Enabling Nature Recovery on The Lizard
Sarah Board’s fascinating talk at Mullion School on 11 May (photo by Maggie Freegard)
For five months, Sarah Board was commissioned by Natural England to assess what is known of the quality and extent of Nature on the Lizard. She was able to do this on land under the care of Natural England, the National Trust, Cornwall Wildlife Trust and land which is awarded countryside stewardship payments. This land makes up 24% of The Lizard. The rest is under private ownership and is mostly farmed.
Our government has committed to ensuring that 30% of our land is well managed for Nature. The easiest way to achieve this on The Lizard is to concentrate on the land mentioned above and ensure it is in a good state for Nature.
Unfortunately, this is not always the case at the moment – for example, our lowland heath, which occupies 16% of The Lizard has a sparser biodiversity than it had previously. Between the 1950s and 1970s there were 39-40 plant species in a metre square of lowland heath. Now there are just five species. The way forward may be to extend the richer plant diversity currently found on inland rocky outcrops.
16% of the Lizard is woodland, but only half of this is protected.
If we were to improve this 24% and achieve land managed for Nature in another 900 hectares, that would fulfil the government target. However, much of The Lizard is legally protected for Nature. Some would say we should aim higher – maybe ensure that 40–50% of land is managed for Nature by 2030. The 30/30 target is for the whole country, and surely The Lizard will be easier than most places to achieve this, so an increase could compensate for failure elsewhere? Moreover, should we be aiming for management not for Nature but by Nature?
There was a lively discussion about how we can reach out to the owners of land and try to link together biodiverse pockets of land by encouraging the formation of corridors. This would not only promote an abundance of species but also help to save rare plants which are hanging on to survival but, in reality, because of their isolation, are functionally extinct.
A member of the audience suggested we offer expert free advice to residents of The Lizard wanting to improve their land for Nature. We could do this by holding a group of experts, a Citizen Science Directory, whom landowners can call on. Several of our members are experts in their fields, either through qualifications and careers or through a particular interest, and they may be prepared to give advice voluntarily.
Sarah’s knowledge is so broad and her recommendations so relevant to our work that we have asked her to speak at our Autumn Conference.