Our main aim for the first year of this scheme was to provide basic ‘introductory training’ to at least 50 Wildlife Wardens across Teignbridge. We didn’t fully know how the scheme would evolve or how popular it was likely to be, as there were no similar schemes at the time, but we surpassed our aim within the first half a year. In Teignbridge, we certainly don’t suffer from a lack of people who are passionate about helping wildlife; the sheer number of people who have expressed interest has been very uplifting!

We would like to say a big thank you to our funders, without whom this would not have been possible. We are funded by the Devon Environment Foundation (who have also provided funding to cover part of the second year of our scheme), the Nineveh Trust, Cllr Jackie Hook (DCC Locality Fund), Dartmoor National Park Authority, the Teignbridge Energy Community’s Community Fund and by individual donors.

We would also like to thank everyone who has supported our scheme in other ways; we couldn’t do it without you. And of course, a big thank you to all of our brilliant Wildlife Wardens.

Here is an overview of our first year.

• Training
  • There are 81 trained and active Wildlife Wardens across 32 out of the 53 Teignbridge parishes/Newton Abbot Wards. There are also applicants from other parishes who are awaiting training – we’ll have another course very soon.
  • We have provided 17 introductory training sessions on Zoom.
  • We have provided 9 species identification training sessions ‘in the field’. This includes 7 wildflower ID sessions, 2 aquatic invertebrate ID sessions and 1 bat walk. Thank you, Dave and Sue Smallshire (from ACT’s Ecology Group), for leading some of these sessions.
  • We have provided 4 wildflower seed collecting sessions, where Wildlife Wardens also learnt about species identification. A total of 17 Wildlife Wardens attended these sessions meaning that lots of parishes now have a plentiful supply of locally sourced wildflower seed to sow.
  • We have provided 3 ‘Leading Volunteers’ training sessions on Zoom to a total of 17 Wildlife Wardens so that they can safely lead volunteer groups of their own.
  • We have organised a tree and wildflower nursery training session as well as a Fungi Day for Wildlife Wardens. Both events are happening in November 21.
  • We invited Wildlife Wardens to a Planning meeting, which covered many aspects of the Planning process. We shared the best ways that we can protect and create wildlife habitats.
  • We have written various training documents that can be found on our website.
  • We have organised 2 Zoom talks for our Wildlife Wardens. The first speaker was Jess Smallcombe from the DBRC who explained how Wildlife Wardens can submit wildlife records. The second talk was given by Cath Jeffs from the RSPB who spoke about the success of their cirl bunting recovery project.
  • We organised three farm walks which were offered to Wildlife Wardens and other groups. The first two walks were at Ambios’ Lower Sharpham Farm, where 14 Wildlife Wardens learnt how they are managing their land through rewilding. The third walk was at Deane House Farm in Stokeignteinhead. 5 Wildlife Wardens (plus 12 farmers, 2 people from the NFU, 3 councillors and 3 local people) learnt how the farmer, Peter French, manages his land under environmental stewardship schemes. He has succeeded in increasing numbers of species such as the cirl bunting on his land whilst making a profit from farming!
  • We organised a walk with Chudleigh Wild (who are part of the Wildlife Warden Scheme) so that other Wildlife Wardens could gain inspiration from what they have achieved.
  • We ran a field trip at Audrey Compton’s farm for a group of 60 Environmental Science A-level students from Exeter College. One of our Wildlife Wardens teaches the course.

• Resources
  • We have uploaded lots of useful resources to our website which acts as a central hub of information for our Wildlife Wardens.
  • We created an ‘Activity’ (group) in iRecord where our Wildlife Wardens can submit wildlife records. 118 records have been submitted, including 95 different species. Many Wildlife Wardens submit records in other ways, so this is only a proportion of the total number of records submitted. We will promote iRecord by organising a practice session for Wildlife Wardens.

