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Cornwall Farm - How has it changed in 30 years?

13th June 2009

 

The first ever site to be surveyed for its wildlife importance by the National Trust in June 1979 – a farm on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall - is being revisited thirty years to the day to see what has changed.

During the last three decades the National Trust’s biosurvey team – which is thought to be the longest serving of its kind in the UK and currently consists of a plant ecologist, two animal ecologists and mapping specialist – has visited over 1,000 sites.

In this time is has mapped more than 230,000 hectares of land, recorded more than 15,000 different species of plants and animals, producing reports that cover 93 per cent of National Trust land.

Dr David Bullock, Head of Nature Conservation at the National Trust, said: “This unique team has helped to paint a natural history of the sites that the National Trust owns and provide a benchmark so that we can better understand how to manage sites to enhance their wildlife value.

“The last thirty years, since the first survey in Cornwall, has been one of continual change – with farming becoming more focused on encouraging wildlife - and the realities of changes in our climate which will see wildlife winners and losers.”

Lower Predannack farm (70 hectares) is a coastal site near Mullion on the Lizard Peninsula. It was the first farm on National Trust land to have nature conservation clauses – which focus on improving habitats for the benefit of wildlife - in the tenancy agreement. This is an important milestone because more than 80 per cent (or 200,000 hectares) of National Trust land is farmed.

Perhaps the most significant change on this farm, which is reflected in the bigger picture across the National Trust, is the move away from arable land to grassland. This general trend towards less intensive land use, supported by agri-environment schemes means that bees, butterflies and fungi should begin to flourish again across many sites.

Another important change in the last 30 years has been the re-introduction of cattle to graze the cliffs and heathland surrounding Lower Predannack farm. A small herd of National Trust Dexter cattle, which are well suited to the area, and some cattle from a tenant farm, have successfully helped to restore many of the flower rich coastal grassland.

As a result, common and rare plants on the Lizard have flourished and spread to new sites. Green Winged Orchids, with their bold colourful flowers, have benefited from less long grass, and the Land quillwort, a plant at its northern limit and normally found in the Mediterranean, has been recorded at new sites.

Rare clovers only found on the Lizard, such as the Upright clover and Long-headed clover, can now be seen in much greater numbers than 1979.

Grazing has also played a key role in the success story of the chough, or sea crow, an iconic bird for Cornwall, returning to the Lizard.

With mild winters and cool summers the Lizard Peninsula has a fairly stable climate allowing rare plants to flourish and frogs have been breeding before Christmas since the early 1980s. A less predictable weather system through climate change could see a real shock to the system for wildlife as seen last winter when the cold snap hit the frog population hard.

Data and maps are produced by the biosurvey team, which meet national nature conservation standards and indicate the quality of habitat, helping to contribute to the future management of National Trust land.

The surveys, carried out every twelve years, provide an opportunity to reflect on the changing nature of land use and priorities for nature conservation.

Katherine Hearn, a member of the original survey team in 1979 and now a National Trust Nature Conservation Adviser, said: “The way that we manage the land has such a big impact on wildlife. We can see at Lower Predannack Farm that thirty years of positive change has made a real difference as nature along this beautiful stretch of the Lizard Peninsula has thrived.”

 

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