Our aim is to secure the future for Cornwall's unique wildlife by creating a series of Living Landscapes across the county. This will reconnect our urban and rural areas, freshwater and coast. We will achieve this by working in partnership and with the support of the people of Cornwall.
Wildlife-rich habitat is an intrinsic part of Cornwall’s mainly rural landscape. Currently around 10% of the county is afforded non-statutory protection through designation as County Wildlife Sites. Whilst it is important to ensure that wildlife can thrive in havens such as County Wildlife Sites, nature reserves, gardens and churchyards, these areas have the potential to become isolated ‘islands of biodiversity’ that put constraints on wildlife. This prevents wildlife from responding to the threats it is faced with, particularly f
rom climate change.
The Living Landscapes approach focuses on restoring large areas of habitat, which in turn helps to maintain species populations. By increasing habitat area through recreation and restoration, and by creating links and wildlife corridors through intervening land, we can help species to spread or 'percolate’ through the countryside. Allowing species to move freely between habitats means populations do not become isolated, making them less vulnerable.
Our first Living Landscapes initiative, the Wild Penwith project, has recently got underway. This project is aiming to restore and reconnect priority wildlife habitats across about 9,000 hectares of West Cornwall, creating a Living Landscape for people and wildlife from the north to the south coast of the Penwith peninsula. Through working at a river catchment scale, the Wild Penwith project will help to restore the functions that an ecologically robust Living Landscape can provide, including flood alleviation and improved water quality.
Linking The Lizard is a project run in partnership with the National Trust and other landowners and organisations active in the Lizard peninsula. The project aims to benefit the health of the land, and make a closer connection between the work that we do and the communities, businesses and visitors of the Lizard Peninsula.
We are becoming increasingly aware of the damaging effects non native invasive species can have on both habitat and wildlife. The Investigate Invasives campaign is currently focusing on some of the most toublesome aquatic invaders and has launched a free identification and management advice service for pond owners. Pond Check aims to raise awareness and gather information on where plants have become established in the countryside .
