The Gentleman Magazine Issue 20 | April 2020 | Page 66
LOST WORLD' WILDLIFE HAVEN NOW UNDER
PROTECTION AS PUBLIC HELP RAISE £1 MILLION
By Andy Bond ,Senior PR officer, The Woodland Trust
A lost world wooded habitat – home to wildlife gems such as
the rare barbastelle bat and hazel dormouse – is now protected
thanks to public support.
The Woodland Trust launched an appeal in autumn 2019 to
raise the £1 million needed to take on part of Ausewell in
Dartmoor, Devon - and donations came flooding in fast. It
will now join the National Trust, who owns the other part of
the site, in managing this important wildlife refuge.
Woodland Trust site manager Dave Rickwood said:
“It’s very exciting that, thanks to the public’s help, we can
complete the purchase of Ausewell Wood and start working
with the National Trust to restore this valuable wildlife habitat.
“It means we can protect this 342 acre lost world with its rugged
woodland, vast heath and damp temperate forest.”
“Through our restoration work we will create crucial havens
for endangered wildlife species, such as the shy hazel dormouse
which nests in the trees and the rare barbastelle bat that roosts
in forgotten medieval shafts. Nationally important lichen
communities can continue to thrive in the pure atmosphere.”
The two charities have plans to carefully managing the non-
native conifer areas to allow nature to recover. This will allow
plants and trees from former woodland species to recover and
re-colonise the ancient woodland areas, thus supporting a
range of climate threatened wildlife.
Wildlife monitoring has already taken place to help shape our
management and gain an understanding of how climate change
is having an effect.
The plans involve working with the local community, providing
opportunities for people to explore and learn more about
Ausewell Wood, its habitats and the wildlife found there.
It gives the opportunity to work with other organisations and
landowners linking areas across Dartmoor to deliver a better,
bigger, more widespread and more connected landscape for
wildlife.
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Alex Raeder, the National Trust’s south west conservation
manager, said:
“The National Trust is delighted to be working again with the
Woodland Trust to secure the future of our finest wooded
habitats. This is more important than ever in the fight against
climate change and biodiversity loss. Ausewell Wood is an
astonishingly beautiful place and the mix of heathland and
wooded habitats provide homes for redstarts and places for
rare lichens to thrive.”
“We will be creating some access into the woods, which until
now has not formally existed, so that people can discover
Ausewell’s natural beauty for themselves. Routes will be low-
key to help look after the wildlife that everyone values so
highly.”
Alex added: “Ausewell exemplifies the importance of the Dart
Valley for nature and through our joint care of this place with
the Woodland Trust, we intend to make it even better in future.”
Ausewell has been dubbed 'the lost world' due to its dense
vegetation mirroring that of a rainforest. The wildlife found at
the site has endured centuries of various human interventions
including mining, charcoal making and in more recent history,
the planting of non-native trees in ancient woodland.
It is a valuable wildlife site, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a
place where key species such as cuckoos, lesser spotted
woodpeckers, pied flycatchers and the elusive hazel dormouse
have taken refuge.
The National Trust secured part of the purchase of the site
through gifts in wills whilst the Woodland Trust raised its
share through a public appeal. With the purchase sealed, the
organisations are now concentrating their efforts on raising the
extra £1.5 million to protect and restore the site.
Ausewell will open to the public later this year once the
purchase has completed and initial access work has taken
place. As a refuge for nature, Ausewell will be a place for people
to enjoy in an unobtrusive way.
The two Trusts are not strangers to working together. As well as
jointly owning and managing the nearby Fingle Woods, they
are also working with a wide range of partners to provide
resilient wildlife habitats in the wider Dartmoor landscape.
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