night lighting on their new sports pitches and urging them to reduce lighting overspill.

Ideford Thank you Robin for coming along to our most recent CWS survey. We had a great team and managed to look at so much on a big site. We even saw an otter!

Ilsington WWs Sheree, Linda, and Dawn have been busy! They organized a talk by Alistair Wybrow last month, which drew over 40 local residents to the village hall. The talk was well received and emphasized the importance of the existing swift boxes in the village. In Liverton, additional wildflower plug plants and a sparrow bird box were provided to the village hall whilst the wildflower area at Shapley Green was extended with the help of a Parish/Teignbridge councillor and Mark, Teignbridge Green Spaces Officer. A patch system was used for seeding in the new area instead of scarifying, which will be interesting to observe for long-term results. The Ilsington wardens have also connected with a Blackpool school teacher, who oversees the pupil’s Eco Committee, providing the school with a hedgehog house and bird nest box funded by a recent TD Councillor grant. Furthermore, WW Dawn will lead the first parish walk next month as part of the Great Big Green Week, exploring a beautiful woodland within the village. Additional walks to special places in the parish are hoped for in the future.

Kingskerswell WW George has been busy creating several wildflower areas in the parish; orange tip butterflies along with other pollinators have already been spotted there. He’s also been working with Decoy School make another wildflower area using seeds from DWT. George has connected with the Kingskerswell Natural History Society and enjoyed a tour of Kingskerswell Downs, a rare limestone heath full of wildflowers, birds, and 27 butterfly species. Excitingly, he’ll be a guest speaker at their meeting in October. George recently updated the Parish Council on his efforts, and they are considering purchasing two biodiverse areas of land in the parish. Great news!

Newton Abbot WW Eloise has completed the first part of her Wellbeing Walks leadership training with TDC. These walks aim to promote health and wellbeing but are a wonderful opportunity to connect people with the nature and wildlife in their local area. If you’re interested in being involved with this project too, please get in touch.

We also greatly appreciate Eloise’s dedication to monitoring local planning applications and bringing any concerns to the group’s attention. Thank you, Eloise!

North Bovey WW Susan has continued to be busy in her parish encouraging the local community to submit their hedgehog sightings to her. She is happy to report there has been a steady stream of sightings for the area which is good news.

Susan continues to do regular wildflower counts and water quality testing whilst riverfly surveys will start this month. Invasive Skunk Cabbage was recently spotted and she intends to contact the landowners to make them aware of this problem. 

Teignmouth Thank you to Peppy who was also part of our most recent otter spotting CWS survey team! It was great to have you with us.

Trusham WW Helen has celebrated her FOUR HUNDRETH invertebrate species record at the churchyard in Trusham – such a fabulous milestone for Helen to have achieved!

ACT with the Arts Festival

Take a look at the ACT with Arts website, there is such an impressive line-up for the week. Please do share this information onto your community group social media pages and promote the event so it can be a huge success. If you’re interested in participating, please contact Paul Wynter.

ACTs Public Engagement Group

ACT would love to get to as many local parish events as possible but we do not always hear about them. Please could you either get in touch with Pauline or Vicky if there is a parish event you think ACT and the Wildlife Wardens could come along to.

ACT have also asked that any events that WWs are running could also be popped onto the ACT website Events Area too.

Please click on “Tell us about your event” in the first box, and follow the link. 

Thank you everyone for your continued support, time and wonderful work for wildlife and nature in your parish in the past few months. Collectively, we all have so many positive stories – it is just so heartening to hear! Lets keep going!

Spring is bursting out all around us, and we can start to look forward to some lighter evenings ahead. It is always lovely to be able to stop and catch a breath at this time of year, listening to the birdsong as it begins to crescendo over the next few months. Many of us are already out and about, busy planning events, projects and surveys for the upcoming season. We look forward to supporting you in anyway we can and hearing about the success stories in your parishes.

In this months newsletter:

• Fabulous Hedgerows! Zoom and Practical Survey Training
• Wildlife Warden Spring Celebration!
• Get Involved with County Wildlife Sites
• Call to Action – Parish Councils Duty to Biodiversity
• Devon Wildlife Trust Equipment List
• Dates for your Diary
• Round Up of Wildlife Warden Activity Across Teignbridge
• ACT with the ARTS
• Dawlish Turn the Tide Festival

Fabulous Hedgerows!

