Success on a Landscape Scale

This is what we have achieved in the first seven years of work in Brue Valley Living Landscape:

• £4 million brought into the local economy over 10 years, through 36 Higher Level Stewardship and 25 Entry Level Stewardship agreements, secured on behalf of landowners
• 1062Ha Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) habitat improved, 347Ha BAP habitat restored, 23Ha BAP habitat created
• Conservation newsletters sent to almost 500 landowners
• 414 advisory visits to landowners
• 29,400 hours (estimated) of volunteer time contributed to projects in Brue Valley Living Landscape by 167 individual volunteers
• 25Ha of strategically important land purchased to enable us to keep our wetland nature reserves wet and build bigger, better patches of good habitat for wildlife. This includes the creation of…
• 8Ha of rare alkaline fen at Catcott – doubling the amount of this habitat on the Levels
• 2 of the most fragile habitats in Brue Valley Living Landscape – alkaline fen and raised bog – are more secure in 2015 than they were in 2008, through targeted land purchase and restoration.
• New interpretation and visitor facilities at Westhay Moor NNR and Catcott, the two flagship SWT reserves in the Living Landscape
• Two local schools engaged in the reintroduction of keystone plant species for pollinators
• Three advocacy documents produced on the future of the Levels and Brue Valley Living Landscape
• A field scale habitat map of the entire 12500Ha Living Landscape
• Two maps, based on ecological research and modelling, showing the ecological network of wetland and grassland habitats in Brue Valley Living Landscape
• One report on opportunities for landscape scale restoration of peat extraction sites
• One map showing peat soils that are vulnerable to inappropriate land and water management

We have delivered our work in Brue Valley Living Landscape through a number of partnership projects supported by a variety of funders. Funding from the European Union has been particularly important to our success.

Hills to Levels - Funded by players of the Peoples Postcode Lottery, H2L is a partnership that’s helping farmers to farm in a way that reduces flood risk, while enhancing wildlife and producing high quality food. Click here for more information about Hills to Levels

The EU INTERREG Channel project the value of WOrking Wetlands (WOW) supported SWT to work with landowners and carry out research. Click here for more information on the WOW project.

The EU INTERREG North West Europe project the benefits of governance in DROught adaPtation (DROP) supported SWT to monitor and conserve drought vulnerable habitats and species. Click here for more information on the DROP project.

Through the Biffa Landfill Tax funded project Flowering for Life a partnership led by SWT worked with schools, reintroduced two key plant species for pollinators and improved habitats for rare plants and invertebrates.

The EU INTERREG North West Europe project Water Adaptation is Valuable for Everyone (WAVE) supported SWT to map habitats, work with volunteers, engage the landowner community, purchase and restored land and carry out climate change research. Click here for more information on the WAVE project.