We have a fantastic line-up of speakers for our first ever Nature of the Quantocks conference. From experts on rare birds and butterflies, to community-led conservation projects and wider connection initiatives, there is something for everyone. Come and listen, learn and meet like-minded people. It’s FREE and it’s happening on Saturday 21st March in Stogursey. Book your ticket here.

Meet the speakers – Nigel Phillips

First up is ecologist and author Nigel Phillips. Nigel joined the FotQ committee in 2024, whilst he put the finishing touches to his new book The Nature of the Quantocks (which is also the inspiration for this conference).

Nigel worked for the Wildlife Trusts as a nature reserve manager and ecologist for more than thirty years. In 2016 he received the ‘Marsh Award for Marine Conservation’ in recognition of his outstanding contribution to marine conservation work being carried out by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts. Living in Nether Stowey, on the lower slopes of Quantock, has given Nigel the opportunity to explore the hills on an almost daily basis. ‘The Nature of the Quantocks’ is the product of thirty years of in-depth research and photography and was written to support the work of the charity the Friends of the Quantocks.

Aidan Meighan

Illustrator and author Aidan Meighan lives in Somerset. His most recent book ‘The Folklore of Trees’ celebrates the folklore, mythology and anthropological relationships shared with trees across Earth and time. He is joining us to share stories of the elm and other native trees of the Quantocks.

“This book reminds us of the enduring power of stories to connect us to our history, to nature and hopefully to an ever-greener future” – Chris Packham

Kevin Palmer

Lecturer in Conservation Biology, Kevin Palmer, will share his ‘Deeper Insights into Adder Ecology on the Quantock Hills’.

Kevin is also a PhD candidate within the School of Natural Sciences. His research focuses on the ecology and conservation of reptiles and amphibians (collectively known as herpetofauna). With over 20 years of experience working with adders in both academic and applied research contexts, Kevin brings extensive field expertise to his teaching and scholarship. He has trained students, ecological trainees, and citizen scientists in adder survey methods, safe capture, and handling techniques, helping to strengthen field skills and capacity across a range of organisations.

As part of his doctorate studies, Kevin is currently investigating the ecological and life history consequences of adders across England, including the Cannock Chase, Mendip Hills and Quantock Hills National Landscapes.

Fiona Jackson & Beth Riches

This is the story of how two Parish Councils worked together within their communities and were each awarded, by Somerset Wildlife Trust, ‘Wilder Community’ status – firsts for Somerset!

Come and hear how they did it.

Paul Rutter ~ ‘Reconnecting the Landscape’

Our countryside is one of the most nature depleted on the planet. Diverse and unique landscapes have seen serious consequences through fragmentation over the last century. In essence we have removed many vital components that the natural world relies on, because everything in nature is connected.

Fragmentation threatens the way plants and wildlife can move freely across landscapes to colonise or to find food and shelter.

Using experience gained over 50 years, Paul has mapped the vegetation and land use changes, which have and are still occurring between the Quantock Hills and Exmoor. His talk explores how and where we can reconnect the landscape, give space back to nature, while also producing sustainable food, to make the countryside richer in nature and more resilient to climate change.

Robin Stamp ~ Elm & Hairstreak project

Robin initiated the Elm & Hairstreak Project for the Friends of the Quantocks when he became the chair of the charity. Raising funding and gathering together a team of hardy volunteers to plant trees in winter and to survey the lives of caterpillars and butterflies throughout the year, it’s been a huge success story. He’ll talk about the challenges and unexpected delights of the work and what’s being planned for the future.

The full line-up

Book your place!

Come for the morning, the afternoon, or the whole day (bring your packed lunch!).

Get all the details and reserve your FREE ticket here – Nature of the Quantocks Conference 2026

The Nature of the Quantocks Conference brings together a team of people involved in the conservation and protection of the Quantocks and the wildlife you can find there.  

The conference is free to all and is brought to you by the Friends of the Quantocks. We are a charity who own 400 acres of the Common and we’ll share own conservation successes over the past year. This includes a project that led to the re-discovery of the rare and elusive White-letter Hairstreak butterfly, after a gap of 18 years, and the planting of over 400 disease-resistant elm trees. We’ll also share a number of ways in which you can get personally involved in conservation work. Could you be a species champion?