We had an inspiring zoom meeting with ecologist, farm advisor and WW Elliot Fairs, alongside the super enthusiastic Megan Gimber, hedge specialist at the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES).

With nearly fifty people joining us for the talk it proved to be a really successful event. Megan talked through all the benefits of hedges, the structure of a good hedge, how to establish and manage hedgerows, and finally introduced us to the PTES Healthy Hedge survey and app. Elliot then updated us on the new Sustainable Farming Incentives (SFIs) which farmers and landowners can apply for; encouraging better hedgerow management for biodiversity and carbon storage. To catch up with this Zoom click here. It is well worth a watch!

Following the talk we ran two practical hedge surveying sessions at Deer Park Farm, with 21 wardens attending to learn more about surveying using the PTES app. We hope that these wardens will now feel confident to approach local landowners & farmers to discuss hedgerow SFIs and demonstrate how to survey or conduct the surveys themselves. We feel this could be a great way for wardens to make a very positive impact within their parishes for wildlife whilst also supporting farmers. Thank you so much to all those who came along; we look forward to hearing about how you get on.

Wildlife Warden Spring Celebration!

We are really excited to announce that we will be having a big event on Sunday 28th April, at St Mary’s Church Hall, Dawlish Warren. We’d love to have as many wildlife wardens as possible join us, and feel free to bring along your partner or best friends too! It will be a fun and uplifting day for us all; celebrating our wonderful group and all it has achieved.

We have several fantastic speakers lined up for the day, including Fiona Mathews and Tim Kendall, whose book “Black Ops and Beaver Bombing: Adventures with Britain’s Wild Mammals” has had fabulous reviews. They are hilarious speakers, with a unique ability to deliver a serious message in a truly funny and engaging way.

The day will include homemade soup and cakes, a walk in the nature reserve and lots of opportunities to chat and idea share with other wildlife wardens. Please let me know whether you will be able to come along. Lift sharing will be arranged for the day.

We hope to see you there!

Get Involved with County Wildlife Sites

County Wildlife Sites are fantastic! We have a trusty band of wildlife wardens, who have been trained by Devon Biodiversity Record Centre (DBRC), and are able to carry out botanical surveying at new sites but we would love for more wardens to be involved! Last year, groups and individual wardens surveyed 10 sites, of which 6 were designated as CWSs. DBRC had a total of 27 sites designated this year and so for us to have been involved in 6 of these is a really wonderful achievement for the group.

Why would you want to be involved?

• You get to see some beautiful places that you wouldn’t normally have access to.
• You are an important part of the process in getting these special sites recognised, which is especially significant for planning and development.
• You learn so much about species ID when you are out with a group – I know I have!
• It’s lots fun!

How can you be involved?

• Come to the Woodland Survey Training with Jack Rivers from DBRC on Thursday 18^th April at Ausewell Wood. You will learn how the surveys are conducted, the CWS criteria and about report writing. Please don’t feel like you won’t have the knowledge or experience for the session – we all learn together and will often go out in groups to survey sites, so there is always support.
• Come along to unconfirmed sites to survey with a group of wardens: You don’t have to have survey experience to come but you will learn as we go. Let me know if you would like to be on the email list.
• Finding and speaking to local landowners: If you are not keen on surveys then another way you could be extremely helpful is by contacting local landowners of unconfirmed sites so that we can get permission to survey. Wardens with local knowledge and connections can be so useful for this. Please get in touch if you would be interested in getting involved in this aspect.

Call to Action – Parish Councils Duty to Biodiversity

As many of you are aware, public authorities, including town and parish councils, have a legal duty under the Environment Act 2021 to agree on actions to conserve and enhance biodiversity.

The government guidance, issued in May last year, gave a deadline of 1st January 2024, for councils to look at what action they could take and decide policies and objectives soon after that. (It should be noted that Town and Parish councils are not obliged to publish a report on their actions unlike other public authorities).

We know that lots of wardens have already reached out to their local parish and town councils to help them create their Biodiversity Policy, but there are still many councils that need to put this on their agenda. We would really like to help support wardens in approaching their councils to get this conversation started.

Our plan is to create a template letter, that you can forward to your parish or town councillors. We will try and make it as upbeat and positive as we can with the aim to promote action but in a supportive and friendly way.

We will also create a set of template documents, which you could take along to a council meeting and show case studies of actions other wardens have been taking in their parishes that could be applied to yours. This is where the ask for help comes!

