The AONB Environment Group

This group is for 15-25 year olds who have an interest in the natural environment that want to gain experience and knowledge whilst meeting other like-minded young people and local environmental organisations. Here are some of of the stuff we’ve got up to this year!

For our first meet up we went to Mortepoint where we met up with Paul South, a National Trust ranger, who told us all about how they are managing the site with the use of cow collars to create a mosaic of habitats and increasing biodiversity. 

We did a rapid rainforest assessment in Adderstable Woods, Combe Martin where we assessed the health of the woodland using PlantLife’s criteria. We were lucky enough to have a great sighting of a greater spotted woodpecker as it came in and out of its nest. 

We went to Capstone in Ilfracombe and joined SeaWatch Foundation volunteers Chris and Sharron Blackmore on their cetacean survey. This was a great evening where we learnt just how simple it was to contribute to citizen science data of marine mammal sightings in your local area!

A highlight event was night time rockpooling at Lee Bay where we had a great time finding many crabs and anemones. Several intertidal species glowed under the UV light, the best being snakelocks anemones! 

In July, we went on a 2-day expedition from the Cornish border at Marsland to Brownsham National Trust across the Hartland peninsula which was approximately 24km. We saw some great wildlife including countless invertebrates, a kestrel that was hunting very close by and a peregrine. Despite the trorrential rain, everyone maintained a positive attitude and enjoyed the trip! 

If you are interested in joining this group, please do get in contact and email joe.newberry@devon.gov.uk.