BOOK YOUR FREE TICKET HERE

You will hear from local naturalist and wildlife author Nigel Phillips, who will share from his new book The Nature of the Quantocks. The book will be available to buy on the day and Nigel will be on hand to sign your copy. We also have author Aidan Meighan, who will be sharing some tree folklore and on hand to sign his new book The Folklore of Trees.

There will be talks on the rare Lesser-spotted Woodpecker and the heathland birds nesting just feet away from the paths you walk on. In addition, you will hear about an important scientific research project starting this year on our local Adder population.  

National Landscape manager Iain Porter will share the management plan for the hills over the coming years, whilst Paul Rutter will talk about the importance of wildlife corridors. Fiona Jackson and Beth Riches will explain how community projects can play their part in conservation and nature recovery.

It’s going to be a day of discovery and learning, amongst like-minded people, and we’d love you to join us. The event is free, but you need to book your ticket in advance.

Come for the morning, the afternoon or the whole day (bring your packed lunch!).

BOOK YOUR FREE TICKET HERE

The Programme

MORNING SESSION

09.30 refreshments and book signing

10.00 The Nature of the Quantocks, with author Nigel Phillips

Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, with Dr Gus Robin

The Quantock Hills National Landscape Management Plan, with Iain Porter

Time for questions

Hidden Nests of the Heath, with Lara Nouri and Waheed Arshad

The Green Blueprint, with Paul Rutter

Questions and a break for lunch (please bring your own). An opportunity to stretch legs and do some networking and buy books.

AFTERNOON SESSION

Begins at 13.30 with the Friends of the Quantocks review, AGM and voting for new trustees

Followed by The Folklore of Trees, with author Aidan Meighan

The Elm and Hairstreak Project, with Robin Stamp

Deeper Insights into Adder Ecology on the Quantock hills, with Kev Palmer

Wilder Enmore & Goathurst, with Fiona Jackson and Beth Riches

Final Question time, and conference ends at 16.30

Refreshments

Refreshments will be served on arrival and over lunchtime. Donations are very welcome. If you’re coming for the whole day, please bring lunch with you.

BOOK YOUR FREE TICKET HERE

In 2023 a concerted effort by members of the Somerset Ornithological Society found a probable nine territories and five nests. In 2024 three nests were found but then only one in the 2025 season, albeit with six chicks – which is the joint largest successful brood in UK history.

Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers are most commonly found by recognising their characteristic calls and drums which differ from their larger cousins the Great Spotted Woodpecker (GSW). LSW are smaller than GSW, just the size of a sparrow. LSW don’t have red under their tails or a white stripe down either side of their back. The drums of GSW are louder and tail off at the end, whereas LSW sound like a sewing machine with a sudden start and end. There’s an excellent guide to telling them apart, complete with videos of calls and drums here: Woodpecker Network – Home

Technology and Partnerships

Recent technological advances have allowed recording devices to listen for these drums and calls which have shown that these birds may be more widespread than we thought, although still declining.

The Quantock Hills National Landscape team invested in two Song Meter Mini 2 devices which have been deployed in various locations on the Quantock Hills from the 6th of April this year until late April. During this time Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers were detected in the majority of sites, despite only recording for three weeks of the 8 week drumming/calling season. The best time for lesser spotted woodpecker calling and drumming is from February to late April, peaking in late March. Early in the morning on clear and still days gives you the best chances of hearing them, although they will often drum on the other side of the tree or branches and can be a real challenge to see.

Once birds have paired and laid eggs (typically 4 to 6 eggs in late April) they become very quiet and difficult to find until late May early June when young may be heard calling from the nest sites (a 3 cm hole, often 10-30 feet up and usually in a dead tree limb or stump). Nest examination using a bespoke camera can count the number of young, useful data that is combined with observation of the nest to see what feeding items are brought in: sometimes caterpillars peak earlier and so aphids or other invertebrates are caught by the parent birds instead.

The Woodpecker Network are working with Quantock Hills National Landscape, the National Trust, the RSPB, the wildlife trusts and Natural England to better assess this rare bird’s declining population and look into the reasons for this.

In 2026, we intend to use the acoustic recorders to assess more Quantock sites from February until late April, hopefully discovering further sites in which these birds may be present.

Sincere thanks go to the QHNL team (Iain Porter, Owen Jones, Andy Stevenson) as well as the National Trust and Somerset Wildlife Trust teams too. Thanks also go to the many birders who have helped with the effort to find these fantastic birds.

Thanks to Ewan Flynn for his excellent photographs.