• Communication with Wildlife Wardens, councils and the general public
  • We have set up individual ACT email addresses for all Wildlife Wardens who want them. We have also created group email addresses for all parishes and Newton Abbot Wards.
  • There is a Facebook discussion group and an email discussion group (Groups.io) for Wildlife Wardens. We have also discussed the possibility of creating a WhatsApp group.
  • We have contacted all parish and town councils in Teignbridge to introduce the scheme and ask if they could help us by appointing Wildlife Wardens. Recently, we worked with Teignbridge District Council to put together the ‘Wild About Teignbridge’ event. The main purpose of this event was to help parish and town councils find out more about their legal responsibility for protecting and enhancing biodiversity – and to find out what the DLNP, Teignbridge District Council and Action on Climate in Teignbridge have been doing to help. It was attended by 9 District Councillors, 15 Parish Councillors, 5 wildlife wardens, 3 Teignbridge District Council Officers, 5 members of Action on Climate on Teignbridge as well as the 4 speakers (which included Audrey).
  • We have spoken to members of the public about wildlife and how to help wildlife at 5 different events. We held stands at the Devon County Show (thank you, DLNP, for inviting us), ACT’s Great Big Green Week event at Newton Abbot, Sustainable Dawlish’s GBGW event, Ogwild’s Rectory Field open day and Exminster Environment Group’s Autumn Fair. In doing so, we reached hundreds of interested people! Our Wildlife Wardens have also publicised the scheme at their local events.

• Sharing a blueprint of our scheme with groups outside of Teignbridge
  • We have shared information with several groups who are in the process of setting up similar schemes outside of Teignbridge. This includes a group in Mid-Devon, Torridge District Council, the Wilder Communities Team at the Devon Wildlife Trust, the DLNP’s Wild about Devon initiative as well as other individuals from across the county.

• Other work
  • We have responded to 5 major planning applications.
  • We submitted a detailed response to TDC’s Local Plan Sites Consultation, including comments on all of the sites listed.
  • With the help of Shaldon Wildlife Wardens, we sent a complaint to the MMO about the dredging of Exmouth Marina and deposition of sludge into Lyme Bay (which has particularly had an impact in Teignmouth).

Here are some of the wonderful projects that our Wildlife Wardens have been involved with over the last year (it may not be a complete list, as it only includes projects that our Wildlife Wardens report back to us on):

• Habitat creation and management
  • At least 16 wildlife sites have been created or are being managed by Wildlife Wardens. This includes small plots of land and larger sites of up to 15 acres in size (some Wildlife Wardens also manage their own private land which isn’t included). Wildlife Wardens have organised numerous volunteer work party days to manage these habitats and get local people involved.
  • Wildlife Wardens from across 6 parishes have been involved in tree planting projects.
  • 3 hedgerows have been planted on council-owned land and farmland. There are plans to plant more in the near future.
  • At least 7 sites (not including road verges) are being managed by Wildlife Wardens to increase the diversity and abundance of wildflowers.
  • Wildlife Wardens from across 4 parishes are managing their road verges for wildflowers or are currently in discussion with their local council about this.
  • An orchard is being planted in Ashton and Wildlife Wardens from other parishes have planted fruit trees.
  • Wildlife Wardens in Chudleigh designed, created and planted a large wildlife pond in a private garden for free.

