Nature

Through Exmoor Pioneers, we will develop our Tree and Plant Nursery at Exford into a flourishing site producing up to 10,000 trees and 5,000 plants each year. By sourcing seed and growing trees locally, we will develop a “gene hub” of trees better adapted to the climatic and environmental conditions of the area while also minimising our carbon footprint through reducing the need to buy and transport commercially grown trees.

In time the nursery will come to supply many of the trees and plants needed for our wider nature recovery projects – including the devil’s bit scabious required by marsh fritillary butterflies and the native trees which will form new temperate rainforest.

We will also develop the nursery into a vibrant community site, offering year-round opportunities for education, training and community involvement. As part of this we will be creating a new orchard showcasing local apple varieties. Volunteers will play a critical role in developing and maintaining the nursery.

Do you want to help us develop the tree and plant nursery? Visit our Join Us page to explore volunteering opportunities.

As you dip down from the windswept uplands of the Royal Forest, you come across pockets of woodland nestled in the coombes and valley bottoms. Through Exmoor Pioneers, we will plant more trees to develop these critical habitats further. By planting the right trees in the right places at the right pace, we will incrementally develop a more diverse and complex structured mosaic of open habitat, riparian woodland, thorny scrub, and low-density wood-pasture. This in turn will create environments that allow a wider range of plants and animals to flourish. In time, we hope that these woodlands will contribute to new temperate rainforest – a globally rare, ecologically rich habitat, perfect for scarce plants, lichens and fungi, as well as remarkable birds and mammals.

Beyond their benefits for wildlife, increasing tree coverage can help provide natural flood management benefits by increasing water retention and infiltration – protecting homes and businesses downstream. Woodlands are excellent stores of carbon, thus playing a part in countering the climate crisis. Trees can also provide improved shade, shelter and browsing opportunities for livestock, helping to shape a landscape that works for nature, livelihoods, and pleasure.

Do you want to help us develop these vital new woodland habitats? Visit our Join Us page to explore volunteering opportunities, including tree planting.

To further explore the benefits of the right trees in the right places on Exmoor, visit this visualisation of potential future tree and woodland planting on Exmoor.

Water voles were once a common sight across both lowland and upland areas of Exmoor. However, across the UK their populations have declined rapidly, in part due to predation by American mink, habitat degradation, and pollution. Now water voles are an endangered species in England, that have disappeared from 94% of their former range – and through Exmoor Pioneers we hope to bring them back to the Royal Forest.

Helping water voles helps the wider environment. Water voles are mini ecosystem engineers, and their return will support the restoration of natural processes to rivers. Water voles keep riverbanks in good condition and are a vital part of the animal food chain. A reintroduction of water voles into this upland setting would complement an earlier release of water voles onto the Holnicote Estate by the National Trust into a more lowland environment where they appear to be thriving.

To ensure that the conditions are right to reintroduce this charismatic and threatened species to the Royal Forest, we will restore a network of high-quality, well connected wetland habitat suitable for water voles and conduct surveys to ensure that the conditions are right.

Do you want to help us restore habitat and reintroduce water voles? Visit our Join Us page to explore volunteering opportunities.

The marsh fritillary is a beautiful, brightly coloured butterfly that has suffered severe declines across the UK and is now therefore a priority species for conservation efforts. Marsh fritillaries are often found in damp and boggy places, such as wet meadows, moorland, and marshy grassland, and as these habitats have declined in size and quality across the UK so too has the marsh fritillary. Through Exmoor Pioneers, we will restore 20 hectares of habitat through meadow and grassland enhancement including planting seeds and plug plants of devil’s-bit scabious (the preferred food plant of marsh fritillaries) and changes in habitat management.

We’ll work with volunteers to survey the habitat, as well as grow and plant out devil’s bit scabious and other meadow plants. Visit our Join Us page to explore volunteering opportunities.

Meadows, perennial grasslands that are rich in native wildflowers, are an integral part of our landscapes, folklore, and farming heritage. Species-rich meadows are home to a huge variety of wildlife - insects, spiders, reptiles, birds, mammals, and bats – and as highly biodiverse ecosystems, they make a vital contribution to our environment. They provide food and shelter for pollinating insects who in turn pollinate our food crops, they help retain carbon in the soil and prevent soil erosion, they reduce the impact of flooding, and they provide rich fodder for grazing animals.

However, in the UK over 97% of our species-rich meadows have been lost since the 1930s, partly due to changes in agricultural policy and practices nationally. Conserving what remains and restoring what has been lost of these now rare habitats is vital if we are to protect biodiversity, carbon storage, and our cultural heritage. Building on the success of the Sowing the Seeds project, through Exmoor Pioneers we will restore 400 hectares of species-rich meadows.

We’ll work with volunteers to survey our sites as well as grow and plant out plants. Want to support? Visit our Join Us page to explore volunteering opportunities.

Peatlands are a valuable and rare habitat, home to specialised plants and abundant wildlife. They are also important carbon stores. However, once they are disturbed and dry out, plants and animals lose their homes, and this valuable store begins to release carbon and other warming greenhouse gases. At least 75% of peat in the UK is damaged and releasing emissions. Peatland also helps store and slow the flow of water, reducing the risk of flash flooding as well as providing a natural water filtration service.

In the future through Exmoor Pioneers we hope to restore areas of peatland with the help of specially designed dams, constructed with timber sustainably sourced from the National Park’s own woodlands, which are used to sensitively block up centuries-old ditches without impacting on the character of this much-loved landscape along with important historic features. Our heritage experts will work to ensure that the historical record contained within the peatland sites is protected, preserved and enhanced into the future by restoration works.

Want to help protect and restore peatland? Visit our Join Us page to explore volunteering opportunities.

Spend time out exploring Exmoor and you may realise that we do get quite a bit of rain! This rain is critical for some of our most beautiful habitats, from lush temperate rainforest to flourishing water meadows. But when lots of rain falls in a short period of time it can cause flooding downstream. Through Exmoor Pioneers, we will work to slow the flow of watercourses such as Ashcombe stream, which leads into the Barle and eventually the Exe. By using natural flood management approaches such as leaky dams and riparian woodland planting, we will mitigate the risks for downstream communities as well as improving wildlife habitats.

Want to help monitor rivers and support flood management?  Visit our Join Us page to explore volunteering opportunities.