Westhay Moor Nature Reserve made picture perfect with National Grid Community Grant Funding

Somerset Wildlife Trust has used its £16, 589 community grant to invest in essential equipment, including a chipper, chainsaws, and protective gear for scrub clearance.

With the improved equipment, scrub clearance on the reserve is now faster, more cost-effective, and less labour-intensive. It allows the team to maintain the reserve more efficiently while freeing up volunteers for other critical restoration work. Since buying the new gear, the Trust has successfully cleared over 2,000 square metres of scrub and trees from ditches and watercourses at the Reserve.

Scrub clearance is a vital practice on this internationally important wetland reserve. It helps rejuvenate wetland areas, opening them up for bog species and creating corridors to open water areas. Creating open areas is particularly important for migratory ground-nesting birds as it creates optimal growing conditions for a diverse range of species, contributing to the overall health and biodiversity of the ecosystem.

The scrub and tree clearance has benefitted a whole host of small mammal, bird, amphibian, reptile and invertebrate species that call Westhay Moor home, including, bittern, snipe, European adder, great crested newt, great white egrets, marsh harriers, barn owls and peregrines.  It also helps hundreds of visitors every year experience this internationally-acclaimed wildlife mecca.

Mark Blake, Senior Reserves Manager at Westhay Moor National Nature Reserve, highlighted the benefits of the equipment improvements:

Westhay is one of our most popular reserves and one where we want to encourage as many people as we can to connect to the amazing array of wildlife species that can be found there. Access therefore is critical. Thanks to National Grid and its Community Grant scheme, Somerset Wildlife Trust has been able to make improvements that enable people to get around the reserve through improved paths and gateways, accessing areas of this wetland reserve that were previously inaccessible. 

And in order to keep this wetland habitat in good condition for the special wildlife that calls it home, we carry out enormous amounts of scrub clearance. Having a chipper to manage the waste instead of doing it manually has been of significant benefit, as it has freed up our staff and volunteers to focus on other tasks. We have been able to use the chipping for our new pathways and to create habitat piles for snakes, so nothing actually goes to waste.

Philip Kiberd, Grants and Project Development Manager at Somerset Wildlife Trust, cited the role of grant funding in conservation efforts:

This year marks another exciting chapter for Somerset Wildlife Trust, and milestones like this give us the opportunity to reflect on how crucial the support of grants, such as the Community Award, has been in sustaining our work. They are a lifeblood source of funding that enable us to pay for often relatively lower visibility but high importance activities that we need to deliver to ensure that we can support nature and people across the county.

National Grid’s Community Grant Programme has provided more than 100 grants, totalling £1.6 million, to support local projects along the route of the Hinkley Connection Project. 

Project Manager Alex Kraitman expressed the company’s commitment to conservation:

Our team is committed to leaving a positive legacy for the communities affected by our works. We are delighted to have been able to support in the conservation efforts at Westhay Moor Nature Reserve and Somerset Wildlife Trust’s vital work to continue to enhance and protect such special places.

Once completed the Hinkley Connection project will help deliver low-carbon energy to six million homes and businesses from the new Hinkley Point C power station, strengthening the electricity network and supporting the UK’s target to power all homes and businesses with green energy by 2035.