We are looking for wardens to help us create these documents using your experiences in your parish. Please look out for my email in which I will include further details and a template to fill in. This should not take you too long and doesn’t have to be word-perfect; as long as we have the information and some pictures, we can do the rest! It would be fantastic to get a great resource together for us all to use.

Thank you!

Devon Wildlife Trust Equipment List

The Devon Wilder Communities team has a variety of equipment that they are happy for community groups and wardens to access in order to run events and surveys. The equipment would need to be collected and returned to their offices at Cricklepit Mill, Exeter. This is a great free resource, but make sure you book anything you want ASAP!

Examples of what they have on offer are mammal footprint tubes, insect pots, sweep nets, bat detectors, trail cameras …….

Please email me if you would like the full list of equipment and booking form sent to you.

Dates for your Diary

Round Up of Wildlife Warden Activity Across Teignbridge

Abbotskerswell The recent Abbwild meeting discussed managing verges and potentially surveying hedgerows within the parish. WW Emily has been involved in organising a group to dig up invasive winter heliotrope from the wildflower patch, as well as designing and displaying signs encouraging people to turn off their engines while waiting by the school.

Ashburton Welcome to new WW Elaine!

Ashton WW Shira has been involved in setting up a box in the Village Hall Community Orchard which contains laminated sheets with ideas for play using natural objects plus some wildlife ID books, magnifiers, nature related poetry and stone painted ladybirds for children to hunt. The hope is that this will be enjoyed by children and parents who can play in a natural setting without the need for manufactured play equipment. 

Bickington Welcome to new WW Michael!

Chudleigh With 6 WWs, all members of Chudleigh Wild, the two go hand in hand. They have had a busy winter; carrying out habitat work in the Oldway Batfields Reserve, planning an acceptable management regime for Lawn Drive verges, finishing the
Phone Box Hub, and sorting out talks for the spring. The group is always trying to raise awareness of environmental concerns and to keep an eye on developments that may impact the town, alongside encouraging local people to get involved in looking after the wildlife in Chudleigh. Although the rain has held up completion of the Phone Box hub, WW Peter Warn has almost completed the work (a huge undertaking) whilst volunteer, Jonathon Valentine fitted some sturdy shelves for displays and leaflets, a book swap and a seed/plant swap. The hub will be stocked with information about wildlife, wildlife gardening, maps and worksheets for the nature trail as well as wildlife books to borrow. WWs and Chudleigh Wild volunteers continue to carry out survey work: Riverfly counts, orchid counts, and surveys for potential County Wildlife Sites.

Dawlish WWs Ric and Jo, alongside others, have a plot of land in Dawlish Water, in which they are planting native woodland, creating a community orchard and rewilding areas. There are now many apples, pears and plums planted, as well as the start of a cherry avenue. 

WWs Scott and Dave are both on the town council’s Climate Declaration Working Group and are involved in creating the Dawlish Biodiversity Action Plan.

Dave, Scott, and Carolyn Ballard from Sustainable Dawlish have successfully won a bid to run ‘Our Green Futures,’ a project funded by Transition Together and the National Lottery. The project lasts until February 2025 with an aim to inspire ideas and provide support to local community groups to meet the dual challenge of climate and ecological emergencies. Meetings will be held across Dawlish to include a wide range of local people, both raising awareness and encouraging them to take action

There are also plans to hold a seed swap event on 11^th May so please contact Scott for further details. 

WW Gill has started planting snowdrops and daffodils in an area of the Dawlish Municipal Cemetery after having gained permission from TDC.

Plans continue for the Dawlish Turn the Tide Festival in June, (see poster below). 

Dunsford Welcome to new WW Larissa! WW Julia continues to organise and write notes for the regular monthly wildlife meetings in the Teign Valley. Julia and Jess also ran a successful DWT tree hub at the beginning of February. 

Exminster At the end of January a village Wassail was held in the community orchard with dancing, singing and apple cake. Perfect! The apple trees have been mulched and a new hedgehog box sited. A meeting was had with Kelvin Boot, an ecologist who helps advise groups on wildlife management of churchyards. He will be providing a report of the site with lots of new ideas for wildlife friendly management. I joined WW Jeremy for his presentation at the full parish meeting on 11th March. As the guest speaker, Jeremy gave a great update of work being done across the parish, discussed future projects and brought up the PCs duty regarding biodiversity. Small packets of wildflower seeds were handed out during the meeting.

