Finding Nature’s Footprints is a three-year National Lottery Heritage Supported project working with communities to survey, map and take action for the fantastic wildlife of the North Devon Coast National Landscape.

We are working with people to improve wildlife survey skills, help nature recover, and increase the enjoyment of our local countryside and coast through engagement activities, like wildlife recording days and BioBlitz events. Connecting with a range of groups and volunteers, we explore the outdoors, teaching about the amazing species found within the North Devon Coast National Landscape (NDCNL) and the habitats they require to thrive.

All wildlife records and information will be used to support action by communities, volunteers, landowners, and local agencies to develop community-led nature recovery plans and take action for habitat enhancement and nature conservation.

NDCNL have teamed up with partners across North Devon to provide opportunities for new audiences in the area to connect with nature and benefit from the nationally designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Click here for a directory of training & volunteering opportunities.

For the final year of the Finding Nature’s Footprints project we will be focusing on developing community-led nature recovery plans for target areas around the North Devon Coast. After hosting three initial workshops in Hartland, Croyde and Combe Martin, we have begun the process of community-led nature recovery by speaking with local people about their hopes and concerns surrounding wildlife conservation.

See below – Hartland Nature Society and the FNF team on a Wildlife Recording Day in the Hartland Vale.

Year 2 Summary

Year 2 of the project has been hugely successful with over 1,421 people engaging in nature themed events around the North Devon Coast. The team have enjoyed sharing with the public practical conservation skills, wildlife identification skills, special species encounters, and more. We have surveyed over a dozen County Wildlife Sites and recorded wildlife all around the North Devon Coast on Wildlife Recording Days, expeditions and Bioblitz events.

Local Nature Recovery Workshops

Local knowledge, collaboration, and understanding is essential for significant and enduring improvements for wildlife.

The Finding Nature’s Footprints project aims to uplift communities to take action for nature recovery. We hope to support informed, empowered, and passionate choices for wildlife and nature recovery by locals in the National Landscape.

Our initial three workshops with community members around the North Devon Coast have begun the process of building a community-led nature recovery network. Workshops focused on three key topics, Species, Habitats, and People, to identify the special and at-risk local areas & wildlife, the threats they face, and the scope for which locals can help them. We now have a greater understanding each community’s most significant issues and opportunities.

We are currently creating targeted Community-led Nature Recovery Action Plans to support each area, and we will be holding practical workshops in each location to promote and empower this action.

Stay posted for updates!

Environment Group

FNF hosts a free environment group for people aged ~ 15-26. We communicate via a WhatsApp group-chat where we share wildlife sightings, photography, voluntary/vocational opportunities, wildlife gardening advice, news, and events. It is also a chance for like-minded individuals to meet and organise their own trips together, such as, nature reserve visits. Environment group members are the first to know about our upcoming events, and some activities are organised specifically for them; for instance, we’ve visited wildflower meadows (above) and have held two highly successful group expeditions to travel the coast path while recording wildlife. Over 300 species were recorded last time!!
If you, or someone you know, would be interested in joining, then please get in touch via aonb@devon.gov.uk.

Click here to see what else is happening in the North Devon Coast National Landscape.

Brownsham Woods – Wildlife Recording Day – Photos by Jamie Owen

Croyde – Wildflower Meadow Visit – Photo Jamie Buxton-Gould

Funding & Feedback

The National Lottery Heritage Fund is the largest funder for the UK’s heritage. Using money raised by National Lottery players they support projects that connect people and communities to heritage. Their vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. From historic buildings, our industrial legacy and the natural environment, to collections, traditions, stories and more. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.

This project is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. An interim evaluation has, therefore, been carried out for the first and second year of the project. The evaluation covers the project’s aims, funding breakdown, achievements, challenges and suggested improvements. You can find the evaluation documents here.