Dr Angus Robin, SW woodpecker network co-ordinator

www.woodpecker-network.org.uk

X/Twitter: @lesserspotnet

Bluesky: @lesserspotnet.bsky.social

~ by Mary Taylor, South West Society of Botanical Artists

We are a group of members of the South West Society of Botanical Artists (SWSBA) from Somerset and Devon. For a long time, we have mulled over the idea of forging links with local wildlife organisations and were seeking a ‘painting project with a purpose’.  We were inspired by the botanical art project set up by SWSBA members in Hampshire and Dorset, in partnership with the New Forest National Park Authority, to create an archive of pictures of the flora of the New Forest. In the spring of 2024 we approached the Quantock Hills National Landscape Team to discuss ideas for a joint project.

Raising the profile of plants

The Quantock Team would like to raise the profile of the plant life on the Quantock Hills and tell the stories of links between the plants that grow and the animals that live here. Our aim is to get the message over that by managing the habitats and plant life, the animal species will survive. After joint site visits with the Quantocks team and SWSBA members, the Quantock Project was established in the summer of 2024 and is expected to last several years.

We hold monthly painting days at Fyne Court where the National Trust is very kindly allowing us to use the Music Room. We are not aiming to produce a florilegium, but all the work will be botanically accurate. The Quantock Partnership prepared an initial list of species of interest for us to paint. In the long term they would like to have an archive of prints of our paintings that could be used for promotional work. We also hope to hold an exhibition of the paintings at Fyne Court and possibly at other venues in Somerset.

What have we painted so far?

In the first year we have painted over 40 different species, with our main focus being the plants growing on Quantocks Common including heather species, Western Gorse, Cow-wheat, Bilberry and Tormentil. In the autumn of 2024, we had a wonderful day painting the waxcap fungi growing on unimproved pasture near Fyne Court. A couple of us have started to paint lichens growing on the sessile oaks in Holcombe and were surprised by the number of different species growing on an oak tree; we have also made a start on the fern species. One of our painters is keeping a monthly picture record of the species of interest.

Community engagement

In March this year we held the first of our free open workshops at Fyne Court, promoted by the Quantocks team. The aim of these workshops is to raise the profile of the project and to introduce people to botanical art. The ‘Primroses in Pen and Water Colour Wash’ session was very successful. Some of those who attended were new to painting, others were experienced in other types of painting but wanted to explore botanical painting. In September we held our second free workshop: ‘Autumn Fruits and Berries’. Eighteen people attended this workshop and some of them are now joining our monthly painting days at Fyne Court. We have also started painting the small species that grow on the grass rides, including heath bedstraw, heath speedwell and grass species. This year has been challenging as the exceptionally hot summer meant the flowering period for many of the plants was early and very short.

What are our future plans?

In 2026 we hope to paint the significant species growing on the coastal strip and the Orchid species growing on unimproved pasture.

Another area we’re exploring are the plants linked with the different species of Hairstreak butterflies. For example, Elm trees and the White-letter hairstreak that has now been rediscovered on the Quantocks. We are planning another workshop in the late spring of 2026 focusing on painting leaves.

We hope to include paintings from the project at our annual exhibition to be held in Taunton Library in the autumn. If you are interested in finding out more about our project, come and visit us at Fyne Court, our final painting day for this year is Wednesday 19^th November.

We have now completed our third full season of weekly butterfly surveys on a specified route across the Common. Four or five of us have taken it in turns to walk the route on the sunniest day we can find each week. Along the way we count all the butterflies that are near to the path, and the results are then collated. They are sent into the UK butterfly monitoring group which uses them to add to the national picture, not to mention the keen interest taken by our Chair and former Chair, Robin and John. 

In designing the route we tried to take in different habitats on the Common which are relevant to the types of butterfly that we can expect to find. So we have dry heathland, woodland and marshy ground (mire), amongst others in the 3 km route. The route was also designed to ensure that the option of a visit to see the Styles ice cream van is not forgotten.

The year was slow to get going but numbers were beginning to rise quickly by late May.