Another exciting development in Exminster has been the installation of swift nesting boxes in the tower of St Martin’s church. Jerry Horn from the organisation ‘Action for Swifts’, built and installed the boxes after the Exminster team facilitated the necessary approvals with the church last year. An acoustic lure to attract birds will be switched on in April, and the team will be keeping a close eye out for activity during the spring and summer months. Fingers crossed!

Hennock WWs Becky and Chris are very busy involved with the Parish Council Climate and Sustainability Group which Chris chairs. He is writing monthly newsletters for the group with updates of local events and projects. They recently ran a successful tree hub, with over 400 tree saplings were shared out and have great plans to start an initiative around No Mow May within the parish this month.

Ideford WWs have prompted their Parish Council to produce a Biodiversity Plan, as required by the Environment Act, 2021. They are working with two Council members to produce a draft plan for approval by the full Council.

Ilsington WWs Sheree and Linda have arranged a talk for residents in the village hall with Alistair Whybrow to talk about swifts and highlight the swift boxes that are found around in the village. Having secured TDC funding, they have also started planting at Shapley Green in Liverton, along with WW Dawn. Dawn has also been out and about surveying a local woodland for ferns, mosses and lichens.

Kingskerswell WW George has introduced himself to the Kingskerswell Parish Council and will be assisting them in creating a draft Biodiversity Policy. Working alongside a parish councillor he also has plans to start a new wildflower area along the Torquay Road.

Moretonhampstead Welcome to new WW Carey!

Newton Abbot Welcome to new WW Chloe! WW Eloise has met with one of the local churches, and there is discussion about creating a wildlife friendly garden area in place of the current patio – the plan is in its infancy! Eloise was also contacted by a local resident with photos of a possible Greater Crested Newt in their garden which she is following up in view of the scale of works currently being undertaken at Bradley Lane Mills.  

North Bovey WW Susan I has launched her new village hedgehog survey and is poised for sightings when the weather warms up. Four homemade hedgehog boxes were distributed before winter, and she hopes to do more this year. Susan continues to do monthly river water quality surveys and keeps a diary of interesting sightings around the parish. Susan is also due to meet with the PC next month and plans to run a meeting to inform local people about what is going on in the parish.

Shaldon WW Paul continues to provide monthly articles for the Parish Council newsletters. We had a recent Zoom meeting with Paul to chat through how he could approach the council and raise the issue of a biodiversity policy. We are hoping our upcoming resources will help Paul with this.

Teignmouth WW Catherine has been surveying blackthorn areas in Mules park for Brown Hairstreak butterfly eggs. Sadly, no eggs found.

ACT with the Arts Festival

With an impressive line-up taking shape, this event promises to be a good one and very well worth attending or getting involved. Website details and the line-up will gradually emerge over the next few months. In the meantime, if you’re interested in participating, please reach out to Paul Wynter via email.

ACTs Public Engagement Group

ACT would love to get to as many local parish events as possible but we do not always hear about them. Please could you either get in touch with Pauline or Vicky if there is a parish event you think ACT and the Wildlife Wardens could come along to.

ACT have also asked that any events that WWs are running could be popped onto the ACT website Events Area please.

Please click on “Tell us about your event” in the first box, and follow the link. 

Thank you to everyone for your continued support, time and fabulous work for nature this month. We love hearing about what you have been up to in your parish, so please keep your updates coming!

We have got off to a busy start this year: making plans for upcoming training, sharing our experiences with a potential new WW scheme for the South Hams and welcoming nine new wardens to our network. We now have almost 130 wardens across Teignbridge; a fantastic achievement!

In this months newsletter:

• Winter Tree ID Training
• Articles for Parish Publications
• Hedgerow Events
• Training for Leading Groups and Volunteers
• Devon Local Nature Partnership Outstanding Individual Award
• Devon Wildlife Trust Tree Hubs
• Dates for your Diary
• Round Up of Wildlife Warden Activity Across Teignbridge
• ACT with the ARTS
• Dawlish Turn the Tide Festival

Winter Tree ID Training

We ran two winter tree ID training sessions in early January. A bright but bitterly cold day at Orley Common and a slightly less finger numbing one at Deer Park Farm, Trusham later in the week! In small groups, wardens hunted and examined various twigs, taking careful note of bud type, size, smell and shape to help narrow down the identification of native species. We chatted about how mature trees looked and compared this with how we might find species in hedges. Thanks to Audrey for running these sessions which really helped increase everyone’s confidence in tree identification during the winter months.

