I have helped to lead a major programme of habitat restoration in the Neroche Forest since 2006.  Conifer plantation was cleared from nearly one quarter of the 1000 hectare public forest over a period from 2006 to 2009, and low intensity grazing was introduced from 2007 using English Longhorn cattle. 

Our aim with this work has been to create a network of open space, scrub, wood pasture and woodland across the area, to provide for a wide diversity of wildlife and to make the forest a more interesting place to visit and learn from.  We are trying to create something different from the ‘normal’ countryside, where fields tend to be homogenous and the boundaries between grassland and woodland are very abrupt.  In the forest we can blur the edges, creating many microclimates and a colourful array of conditions.  It has echoes of the past open, scrubby  commonland which once clothed the northern Blackdown Hills – and the medieval Royal forest which preceded that – but it is also something new.

This has not been an easy journey.  Helping the newly-opened land to heal, recover and find something approaching a dynamic equilibrium between grassy, heathy, scrubby and woody vegetation is difficult.  Balancing grazing, mechanical management and non-intervention is hard.  Getting the public on board given that people tend to fear change, and often don’t like finding cattle in the woods, is a challenge.  Achieving a viable financial basis for everyone involved is elusive.  We have made mistakes along the way, and we have been sorely tested by some of our experiences.

However I believe the effort can pay off, and we will eventually have a forest environment which mixes dark forest and bright openness, rich wildlife and realistic economics, wildness and respectful human management.

I have worked with the Forestry Commission, the Blackdown Hills Trust and local graziers, to set up an innovative tenancy of these open spaces in the public forest, held by the Trust, managed by the graziers, and financed for the moment with Higher Level Stewardship payments.  I now support the Trust in this important community-embedded work, as a freelance advisor and works coordinator.

In conjunction with this work I am working alongside other owners and managers of rough, wet wildlife-rich land in the Hills, in setting up the Blackdown Hills Rough Grazing Association, a locally-owned community network for collaborative working and information sharing.