Presentation from West Weald Landscape Project Conference 22 May 2014

1. The West Weald
Landscape Project
– 10 years.…and counting!
Rich Howorth
ex- West Weald Landscape Project
Officer

2. Project Context
• Drivers: landscape ecology; natural processes; naturalistic
grazing; re-wilding; ‘ecosystem services’
• Inspirations: – Frans Vera, Hans Kampf, Tony Whitbread,
Charlie Burrell, Butcherland fields, IALE UK
• Idealistic nature state vs.
mainstream land use & conservation?

3. The Team: Partnership & Staffing
• West Weald Landscape Partnership 2004+, 15 bodies
• Project Officer (3) to manage work from mid-2004
• Monitoring Officer from mid-2005 (temp, 1 year)
• Landowner Advisor from 2009 (temp, 3 years)

4. Funding
• Early support - English Nature & HLF
• Environment Agency research & monitoring support
• Other partner support from CDC & WSCC
• BBC Wildlife Fund support for bats and pre-TCT
landowner work
• Major funding bid (£1/4 million) to Tubney Charitable
Trust in 2008, for 2009 start over 5-year project
• SWT membership appeals x2

5. Research & Monitoring
• Major focus from outset
• Applied rather than academic research, + IALE/BES
• ‘Land Use Change and the Water Environment of the
West Weald 1971-2001’ – WWLP / EA study
• Butcherland succession vegetation monitoring 04/05+
• ‘The State of the West Weald’s Natural Environment
2006’
• Long-term forest plots re-survey of The Mens – Anna
Swift 2006
• Barbastelle (+ other) bats population studies – Ebernoe
Common (08), The Mens (09), Butcherland, wider
landscape

6. Working with Landowners –
development phase
• Ad-hoc contacts from outset, mostly reactive work
• Environmental Stewardship promotion – ELS v HLS
• A few key landowner relationships developed
• Barbastelle landscape ecology (flightlines, foraging) as early
driver for proactive work
• GIS targeting for key species groups – bats, birds &
butterflies
• Initial capital works – hedgerows planting especially

7. Working with the Public –
becoming native?
• Local schools
• Volunteers & conservation works
• Student projects
• Walks & Talks
• Events – Batz n’ Bratz, Apples & Animals
• Information materials - walks guide

8. Provisional thoughts
• Long project development, vs extensive baseline studies
• Balance between information gathering and action
• Partnership working & challenges
• Difficulty of working across administrative boundaries
• External funding critical to project viability and impact
• Great insights and impacts realised through perseverance
Evaluation? – Improved environment; & socio-economics?
or “A Living Landscape – are we there yet?”
Future? - WWL focus of resource effort vs rest of Sussex?

9. West Weald Landscape Project
– Where We’ve Got To
Petra Billings
Landscape Projects Officer

11. A Living Landscape
A visionary partnership project that promotes the
integrated management of a viable and enhanced
landscape in the West Weald for people and nature

12. WWLP Objectives
• Enhanced conservation of the core forest areas
• Wider landscape improvements through
working with landowners and farmers
• Research and monitoring eg surveys of
important wildlife species
• Enhanced public enjoyment of the landscape

13. Achievements:
Landowner Work
• >260 visits to 125 landowners
of 11,000 ha (46% of project
area)
• English Woodland Grant
Scheme:
– 21 planning grants
– 10 WIGs
– 3 creation grants
– 1 regeneration grant
• Environmental Stewardship
(30 farmers)
– 15 HLS with ELS
– Further 15 ELS only

14. 50 practical works
projects:
• >8500m hedgerows
• 12 orchard creation or
restoration
• 6 woodland planting
schemes
• 3 scrapes
Capital Works
Case Study 1: Gandersgate
Woodland
Case Study 2: Orchard
House

15. • Agri-environment
funding schemes
• Hedgerow management
• Woodland management
• Wetland management
• Tree health
• Meadow creation and
restoration
• Deer management
Landowner
Workshops

16. Habitat No.
surveyed
Results
Meadows 55 28 of particular interest; condition variable
with many under-managed
Hedges 105 34 (33%) in favourable condition
Traditional
orchards
76 4 (6%) excellent
32 (48%) good
31 (46%) poor
Woodlands 45 39 (88.5%) fair/good
6 (11.5%) poor
Ponds 91 1 (1.3%) excellent
13 (16.9%) good
28 (35.1%) moderate
36 (46.8%) low
Habitat surveys

17. • Invertebrate Survey,The
Chiddingfold Forest (2009)
• Wood White (2009)
• Saproxylic Invertebrates of
Cowdray Park (Summer 2011)
• Woodpeckers and their Nest-Holes
(2006, 2009)
• Barbastelle Bats in the West Weald
1997 – 2008
• Baseline Audit of Bat Activity in the
West Weald Landscape, 2010, 2011
and 2012
Species Surveys
© Mark Monk-Terry
©Alan Price, Gatehouse Studios/SWT

18. • Developing a land management targeting
framework for the West Weald Project area
(2009)
• Arun & Rother Catchment Habitat Potential
Model (2011)
• An Ecological Connectivity Approach to
Planning for Adaptive Landscapes: A Case Study
of the West Weald (2010)
Landscape Studies

19. • Parish meetings
• Wild Walks in the West
Weald (15,000 copies)
• Oral history project
• Community habitat mapping
• Community orchards
• School hedge-planting
Community Engagement

20. • Project website
• Project newsletters x13
• Walks, talks and courses ~40
• TV and radio interviews x6
• Local press ~60
• Conference presentations x3
Dissemination

21. 1. Strength of partnership working
Lessons learned

22. 2. Importance of building long-term relationships with landowners
Lessons learned

23. 3. Means of targeting landowners:
1. Proximity to core forest
areas
2. Barbastelle flightlines
3. Local wildlife sites
4. Grant scheme expiry/not in
grant schemes
5. Results of habitat surveys
Proactive Reactive►
Lessons learned

24. 4. Mechanisms for engaging with
landowners
• Landowner workshops
• Habitat surveys
• Website and e-newsletter
• Mailshot
Lessons learned

25. What did it cost?
£240,721
£246,352
Match-funding
TubneyCharitable Trust £198,260
£65,749
£81,517
£5,499
Total salaries plus travel
Total surveys (incl.
equipment)
Landowner work (capital
worksplus workshops)
Other costs
Total Income 2009 - 2014 Total Expenditure 2009 - 2014

26. The Future?
… bigger, better, more joined up