Thank you to Dave for finding out that the wayfaring tree (Vibernum lantana) was given its name by the herbalist John Gerard, who noticed it on routes between Wiltshire and London, whilst travelling in the 1500s. It is said that you are on or near a path if you see a wayfaring tree.

Articles for Parish Publications

Many wardens write regular articles for their parish magazines and publications. It can be a great way to reach out to the community: bringing interesting topics to people’s attention and highlighting what wardens are doing within the parish. Some wardens have been pleasantly surprised by how many people read these articles and the positive changes in behaviour they can bring.

Would this be something you could do in your parish?

We have a new warden joining us who has writing experience and is keen to help compose articles with other wardens. If you feel you have all the information but would like help creating a well written piece, then please do get in touch and I will connect you.

We also have a shared folder containing past articles which you are welcome to find inspiration from. We would encourage anyone who is already writing regular articles to post them here for others to view. Please email me if you would like the link to this folder.

Hedgerow Events

We are all very aware of just how important and valuable to wildlife our wonderful Devon hedgerows are. Managed and maintained well, our hedgerows provide vital habitats and connectivity throughout the landscape. With this in mind we are planning to run a few hedgerow related events during February and into early March.

Ecologist, farm advisor and wildlife warden Elliot Fairs, will kindly be hosting a zoom meeting for wardens on February 21st. The aim is to bring awareness and discussion around the new Sustainable Farming Incentives (SFIs) and Countryside Stewardship (CS) available to farmers and landowners, as they transition towards the Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme.

We would all love to see our hedges managed optimally for both the landowner and for wildlife and this is potentially something wardens may be able to help directly with. We have asked Elliot to give us an overview of the current situation and discuss how wardens could get involved in supporting their local farmers and landowners to be able to access funding. The talk will look at hedgerow surveying methods and what a hedgerow management plan could look like as part of a positive way forwards towards better hedge management.

We will follow up the zoom meeting with a practical hedge surveying session later in the month, in order to build our skills and confidence in this area.

Please do get in touch if you would be interested in attending either event.

Training for Leading Groups and Volunteers

Would you like to start leading groups as part of your wildlife warden activities? Perhaps you want to organise a planting event, an ID skills session or nature walk for people in your community during this year. In order to be covered by ACT insurance you need to have attended our further training session for leading groups. This session runs through all the important aspects of organising and running a successful and safe event. We are hoping to set up a zoom meeting for this in the next few months so please do get in touch if you would be interested in joining us.

Devon Local Nature Partnership Outstanding Individual Award

Many congratulations to Jeremy Pyne for receiving this award; a well-deserved recognition of all the fantastic work he has been involved with. Jeremy plays a leading role in the Exminster Greenspaces Team, promoting wildlife friendly initiatives in the parish and pushing forward to create and enhance community spaces for nature. We are very pleased to have Jeremy as part of the Wildlife Warden network and thank him for always being happy to share ideas with the wider group.

Devon Wildlife Trust Free Tree Hubs

Devon Wildlife Trust are offering free trees for planting in your garden or any land where you have permission. These are being given away at local distribution hubs during winter months, with each hub having between 200-400 trees to give away. The trees are all UK native species such as Oak, Rowan and Crab Apple. Have a look here for hub locations in Devon where you can collect a free tree, a planting guide and tree protection.

Several wildlife wardens are running a hub in their parish this year with the next one coming up on 3rd Feb in Dunsford Village Hall run by Julia and Jess.

Dates for Your Diary

Round up of Wildlife Warden Activity Across Teignbridge

Abbotskerswell WW Emily, along with local group Abbwild, have been busy digging up non-native heliotrope from the community wildflower area. They have continued the eco church project by installing a hedgehog box, siting a donated bench and reviewing the mowing schedule. Regular work parties have continued in the community orchard and there is discussion about creating a “seed swap” cupboard in the local repair workshop. Emily has also been busy teaching children at the local primary school about wildlife and sustainability as part of her forest school sessions.

Ashton Shira has been looking into arranging a household pesticide and weed killer amnesty in her area. She has contacted her local councillors who have said they would back this idea for the Teign Valley area, which is great. There is a pilot kerbside collection of pesticides and other garden chemicals in Bradley Ward later in the year, so potentially this is something we could push for Teignbridge wide.

Bridford WW Lucy ran a DWT tree hub in her parish this month; we hope it was a success.

