The environmental achievements of a Devon-based charity have been recognised with a top international accreditation.
In the past year Devon Wildlife Trust has targeted the impact it and its 80 staff have on the environment. As a result the charity has been able to reduce its gas consumption at its Cricklepit Mill headquarters in Exeter by 55%. Its electricity consumption across all its properties has also been reduced by 20%. A hydro-turbine installed at the Mill is also helping The Trust generate 40 kilowatts of its own clean, green electricity each day from water power –...
Devon Wildlife Trust has spent this autumn conducting a very different kind of harvest.
The charity has been collecting seed from Devon’s ash, hawthorn, blackthorn, holly and other trees at some of its 49 nature reserves as part of a national project to aimed at protecting the UK’s woodlands. Devon Wildlife Trust is a partner in the UK National Tree Seed Project, which has been set up by Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank, and made possible with funding generated by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery.
Tree seeds collected as part of the project will be safely banked in the...
Exeter’s only green Father Christmas will be visiting Cricklepit Mill on Sunday 6th December for a day of family fun.
The annual Christmas celebration at Devon Wildlife Trust’s historic mill is only a few minutes’ walk from the High Street and offers families a chance to take a break from the shops and get creative with Christmas crafts! Christmas at Cricklepit is being held on Sunday 6th December from 11am – 4pm and is a day of free family activities. Visitors will have the chance to have a go at willow weaving and making natural Christmas decorations ready to hang up on their...
Devon Wildlife Trust is the 2015 recipient of the Devon Environmental Business Initiative (DEBI) Environmental Education Award.
This award category is aimed at those who ‘promote environmental education across Devon recognising schools, colleges, universities, as well as community groups and the business sector who has made a significant contribution to improving environmental education’.
The award was made on Thursday night at a ceremony at the Met Office’s Exeter headquarters. Devon Wildlife Trust was chosen for its Wildlife Champions programme which has inspired hundreds...
Evidence has been growing for a number of years pointing to the health and social benefits to be derived from contact with the natural world for all ages. However, results from a new YouGov poll, commissioned by The Wildlife Trusts, highlight the discrepancy between what parents think is best for children and what they actually experience.
The new poll shows that:
91% of parents of children aged 18 and under think that having access to nature and wildlife is important for children, yet
78% of parents are concerned that children don’t spend enough time
When beavers appeared on the River Otter, most people welcomed their return to Devon.
A similar public response was seen in response to Scottish reintroductions to the rivers Tay and Knapdale. They also sparked a debate about the potential benefits of restoring wildlife.
For example, could beaver dams be a natural way to reduce flood risks?
Could pine marten reintroductions help control unwanted grey squirrel populations? And could peat bog restoration improve drinking water quality?
All of these issues will be explored next week in a national conference in...
A project which is working to secure a future for one of Europe’s most endangered bat species has been awarded £707,000 of National Lottery funding.
The Devon Greater Horseshoe Bat Project, which has received the grant via the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), will now work for the next five years across the county to secure the long term future of one of the rarest animals in Northern Europe. The project is being led by the conservation charity Devon Wildlife Trust in a partnership involving 18 other organisations.
The project’s manager is Ed Parr Ferris: "We’re delighted to...
Devon Wildlife Trust has teamed up with South West Water to offer a range of wildlife events for all ages this summer. The events have both water and wildlife themes and will include rockpool rambles on the coast, and pond-dipping, bug-hunting and wildlife walks at stunning nature reserves.
Many of the activities will be based at Wembury Marine Centre and beach, near Plymouth, where a freshwater stream surrounded by banks of wildflowers flows into the sea on one of Devon’s most wildlife-rich shorelines. Mike Elsey, Major Supporters Fundraiser for DWT said: “building on the success...
Seventy hectares of wildlife-rich land close to one of Dartmoor’s most popular recreation sites is set to become a brand new nature reserve thanks to a partnership between Devon Wildlife Trust and the Forestry Commission.
The nature reserve, which is to be called Bellever Moor and Meadow, is owned by the Forestry Commission and is close to the moorland village of Postbridge and the well-known Bellever Forest picnic site. The land, which is made up of a patchwork of traditional hay-meadows, wet grassland and moorland, is set to become the latest of nearly 50 nature reserves cared...
Devon Wildlife Trust said it had been ‘delighted’ by the kind contributions received to its fundraising appeal to purchase Bystock Pools nature reserve. The popular wildlife haven and beauty spot, between Exmouth and East Budleigh, was put up for sale by the landowner in spring 2015, having been leased to Devon Wildlife Trust as a nature reserve since the 1970s. The Exeter-based conservation charity launched an appeal in June to try to raise £45,000 to help meet the purchase price of the land. By the beginning of July, more than £36,000 had been received in donations from local residents,...
