The Graze the Moor Project - Molland Moor, Exmoor

Allan Butler, Richard Langdon (farmer), Dave Barrow (Moorkeeper)
and Janet Dwyer at Luckworthy Farm

I had an away-day to Exmoor, yesterday.  It is a bit of a challenge from Dumfries but with trains and the sleeper running sweetly, it is not a problem.

The Graze the Moor project is a partnership project with the main players being The Molland Estate, the Exmoor National Park Authority, and Natural England. As Project Manager I am responsible for the delivery of the project plan and the inevitable bureaucracy that surrounds such a project.  funding is being provided by Exmoor NPA, through their Partnership Fund with contributions from the other partners included The Heather Trust.  The project is running for five years and the second year was completed at the end of March.

A new recruit - 'Juggernaut'
a former native of Dumfries-shire

The purpose of yesterday's visit was to introduce Prof Janet Dwyer, from the University of Gloucestershire and Dr Allan Butler from the Royal Agricultural University to the project as I have invited them to provide some input to the economic comparison that is part of the project and to consider how to carry out the external evaluation of the project in its final year.  

The economic comparison seeks to identify the difference in income and expenditure between farms that graze the moor with hill livestock and those that have different breeds but keep them on in-bye land or in buildings. It is not a straightforward exercise and I am hoping that the challenge will be accepted.

Graze the Moor project - Molland Moor, Exmoor

Landowner, Christina Williams, in full flow

I had a good day yesterday on Exmoor, where I am project manager for the Graze the Moor project that amongst other work, is seeking to establish the impact of re-introducing winter grazing, principally by hill cattle, onto Molland Moor.

After a meeting in the estate office, it was a pleasure to get out onto the moor and see the benefits of the work that is being carried out by the project. Conditions were benign as the photo shows.

I am pleased that the University of Gloucester has shown a keen interest in this project and I am looking forward to introducing Prof Janet Dwyer and Dr Allan Butler from the Royal Agricultural University at Cirencester to the work of the project when they visit Molland next month.

Molinia starting to grow

One of the management challenges on Molland Moor is Purple moor-grass Molinia caerulea. In this photo you can see that the Molinia is already putting up green shoots after being burnt this spring.  Even in the Devon climate, heather cannot compete with this rate of recovery.  The project is considering how the dominance of Molinia on parts of the moor can be challenged.  We are thinking or raking out some of the mat of dead vegetation under the Molinia.  A dragged chain harrow has not been effective (and caused as much damage to the harrow as to the tussocks).  Has anyone had any success with this sort of approach?

To add an extra connection to the work, the cattle on the moor are mainly Galloway, and the farmer is seeking to upgrade them.  He bought the champion Galloway bull, and the runner up, at the bull sale in Castle Douglas, last year. These bulls came from Troloss Farm, which is owned by the landlord of the Heather Trust's office.  I drive through the farm every time I head north from the office.  

Molland Moor, Exmoor - Winner of the Samuel Foss Conservation Award

Baroness Ann Mallalieu (left) and Mrs Christina Williams (right)
(Photo: Western Morning News)

The Western Morning News has reported on the presentation of The Exmoor Society's 2015 Samuel Foss Conservation Award to Molland Moor.  See the full article.

Baroness Ann Mallalieu, the Vice President of The Exmoor Society presented the award to Mrs Christina Williams, the owner of Molland Moor.

The article commented on how Christina William’s "drive and commitment to a five-year project called “Graze the Moor”, set up with the Molland Estate, the Heather Trust and other partners, has been able to monitor the impact of changes to the grazing regime, including the introduction of winter grazing by cattle. The hope is that, through the experiment, winter grazing will begin a long-awaited fight-back against the explosion of gorse, bracken and Molinia grass that is threatening the moor’s character."

I have had some involvement with the management of Molland Moor since the Trust ran a demonstration project there 2002-2006.  I am now the project manager for the 'Graze the Moor' project, and I am delighted that Christina William's dedication to the management of the moor has been recognised in this way.

Graze the Moor Project Meeting - Molland, Exmoor - 16 Sep 15

Cattle on Molland Moor - 16 Sep 15

I ran the annual stakeholder event for this project on Molland Moor, on the south side of Exmoor, yesterday.

The project seeks to monitor the impact of changes to the grazing regime, that includes the re-introduction of winter grazing on the moor by cattle.  The aim is to improve the moor while at the same time providing income for the farm businesses that use the moor.  The project is acting as a focus for a lot of activity and this includes an annual stakeholder meeting to report on the progress of the project.

A new feature of the project in the last 12 months is the development of a Molinia Control Trial.  This seeks to identify the best way to move from Molinia dominance to a more mixed cover of vegetation.  One of the techniques being tested is the spray-burn-reseed approach that was developed by Geoff Eyre in the Peak District. This trial has only just started and we will report on developments as the work progresses.

We attracted a total of 33 delegates to the meeting yesterday, and in true Heather Trust style, it was good to see a large number of different interest groups represented at the meeting.

Full team photo - Molland Moor, 16 Sep 15

Friday: Bog-Athon Exmoor

What, no heather?

Much though the term 'Bog-athon' is overused, it is the easiest way to describe the purpose of the visit to Exmoor, last Friday.  The aim was to bring a moor in the south-west England, into the Bog-athon process, and link to the other work that was carried out in June.

Bog-Athon is a manifestation of the new engagement process being adopted by Natural England.  This provides for early consultation with the owners and managers of the land and is a much healthier process. I welcome this change and wish to encourage this development.  This is why I was happy to travel to Exmoor and take part in the visit with Natural England.  I was also able to use the is it to catch up on the progress of the Graze the Moor project on Molland Moor, that I am running.

During the visit we looked at the peatland restoration work being carried out as part of the Mires Project and discussed other management work.  It served as a reminder that the balance of upland issues is different on Exmoor in the south-west.  We were also able to brief members of the Moorland Initiative Board of the Exmoor National Park Authority in the afternoon.

Exmoor - The Graze the Moor project

Our bid, on behalf of the Molland Estate, for project funding from the Exmoor National Park has been successful.

I have been working on Molland Moor on the south side of Exmoor since 2002, and during the last 2 years I have been supporting a case study to look at the grazing management of the moor, particularly the controlled re-introduction of cattle grazing over the winter.   The case study has shown that a longer trial would be beneficial and the successful application to the Partnership Fund of ENPA will provide 5 years of funding  for the continuation and development of the case study work.

The work will include controlled grazing management of the moor throughout the year, stock disease monitoring, vegetation monitoring by Natural England and an independent ecologist, an economic comparison between farms that use the moor and those that do not, and dissemination of the findings to a range of interest groups on Exmoor.

There may be opportunities to use this work to bolt on additional activity and the Trust will be working with Molland Estate, Exmoor National Park Authority, a local firm of Chartered Surveyors and Natural England to make the most of this opportunity.