• Community engagement
  • Wildlife Wardens from at least 3 separate parishes have given advice to landowners on how to manage their land better for wildlife.
  • Wildlife Wardens from 2 separate parishes have run wildlife gardening schemes and competitions. One of these schemes has involved over 80 households. Many Wildlife Wardens have encouraged wildlife gardening in other ways such as writing articles in parish magazines and giving away free seed.
  • Wildlife Wardens from across 14 parishes have written articles about wildlife for their parish magazines.
  • Wildlife Wardens from across 6 parishes have given away free seeds or have set up ‘seed swaps’ in their villages/towns.
  • Wildlife Wardens from at least 3 parishes are tackling litter by raising awareness, organising litter picks and/or reporting fly-tipping events.
  • Wildlife Wardens from across 3 parishes have worked on projects to help wildlife on roads. This includes organising toad patrols and putting up signs such as ‘ghost hedgehogs’ (plaques along road verges to mark the locations of hedgehog casualties) to make motorists think about the consequences of driving fast.
  • Wildlife Wardens from at least 2 parishes have distributed posters with information about wildlife, wildlife gardening and wildlife identification.
  • 1 Wildlife Warden creates a monthly podcast, which has been a great success. Wildlife Wardens from a couple of other parishes have worked on other audio related community engagement projects.
  • Wildlife Wardens from across 8 parishes have engaged with members of the public through events. Some organised their own events whilst others held stands at existing local events. Wildlife Wardens from 3 of these parishes have engaged with local primary schools. For example, 80 primary school children participated in an art competition organised by a Wildlife Warden and each child was given a pack of wildflower seeds to take home. Many other Wildlife Wardens have helped at events organised by ACT.
  • Wildlife Wardens from 2 parishes are working with their local councils to design nature trails.

• Gathering data, and protecting habitats and wildlife
  • Wildlife Wardens from 2 parishes have been involved in writing biodiversity audits for their local councils.
  • At least 10 churchyards and other sites have been surveyed and species records have been submitted.
  • There has been at least 1 successful application for a Tree Protection Order by a Wildlife Warden.
  • Wildlife Wardens from across 3 parishes have worked on projects to help wildlife on roads. One aspect of this involves submitting records of road casualties.
  • Several Wildlife Wardens responded to TDC’s Local Plan Consultation. Others have responded to planning applications within their parishes.
  • Wildlife Wardens have responded to numerous government consultations (for example, the recent beaver consultation), and various online public petitions.
  • At least 10 Wildlife Wardens are surveying the water quality of rivers and streams for the Westcountry Rivers Trust.
  • Many of our Wildlife Wardens are actively involved in other citizen science schemes. Here is a list of schemes that we promote https://test.actionclimateteignbridge.org/citizen-science-projects/

• Working with other groups
  • The Wildlife Wardens are working with many organisations, including the Devon Wildlife Trust, the Devon Biodiversity Records Centre, the Woodland Trust, Natural England, the Westcountry Rivers Trust, Butterfly Conservation, Moor Meadows, Plantlife, Teignbridge District Council, Devon County Council and many others.

What next?

• Our main aim for the second year of this scheme is to have groups of at least 3 Wildlife Wardens in every parish and Newton Abbot ward in Teignbridge. Unsurprisingly, we found that Wildlife Wardens can achieve much more when they work as part of a group.
• We will continue to support other groups who are interested in setting up similar schemes outside of Teignbridge.
• We had to limit publicity while we were starting so that demand for joining and being trained didn’t overwhelm us. Now we will look for more publicity – both to fill gaps in our District’s Parishes and to spread the idea as widely as possible.
• We will continue to provide a variety of training sessions to meet the needs of our Wildlife Wardens. This will require the knowledge and support of members of ACT’s ecology group as well as other local experts (including some of our very knowledgeable Wildlife Wardens).
• Covid permitting, we will try to organise social events so that the Wildlife Wardens can get to know each other better and exchange ideas.
• We will help Wildlife Wardens to find ways of connecting habitats. This will include more training in using online mapping tools and also helping Parishes to coordinate their efforts so that connections don’t stop at Parish boundaries!
• Having a Wildlife Warden Coordinator has been very important. There are so many people who want to help and many of them bring wonderful skills to the team – but they also need training and support in order to help wildlife effectively. So, we will continue to look for local funding, particularly through our local Councillors and from our Councils so that we can sustain the Wildlife Warden Coordinator’s Post.

Rewilding with pigs and the importance of COP 26

Episode 8 of the Devon Wildlife Warden Podcast – Click here to listen, or here to read.