Buckfastleigh Welcome new WWs Caroline, Bruce and Iso!

Chudleigh WW Ben has started doing the Westcountry Rivers Citizen Science water quality testing in his area and is planning to get stuck in with the community group, Chudleigh Wild. WW Susan has surveyed 4 sites as part of the Devon Treescapes Brown Hairstreak Butterfly project and was thrilled to find an egg!

Dawlish Welcome new WWs Pete, Mariya and Bill! WW Dave has been writing a regular newsletter called Looking After Nature in Dawlish (LAND). Updates include the monitoring and reporting of potential interference with the site of a historic bat roost with the ongoing railway works at Lea Mount, yellow rattle planting as part of St.Gregory’s biodiversity project and wildflower seed sowing of a roundabout.

WWs Ric and Jo have had an active month planting trees in their woodland and community orchard.

Dawlish Wardens are also organising several fundraising evenings in February to support the hugely successful Turn the Tide Festival, which will take place in June. There will be a chance to watch a film and listen to various speakers talking about water and climate related themes. Please take a look here for further information about these exciting evenings.

Exminster WW Jeremy and the Greenspaces team held several maintenance work parties for the village orchard and churchyard which included the installation of a new hedgehog house at the church. The hedgehog house was made at New Leaf: a local NHS Partnership facility which provides occupational therapy activities including woodworking workshops. If other wardens have got the budget and would like to use this local supplier, please do get in touch for contacts.

Ideford WW Robin has been busy looking into a planning application which involves converting a local barn into a house. The barn is currently used as a bat roost for both greater horseshoe and the very rare grey long-eared bat. Robin has been involved in guiding the Parish Council and alerting DWT; both of whom have objected to the plans.

Ilsington WW Dawn has started surveying a local wood for ferns, mosses and lichens and had also been involved with planting wildflower seed in Liverton with WW Sheree. Having had recent chats with Teignbridge Councillor Rob Steemson, Ilsington WWs have been successful in securing Councillors Community Funding, with help from ACT. WW Linda put together a very detailed costings and plans to buy hedgehog houses, nest boxes and wildflowers for sites in both Liverton and Ilsington. Excellent news!  

Ipplepen Thank you to WWs Ruth, Mabel, Neil, Diane, Alan and Barry and the Ippleplanet team for a comprehensive update of all their fantastic work in the parish during 2023.

Highlights include: running a DWT tree hub, tree planting at Combe Fishacre with ParkLife SW, three birdsong walks lead by Mabel, a visit to Ogwild for inspiration, a moth evening at Orley Common with the Teignbridge rangers, a display during carnival week, tree maintenance alongside the PC at the Long field and a display at the Christmas tree festival. Ippleplanet have also successfully achieved a £1000 grant with the Co-op for an Orchard and Nature Reconnection Space – we look forward to finding out more about your plans for this next year!

Kingskerswell Welcome new WW George!

Lustleigh Welcome new WW Rachel!

Moretonhampstead Welcome new WW Bee!

Newton Abbot Thank you to WW Sarah who ran a stand at the recent Health and Wellness event at the Newton Abbot library. Audrey and Sarah were able to chat with people about how awareness of nature and spending time outdoors can bring such positive mental and physical health benefits. It was a chance to chat about how the wildlife warden scheme not only helps wildlife but also brings likeminded people together to learn and make new friends.

Starcross WW Ali has organised the planting of a mixed native species hedgerow, a willow grove and a small community orchard with support from the parish council, Starcross Goes Wild and Starcross Action for Trees. Log pile habitats for invertebrates and log seating for children was also added. Ali has written an great article for the local parish magazine to highlight this planting to the local community as well as bringing awareness of the hedgerows and trees around the village following on from the winter tree ID session that Ali came along to. She also brings attention to local garden waste fly-tipping and how this can be detrimental to wildlife and native species.  

ACTs Public Engagement Group

ACT would love to get to as many local parish events as possible but we do not always hear about them. Please could you either get in touch with Pauline or Vicky if there is a parish event you think ACT and the Wildlife Wardens could come along to.

ACT Website

ACT have also asked that any events that WWs are running could be popped onto the ACT website Events Area please.

Please click on “Tell us about your event” in the first box, and follow the link. 

Thank you for all your continued support, time and fantastic work for nature this month. Please do keep your updates coming – we love to hear what you have all been doing.

Vicky (vicky@actionclimateteignbridge.org)