This was the warmest year we’ve formally counted butterflies on the Common

• In 2024 we had 4 butterfly walk days in the 20’s (centigrade): 3 in 2023. There were 11 this year!
• Based on cloud cover assessments on the two-hour walks, we had an average of 69% sunshine in 2025 with an identical figure in 2024. Perhaps surprisingly this was 80% in 2023
• We counted a total of 809 butterflies (645 in 2024 and 1,285 in 2023)
• In terms of butterfly diversity, 147 of 18 species was our best day this year (91 of 11 species in 2024; 161 of 14 species in 2023)

We hit a new species total of 27 this year

We saw all the species seen previously bar two (Dark green fritillary and Brimstone) and with two new species, Purple Hairstreak and Clouded Yellow added to our list.

Can we extend that further in years to come? It will be difficult, but we will be out looking! 

Over the years the pond had slowly filled up with sediment and in 2024 the grazing livestock, mostly Highland cattle, had breached the pond’s bund so that this year all that remained was a muddy puddle. We approached the land owner and farmer to see if they would like the pond repaired, which they did.  A contractor with a digger was engaged and the pond was reinstated digging down to its original depth.  These works took just over a morning to complete.

Losing ponds

Two thirds of ponds present in England and Wales during the 19^th Century have gone.  For centuries ponds played an important part of the farming landscape.  All livestock farms unless access could be obtained from a stream or river had a pond to drink from.  Sadly as time progressed and with the advent of mains water more and more ponds fell into decay.  To maximize food production, at one stage the Government even paid for ponds to be filled in.  Many farms also changed from livestock to just growing cropped foods so the pond became redundant and hindered food production. 

And reclaiming them

Luckily ponds are now being appreciated for their wildlife value.  Ponds are a very important habitat and contain such a rich variety of life that supports local biodiversity.  They support an amazing range of species from invertebrates, wetland plants and amphibians, and provide an important drinking and bathing spot for birds and mammals.

If you have a back garden one of the best ways to benefit and increase local biodiversity is to create a pond.  Even an old washing up bowl can be turned into a mini pond habitat. Please always remember when making your pond to have a piece of wood or stone so that any animal that falls in can climb out safely.

After the Fire Beacon pond was restored the three supervising members of FotQ and the digger driver had a sweepstake (a drink at the Carew Arms, Crowcombe) as to when the pond would be full. By Christmas, end of January, April or May…?  Who will be right?

Our wildlife and habitat conservation work is only possible due to the support of our membership and you can help by becoming a Friend of the Quantocks –

Membership fees help to fund pond restoration and similar conservation efforts. Annual membership is £25 and you’ll be making a valuable contribution to protecting the special habitats and wildlife of the Quantock Hills. Become a Friend of the Quantocks

As summer fades into memory, we’re celebrating an amazing first year of our Elm and White-letter Hairstreak butterfly conservation project. We recorded the first sightings in 18 years of this threatened species of butterfly in two different locations in the Quantock Hills National Landscape.

Only five historical records exist within the National Landscape (AONB) area for the White-letter Hairstreak butterfly (Satyrium w-album) within the past 75 years. However, Friends of the Quantocks found 10 butterflies and three caterpillars this year.

Robin Stamp, project leader and Chair of the charity says

“these rare and elusive butterflies are a real challenge to find. Not only are the caterpillars amazingly well camouflaged but the butterflies are also about the size of your thumbnail and spend the majority of their time 35 ft up in mature elm trees which are themselves at risk due to the continuing effects of Dutch elm disease.

“Whilst it is great to have found good numbers of the butterfly this year on flowering elm discovered in March and April, it is sobering to also record that 3% of the trees seen then are now already dead or dying of Dutch elm disease, some right next door to the butterfly sightings.” 

Project volunteers have carried out numerous surveys this year, following training from Butterfly Conservation and in January the volunteers were out on the first snowy day of the year helping to plant and erect guards around 140 disease resistant elm trees, supported with a grant from the Farming In Protected Landscapes (FIPL) fund, as well as individual donations.

Funding success!

Currently we are in the planning stages of a phase two planting season having just been awarded a second FIPL grant, which will see us planting on a further 25 or so sites! It’s all very exciting but it’s going to be hard work and we’ll need more volunteers as it looks likely we could be planting not far off twice as many trees as we did last winter! Could you help?

JOIN US in Nether Stowey on Wednesday 12th November for an evening talk about what’s happened so far and what needs to happen next…and most importantly, how you can help!