This episode brings you: 

• Updates from the Wildlife Warden Scheme.
• Interviews about rewilding with Elliott Fairs (Wildlife Warden for Doddiscombsleigh) and Laura Fairs (Rewilding Lead at Embercombe, and one of the founders of the Devon Wildland Initiative). Emily even got to meet their very noisy pigs, which they use to create diverse habitats!
• COP26 – What it is, and why it is important for future of wildlife as well as our climate?
• Information about a petition to save important wildlife habitat from development at Tipner West, Portsmouth.

How green is your pet? Autumn garden jobs and the Great Big Green Week

Episode 7 of the Devon Wildlife Warden Podcast – Click here to listen, or here to read.

This episode brings you: 

• Updates from the Wildlife Warden Scheme.
• An interview with Audrey Compton (ACT Ecology and 4Fs Group lead) about ACT’s Great Big Green Week event.
• Top tips on how you can help wildlife over the winter.
• Information about the environmental impact of pets and how to mitigate against this.
• Information about The Wildlife Trusts ‘Say no to peat’ petition.
• Information about how to become an ‘Insect Champion’.

Teignbridge Wildlife Warden Newsletter 

September 2021

A recent wildlife sighting – I found this blackening waxcap on the NW coast of Scotland whilst on holiday. Look out for waxcaps over the next few weeks as it gets wetter! You can record waxcaps on Plantlife’s new citizen science app. This is important, as they are indicators of rare, undisturbed (not ploughed or fertilised) grassland. We aim to offer a waxcap walk to Wildlife Wardens over the next couple of months

Talk by Cath Jeffs from the RSPB Cath Jeffs, who is a Conservation Officer with the RSPB with a particular focus on cirl buntings, gave a fantastic talk to Wildlife Wardens, the Ecology group and 4F’s group. You can watch a recording of the talk here Cath spoke about the cirl bunting recovery project, including habitat management, working with farmers, community engagement and the impacts of development. The project has been so successful that cirl bunting pairs rocketed from barely more than 100 pairs in the early 1990’s to over 1,000 in 2016. Much of this success is down to Cath’s experience in working with landowners to foster an interest in wildlife!

Recent events Thanks to everyone who helped on the Wildlife Warden stand during the Great Big Green Week. We reached roughly 300-400 people in total at both events. Hopefully we inspired more people to help wildlife in their gardens and to go out looking for the amazing array of species that we have in Teignbridge. I found it to be a very positive experience, as it showed that so many people really do care about wildlife. Throughout September, Audrey hosted several wildflower seed collection days for WWs. It was also another great opportunity to learn wildflower identification! Many thanks to Sue Smallshire, Dave Smallshire and Tess Frost for providing such an interesting bat walk for WWs. It was great to see lots of rare greater horseshoe bats and to learn how Chudleigh Wild manages habitat for bats and other wildlife.

Current projects Here is an overview of some of the wonderful things that you have been up to. Bishopsteignton Sarah Cochrane’s  wildflower art competition was a great success. Artwork from local primary school children was exhibited at Bishopsteignton Festival and all children were given a pack of wildflower seed to take home. Bovey Tracey Bovey WWs surveyed the flora of two churchyards and submitted records via iRecord. They made contact with the head ranger at Yarner Wood and will help to set up dormice tunnels at the reserve. Broadhempston Broadhempston WWs held a wildlife stand at the Broadhempston Eco Fair. Chudleigh Chudleigh Wild’s wildlife gardening scheme has to date engaged over 80 households throughout the town. They also hosted the Chudleigh Open Gardens event. The group organised several volunteer work parties to manage the ‘Bat Fields’ reserve. They also provided a couple of hugely successful bat evenings for local families as well as several training sessions for members of their bat group. Dunsford Dunsford WWs have been engaging with the local community through the parish magazine and their most recent article featured hedgehogs! Julia has been surveying the hedgerows throughout the parish and has gained permission to seed yellow rattle (a parasite of grass) at the village churchyard in the hope of improving the abundance of wildflowers. Exminster Peter has reserved a stand for the Wildlife Warden Scheme at the Exminster Environment Group’s Autumn Show. Holcombe Burnell Kate met with her local churchwarden and took part in the Bats in Churches citizen science survey. They found common pipistrelle bats using a yew tree and hedges! She has continued to test the water quality of local streams for the Westcountry CSI and reported dead hedgehogs on PTES’s Hedgehog Street Map. Kenn Kenn WWs ran a parish wildlife gardening competition which attracted 10 entries! The community meadow is flourishing thanks to Will, Graham and a team of local volunteers. Ogwell The Ogwild group organised a moth trapping session for the local community and brought in Barry Henwood, who is the Devon moth recorder. 65 species were recorded! The group is bulk buying wildflower seed, which will be offered to parishioners (at a small cost) in a bid to encourage more wildflowers in gardens.

