UK Man and the Biosphere Committee

North Devon's Biosphere Reserve

 
 Welcombe Mouth
Mouth of Welcombe Bay Photo: North Devon's Biosphere Reserve
 

North Devon's Biosphere Reserve was the first in the UK to be extended to meet UNESCO's new criteria for biosphere reserves set out in the Seville Strategy. The biosphere reserve is located on the estuary of the Taw and Torridge Rivers. It is active in the manufacturing, agriculture and fishing industries. The biosphere reserve has coastal dune systems, marshland and woodland.

 
 
What goes on there?

About 153,000 people live in the biosphere reserve, as of 2002, who are mainly engaged in services, manufacturing, agriculture and fishing. The biosphere reserve is active in getting the community involved in education and volunteering and has trails for the public to explore the area. Traditional land use practices are still maintained today in North Devon's Biosphere Reserve. Grazing by Soay sheep and cattle on saltmarshes was practiced for more than a century and still maintains the marshes in a condition suitable for wintering wildfowl. The biosphere reserve is active in working with farmers, for instance the Catchment Sensitive Farming Project helps farmers understand how their land use has effects further downstream. Traditional local fishery harvests Atlantic salmon sea trout and sea bass which are species that rely on the site as part of their lifecycle. Also mussel fishery and the harvest of ulva and laver are still practiced in a traditional way. The North Devon's Biosphere Reserve participates in the Devon Marine Conservation Zone County Group for theFinding Sanctuary partnership that looks to establish Marine Conservation Zones in the seas around south-west England as part of a wider network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

 
What makes it unique?

Braunton Burrows is internationally recognised as one of the finest dune systems in the northern hemisphere. It is an amazingly rich habitat with hundreds of flowering plant species and associated animals.

North Devon's Biosphere Reserve includes Lundy Island, England's first Marine Protected Area. As well as seals and variety of other marine species, Lundy's seas are also home to coral that is found no where else.

 
Where is it?

The biosphere is located on the estuary of the Taw and Torridge Rivers and stretches across most of North Devon from Holsworthy to Chulmleigh, Okehampton to Lynton.

 
 
Factfile:
Location: The Biosphere Reserve stretches across most of North Devon from Holsworthy to Chulmleigh, Okehampton to Lynton on the Taw and Torridge river estuaries.
 
Ecosystems: Temperate broadleaf forests or woodlands including coastal/marine component
 
Terrain and habitats:  The core area comprises an active dune system. Other habitats include a rocky foreshore, mud and sand flats, saltmarshes of various types, lowland farmland, grazing marsh, coastal heath, back-shore marsh as well as woodlands.
 
Vegetation: The biosphere reserve has the internationally important culm grasslands habitat that is unique to south west England and is increasingly rare and scarce. As well as being home to rare wildlife like otters, dormice and the marsh fritillary butterfly, they help prevent flooding by soaking up water, holding on to it and releasing it gradually into the rivers. The Western Oak woodlands found on the reserve are a rich habitat for a plethora of pollution-sensitive lichens, strange organisms that are a partnership of algae and fungi.
 
Size: Total: 380,140 ha  

 

Wildlife: The bed of the estuary is home to some very special creatures, from tiny pea crabs that live inside mussel shells to lugworms which burrow in the mud and Hydrobia snails that graze on its surface when the tide goes out. The mudflats are packed with nutrients so they can support millions of these fascinating worms and snails that in turn nourish wading birds such as Curlew, Godwits and Redshank. Up to 20,000 birds have been counted in a single day. Tarka the Otter - Henry Williamson's 1927 novel made this area synonymous with this shy creature. More than half a century later, the rivers of the Biosphere Reserve are still one of the best places to see otters.The Biosphere Reserve is one of the last strongholds for the secretive dormouse.

 
History

Designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1976, extended in 2002

 
Protection Classifications
National Nature Reserve (NNR)
Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
Ramsar site
Special Area of Conservation (SAC)
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB )

 

For more information visit the website for North Devon's Biosphere Reserve