It’s a FREE EVENT but you need to book as places are limited. Follow this link for all the practicalities and to reserve your place – Elm & Hairstreaks Project talk

If you can’t make the talk but want to help, either with practical things (from tree planting, to doing a bit of admin or PR) or you have a piece of land that could be home to some young elm trees (for future plantings) – please get in touch – Email us at wildlifewatch@friendsofthequantocks.org

All of this marvellous work is only possible due to the support of our membership, so you can also help by becoming a Friend of the Quantocks –

Membership fees help to fund the Elm & Hairstreaks Project and similar conservation efforts. Annual membership is £25 and you’ll be making a valuable contribution to protecting the special habitats and wildlife of the Quantock Hills. Become a Friend of the Quantocks

The rocks exposed in Bicknoller Quarry are Devonian age Hangman Sandstones – see Geology Map below. These were sands and muds deposited around 390 to 380 million years ago (mya) by a large river system flowing southwards, across a coastal plain, from higher ground to the north. Features seen in the rocks, such as current ripples and local changes in grain size, have been interpreted by geologists to show that meandering channels would have been common with occasional fast flowing floods.

There was little vegetation at that time but some plants and small trees would have grown where the river channels deposited more mud.

During earth movements these sand and mud sediments were subsequently buried beneath later sediments to a depth of several kilometres in the earth’s crust. The pressures and temperatures the sediments were subjected to changed them from soft and unconsolidated sediments to the hard sandstone we see today.

After burial the rocks were folded by movements of the earth’s tectonic plates and later erosion removed younger rocks above to bring the Devonian rocks to the surface.

Until recently geologists thought that there was very little vegetation cover in this area but scientific papers published in 2023 and 2024 described the surprising discovery of numerous plants and small trees (forming the world’s oldest forest) in rocks of the same age on the Exmoor coast. See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68500649

The plant and tree fossils recently discovered occur in rocks containing more mud than sand. Quarries such as Bicknoller were opened up in the sandy rocks and probably don’t contain tree fossils. On the coast, erosion has exposed all the different rock types within the Hangman Sandstone from sandstones to mudstones.

History

It is not clear when Bicknoller Quarry was first worked but the earliest maps showing it were published by the Ordnance Survey in 1888. At that time, it appears to have been a similar size to today.  Earlier, 1841 Tithe Maps, do not show the quarry but neither do they show other quarries in the area. The size of the quarry in 1888 suggests it could have been worked before 1841 but was simply not shown by the 1841 maps. Further research will be required to fully investigate its history.

The quarry was used for building stone and roadstone.

Building Stone

Since 2015 I have been surveying building stones for the Somerset Heritage Centre (SHC). The data for Bicknoller shows 70% of the building stone used in the houses and the church is Hangman Sandstone and 30% is Triassic age red sandstone – see Figure 3. The latter are from beds of Otter Sandstone or the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds. The survey has shown that building stone, being expensive to transport, is usually used locally so it’s likely that stone extracted from the Bicknoller Quarry was used in the area. The Triassic stone, 250 to 245 mya, would have come from quarries a little further away, for example at Woolston and Stogumber. For more information on the building stone survey see https://swheritage.org.uk/historic-environment-service/built-heritage/traditional-building-stone-research/ .

Roadstone

Until the early 20^th century, it was usual for piles of stone from local quarries to be left by the side of local roads for use when needed in repairs. The archives at the SHC contain accounts of a dispute in 1905 between Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England and Williton Rural District Councilabout the right of WRDC to take stone from the quarry for repairing roads – see https://somerset-cat.swheritage.org.uk/search/all:records/0_50/all/score_desc/bicknoller%20quarry

Garry Dawson, Somerset Geology Group, www.somersetgeology.org.uk

Picture the scene: a beautiful spring morning, the mid-morning sun warming your back as you traverse the Quantock Hills on foot. You’re accompanied by your two- or four-legged friends, perhaps with a pair of binoculars or a camera in hand. As you navigate the winding trails across the common, your eyes are drawn to a small, slender form, nestled in a gap in the heather — dark in colour, adorned with a striking zigzag pattern and unmistakable deep red eyes. An adder – freshly emerged from its winter slumber, basking in the spring sunshine to reinvigorate and kick-start its annual cycle.

It’s a beautiful sight to behold — one I have eagerly anticipated every spring since my first adder encounter more than 25 years ago. Yet, with use of natural spaces increasing in intensity and space, with many previously inaccessible areas now being visited, I find myself asking: what effects might your activity, or even your mere presence, have on the UK’s most infamous and revered reptile?

