Beacon nature reserve allowed to reach full potential
BODMIN'S Beacon nature reserve has received £120,000 to enable it to reach its full potential as a haven for wildlife.
The grant from Natural England will pay for improvements to the site which was first designated in 1994 and also enhance it as a local education and community resource.
One aspect of the project will see North Devon cattle grazing on the reserve.
There is now a High Level Stewardship (HLS) scheme in place as the result of a partnership between Bodmin Town Council and Cornwall Council, who now own and manage the reserve, and Natural England, the government's conservation agency.
Stephen Facer, deputy chief executive of Bodmin Town Council, said: 'The Beacon is a unique local nature reserve given its close proximity and location in relation to the town centre and gives people the opportunity to discover nature on their doorstep. With the formation of a management advisory group for the reserve which includes a balance of community and local council representation, the public's interest and views will be a key factor in its development."
Funding will be allocated to the management of heathland and unimproved grassland at the top of the Beacon, management of the reserves' hay meadows, creation of wild bird seed areas and improved interpretation and disabled access on the site.
Hugh Tyler, from Natural England, said: "Key elements of the scheme are the special community focused projects such as educational access by local school groups in and around Bodmin. It is hoped that the new funding agreement will build on the hard work put in over the years to provide a very special area for the local community to access and enjoy."
Over the coming year regular visitors to the site will witness work being undertaken to improve access to the site and enhance the nature conservation interest of the Beacon. This will include hedge-laying, fencing and grazing of North Devon cattle. Bird boxes will also be put up.
3 Comments
by Mark, Baildon, West Yorks
Sunday, May 10 2009, 4:09PM
“What I do, Derek, is document that local opinion - taken from newspapers like this - and give wider voice to it! Do you think your local issues exist in isolation?”
by Derek, Bodmin
Thursday, May 07 2009, 4:37PM
“And there speaks a local..............thanks for your advice but please stay up in Yorkshire with it, we have enough "Advisors" down here thanks!”
by Mark, Baildon, West Yorks
Wednesday, April 29 2009, 8:40AM
“What I find sad about this is that our children will now grow up thinking cattle are wild animals. They will see a landscape that for all intents and purposes is derived from farming, even though that is not what is being used for, nor will it be described that way. It is a strange world where Natural England, a nature conservation agency, can use a farming subsidy - HLS - that is supposed to mitigate the effects of farming, to instead re-instate a farming pressure on the landscape. This is happening all over England where land in public ownership is having cattle grazing re-applied when the burden of farming use was taken off anywhere between 70-150 years ago. It is an orthodoxy gone mad when nature conservation now is based on a narrow vision of landscapes from the Victorian era to the 1930s. No wonder other countries think our approach to nature conservation is just widespread "gardening". Other than Belgium, Britain is the only country in Europe that doesn't have a system of nature conservation based on non-consumptive uses and minimal intervention.
http://www.self-willed-land.org.uk”