The Atlantic Coast and Valleys Project - providing a wealth of wildlife

Regrettably the application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the Stage 2 pass was turned down at the committee meeting in June. As a result the project will not progress as originally planned. However a great deal of valuable information has been accrued during the past twelve months and the Partnership still intend to deliver the project albeit in a different format. Future developments will be posted on the website or for further details please contact the Coast and Countryside Service who at the moment are acting as the secretariat for the group.

This project, being developed by the Coast and Countryside Service working in Partnership with others, seeks to introduce landscape management favourable for increasing wildlife interest on parts of the coastline.

Backways Cove

The landscape on the north Cornwall coast is one that has seen changes brought about through differing land management techniques.

Butterfly

Currently the steep sided valleys so characteristic of the coast are largely unmanaged compared to 50 years ago when they were extensively grazed. The flat land between the valleys has become more intensively managed with high inputs of fertiliser and few species of plants.

Neither situation provides the right sort of habitat for a range of wildlife and does not produce as varied a landscape as it might or indeed once did.

Historic records show that the coastal areas once played host to iconic species such as the Chough or the large Blue Butterfly both of which died out in the early 1970s.

New changes in agriculture, increasing incentives for environmental land management and a growing recognition of how quality landscape and a wealth of wildlife can be a valuable economic asset as well as an important factor in people's quality of life has made this a good time to develop this project.

English Nature, The National Trust, Eden Project, the RSPB, local farmers and the District Council are amongst a wide ranging Partnership coming together to develop the project and will seek funding for it from sources such as the Heritage Lottery Fund, Objective 1 and Defra. Once the project completes the major capital works necessary such as scrub removal, nutrient stripping, fencing, training etc, the environmental payments for land management such as Countryside Stewardship will ensure the right management keeps going and is monitored for success.

The Partnership is seeking involvement from the local communities where the project will be introduced. Please click on the link to the right and open up the pdf leaflet. This tells you more about the project and the area in which it could operate. It also provides an opportunity to feed back to the Partnership your thoughts on the area and what work should be undertaken. The leaflet has a questionnaire and a FREEPOST address for it return. Please do use this it would be a great help.

The link on the right provides a presentation used at local meetings which describes what the project is about and who is involved.

If you would like more information contact us using the details on the right.