The adder is the world’s most widely distributed terrestrial snake species, yet its status across the UK is a growing cause for concern. Research by Gardner and colleagues (2019), using citizen science data from the ‘Make the Adder Count (MTAC)’ project (2005–2016), provided the most comprehensive assessment of the species’ distribution and population size in the UK to date. In their survey of 129 sites, the researchers found that 91% of sites had small populations (fewer than 10 adults), leading to predictions of widespread extinction for these vulnerable populations by 2032, assuming current rates of decline continue. Notably, among the various threats facing adders in the UK, public pressure—primarily through recreational disturbance—was the most frequently reported threat (48% of sites). However, the role of disturbance in the adder’s decline remains poorly understood and underexplored.

While there has been a great deal of discussion (and speculation) amongst conservationists, ecologists and land managers regarding the impacts of public pressure and disturbance events on UK adders, there is very little scientific basis to support these concerns. As such, there are several fundamental questions which warrant investigation:

Does recreational disturbance affect adders across their UK distribution? What are the consequences of possible disturbance to the physiology, behaviour, habitat use and movements of adders? If there is indeed an impact, are adders able to compensate for disturbance in some way, for example – basking for prolonged periods of time, or avoiding areas of high public pressure? Do such potential impacts affect whole populations of adder, rather than simply individuals? And what measures might be introduced to help avoid, mitigate or offset these potential impacts to adders across landscapes?

These fundamental questions will form the basis of my PhD research, part of which will be based on adder assemblages found on the Quantock Hills. To address these questions, I will be using a combination of passive observations, behavioural trials and radio-telemetry to investigate the impacts of recreational activity on adders, comparing areas of high, intermediate and low recreational use.

Through my research, I aim to better understand what recreational disturbance looks like for adder populations, with the goal of assessing its impacts and, most importantly, identifying pragmatic and effective actions to mitigate these effects, ultimately helping to conserve these increasingly sensitive populations at a landscape scale. A secondary goal of this work is to improve communication with recreationists, raising awareness of their impact on wildlife while fostering a balance between their interests and the protection of natural landscapes.

I look forward to providing further updates on the progress of this research in the years ahead (stay tuned!).

Kevin Palmer, Lecturer in Conservation Biology | PhD Researcher, University of Chester

~

If you’d like to join the Friends volunteer group that meets to learn how to survey for adders and who will be helping with Kevin’s research, get in touch.

Over the summer I distributed the West Somerset Green Blueprint leaflets to as many landowners as possible who were within, or adjacent to, existing or potentially nature-rich corridors between the Quantock Hills and Exmoor. There has been a very positive response from most of the people I have had conversations with and many were keen to maintain biodiverse flora and fauna populations across their land.

Connecting land and connecting people

Seeing from the maps exactly how their land fits into the wider landscape has inspired some landowners to link with adjacent or nearby land. In some instances, small changes or inclusions were suggested to enhance habitat components that may be in short supply. Such things as leaving fallen and standing dead wood; leaving areas of long grass uncut until late summer; and retaining some scrubby vegetation to offer nectar to insects.

Maintaining second year growth on hawthorn bushes was a particular talking point. This helps ensure a good supply of nectar is available to demanding insects just emerging in May.

Two workshops, in Stogumber and Carhampton, attracted over 25 people who were interested and supportive in linking the two landscapes through nature corridors. A number of issues were raised in the meetings, regarding loss of grants, the impact of grey squirrels, as well as the lack of local skills and services available to implement conservation tasks.

Connecting conservation projects

An overlapping initiative that is complementary to this one is the Friends of the Quantocks’ Elm and Hairstreaks work. That project is confirming the presence of the rare butterfly within the Blueprint area, as well as a significant number of Wych elm surviving in the landscape, which is their food plant. Some butterflies are being found in a number of the proposed corridors that I have included on the maps, so we hope this will help locate best places for disease resistant elms and promote a good population of tall, open grown elm trees becoming scattered across the landscape.

It is also hoped to encourage more hedgerows to be managed sympathetically for wildlife to find cover, food and to be able to move freely across the landscape through a network of green corridors.

Connecting digitally

Part of the original hand drawn map has been digitised by the ecological consultants Geckoella, based in Watchet. In the Habimap format, the maps can be used by consultants and land managers to:

• inform landscape plans
• identify and support managing sensitive land for nature
• adopt the best places to establish a better-connected landscape
• help achieve a balance between nature and farming for food, on the way to the Nature Recovery objective of 30 by 30