How to make a meadow and the future for beavers in England

Episode 6 of the Devon Wildlife Warden Podcast – Click here to listen, or here to read.

This episode brings you: 

• An update on the Wildlife Warden Scheme.
• Information about several upcoming wildlife events in the area.
• Advice on how you can help to protect the environment.
• Information about several current petitions.
• Information about Defra’s public consultation on the reintroduction of beavers to England.
• Advice on how to create your own wildflower meadow.

Teignbridge Wildlife Warden Newsletter

July 2021

My most recent wildlife sighting – I took part in Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count (you have until this Sunday to take part) and saw a variety of species, including this gatekeeper! I was gutted to miss out on seeing the brown hairstreak butterfly that was apparently sat on the same patch of marjoram in my garden, so I will keep my eyes peeled in case it comes back

Rewilding Two groups of Wildlife Wardens visited Ambios’ rewilding project at Lower Sharpham Farm. We saw how they are using small numbers of Belted Galloway cattle and Mangalista pigs (an old Hungarian breed) to mimic natural grazing and disturbance. As we walked around the site, we were lucky to see some of the wildlife that is benefiting from rewilding, including a group of swifts flying over the Dart and some interesting peacock butterfly caterpillars. In collaboration with the Woodland Trust and Rewilding Britain, Ambios is hosting the Devon rewilding network, which you can join here. It is a place for people to share news and upcoming events about rewilding in Devon. A new initiative called Devon Wildland has recently been launched in Teignbridge to promote rewilding and connect wildlife habitats across the Haldon Ridge. You can follow the initiative on Facebook

Ogwild interview, summer holiday fun and Dartmoor’s Daughter

Episode 5 of the Devon Wildlife Warden Podcast – Click here to listen, or here to read.

This episode brings you: 

• Emily’s experience orienteering with Dartmoor’s Daughter.
• An update on the Wildlife Warden Scheme.
• An interview with Paul Martin from the Ogwild Group on their experiences so far.
• Wildlife watching and outdoor ideas for the summer holidays.
• Information about Sustainable Bishopsteignton’s wildflower art competition, which will be on show on the 11th of September.
• Information about Defra’s new campaign, Plant for our Planet.
• Information about the Teignbridge Local Plan Consultation.

Teignbridge Wildlife Warden Newsletter 

June 2021

My most recent wildlife sighting – The blue ground beetle is our largest carabid. It is only known to occur at a handful of sites in Britain, most of which are on Dartmoor and very little is known about them. I studied these beetles a couple of years ago for my undergraduate research project, so it was great to go out looking for them again with a PhD student. Here is an interesting talk about these beetles by local naturalist John Walters

Training sessions Jess Smallcombe from the Devon Biodiversity Records Centre gave a brilliant talk about how Wildlife Wardens can get involved with recording wildlife in Teignbridge. Here is a link to the recording of the talk. Useful links that are mentioned in the talk include iRecord, the ACT ‘Activity’ in iRecord, the iRecord App for phones and the NBN Atlas. Audrey lead a training session in plant identification at TDC’s beautiful Orley Common nature reserve near Ipplepen. The limestone grassland habitat has a rich diversity of flora, which includes this stunning common spotted orchid

