Cornwall wildlife news


This video is called Cornwall Wildlife Trust Nature Reserves.

From Wildlife Extra:

Cornwall Wildlife Trust appeal for funds to buy important habitats

July 2013. Cornwall Wildlife Trust (CWT) has a rare opportunity to buy 84 acres of threatened land. The Heritage Lottery Fund has offered to donate the majority of the total project cost. However, Cornwall Wildlife Trust need to raise a further £20,000 to buy these spectacular sites for nature and restore them to prime wildlife habitat, can you help us?

Bostraze Bog & Bartinney Downs

Bostraze Bog, between Newbridge and St Just, is one of the most important wetland wildlife sites in west Penwith. CWT want to buy 58 acres of this site and restore it to a wildlife-rich habitat teeming with rare species. Bartinney Downs is next to the Trust’s Caer Bran Nature Reserve, near Sancreed. CWT want to buy 26 acres of the land and ensure it continues to become a haven for wildlife.

Parts of these sites were improved for agricultural use in the past, but have slowly been reverting to more wildlife-friendly habitats through the support of agri-environmental funding schemes. However, changes in policy bring the very real threat of destruction to wildlife on both sites. The current reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, along with shrinking EU and domestic budgets, mean that marginal sites like these could once again be intensively managed in an attempt to make a financial return from them.

Find out how you can donate here.

Skylark, yellowhammer, reed bunting, small pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly, small red damselfly, adder, sundew, cuckoo and otter

The land at Bostraze Bog and Bartinney Downs has no statutory designation to protect the habitats and species it supports. These include internationally important heathlands and wetlands essential for many species including; skylark, yellowhammer, reed bunting, small pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly, small red damselfly, adder, sundew, cuckoo and otter.

John Gowenlock, Chairman of the Trust’s Nature Reserves Committee says “These two sites capture the quintessential essence of west Penwith, from the exposed slopes of Bartinney Downs where your thoughts may be checked by the breathtaking views of the sea, to the sheltered calm of Bostraze Bog, where a darting dragonfly will capture your imagination,”

If we buy these sites we will not only secure the future of the existing habitats, we will continue to improve the sites for wildlife, allowing field drains to block up and ending the use of fertilisers. With your help, we will see an increase at Bostraze Bog of important fen and mire habitats, and at Bartinney Downs, acid grassland and heathland will be fully restored. In addition we will create new access and link them to existing Trust nature reserves in the area, so that local people and visitors alike can enjoy more of this historic and wildlife-rich landscape. You can help us secure the future of these sites and their wildlife forever.