Project visits We were visited by Amanda Keetley and Amy Harker from the Devon Environment Foundation, who are one of our main funders! Throughout the day, we saw lots of Wildlife Warden projects across Teignbridge. Thank you to everyone who came along to show Amanda and Amy what you have been up to On a separate day, the Chudleigh Wild group gave a tour of their projects to Wildlife Wardens from other parishes. We saw their wildflower verges, award winning bat garden, wildlife gardening scheme and bat fields. Everyone gained something from the visit, including Chudleigh Wild, as we discussed possible ways in which they could improve an area of green space for wildlife and people. Please do let me know if you would like to give a tour of your projects to other Wildlife Wardens

Ogwild’s Rectory Field open afternoon The Ogwild group are hosting this event on the 10th of July! It is a good opportunity to meet other Wildlife Wardens and to see what Ogwild have planed for the site. They have an agreement with the Woodland Trust to manage Rectory Field for the next 3 years. If you would like to help on the day, please let Ogwild know via email info@ogwild.org

Current projects Here is an overview of some of the wonderful things that you have been up to Ashton Shira has been engaging with her local community by writing articles for the parish magazine and getting in touch with local experts. She helped to survey an area of species diverse meadow and is in the planning stage of creating an orchard on Village Hall land. Planting of the orchard will be linked to the Queen’s Green Canopy tree planting initiative, which will mark the queen’s Platinum Jubilee Broadhempston Conducted a botanical survey of the local churchyard Dawlish Dawlish Wildlife Wardens, Clive, Neil, Scott and Dave, have continued to discuss the potential of a community wildlife space in the village of Holcombe. Dave requested that a tree preservation order be made for a rare elm tree, which was approved! Dave also contacted the local vicar in the hope of establishing a wildlife area at St. Gregory’s Church. He has also set up a scheme for allotment plot holders to record wildlife and wrote an article for The Town Crier introducing the Dawlish Wildlife Wardens. Neil is collaborating with Friends of Teignmouth Cemetery and Thriving Teignmouth to create wildflower areas at Teignmouth Old Cemetery Dunsford Conducted a botanical survey of the local churchyard Exminster Peter received 120 saplings from the Woodland Trust and planted a hedgerow with the help of the local Green Spaces Group. He gave advice to a local landowner and has continued to promote ‘no mow may‘ and the blue heart campaign. Peter met up with Kitty Straghan, who is running the grey long eared bat project for DWT, and gained advice on how to improve a local meadow for bats Holcombe Burnell Kate created a sculpture out of Monster energy drink cans with the aim of raising awareness about littering. Kate held a stand about wildlife at Longdown Farmers market. She created an information sheet about butterflies for the local notice board and has visited a site to give advice to a local landowner Kenn Kenn Wildlife Wardens hosted a wildlife friendly gardening competition to coincide with ‘no mow may‘ Kingsteignton Kingsteignton Wildlife Wardens are liaising with the local town council about the potential for a nature trail. They are also discussing potential improvements to the management of the towns verges and are looking into the possibility of planting trees for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Shaldon Paul and Julie have worked very hard on writing a statement in support of TDC’s stance on the dredging of Exmouth Marina and the deposition of dredged material in Lyme Bay. Julie has also commented on a local planning application and surveyed the flora of her local churchyard

Meadows, gardens and habitat connectivity

Episode 3 of the Devon Wildlife Warden Podcast – Click here to listen, or here to read.

This episode brings you: 

• Details about Churches Count for Nature Week (between 5th and 13th of June).
• A quiz, made by Emily Marbaix, to quantify how well you are managing your garden for wildlife. It explains how you can do even more!
• An interview with, Flavio, the Wildlife Warden Coordinator.
• A summery of what Wildlife Wardens have been up to recently.
• Details about the Wildlife Trust’s 30 days wild challenge.
• Information about the Avon Valley project.
• Information about some of the meadows you can visit through Open Meadows 2021.