3.2.2 South West 3.2.2.1 EXMOOR LOCATION, LANDSCAPE AND LAND COVER Straddling the border between Devon and Somerset, the Exmoor National Park covers an area of 693km². “The central moorlands are a landscape of grass, heather and bilberry, largely devoid of settlement. Their remote upland character is emphasised by wandering groups of Exmoor ponies and occasional glimpses of red deer. On the outer edges of Exmoor and the Brendon Hills, heather moorland is common but the central areas of Exmoor are often seemingly vast sheets of purple moor grass, bleached almost white for much of the year. Hutton describes this landscape as 'a bare rolling waste very like the sea, with its long heaving monotony of grey water, without a voice, without life and without human habitation, there is only the sound of wind and of running water'. In the south, at the transition to the Culm, the moorland is wetter and more fragmented, with gorse, bracken and heather.” (Natural England JCA 145) Unlike Bodmin and Dartmoor, where the bulk of the moorland is common land, here the commons (see Fig 3.18) account for only 4,811ha (about a quarter of the total moorland area). The major block of common land (around 1,750ha) lies to the northwest, on the Devon side of the border, and forms part of the North Exmoor SSSI. The other significant areas of common are Dunkery Hill (644ha and at 519m the highest point on Exmoor), Withypool Common (787ha) and Winsford Hill (586ha), the last 2 being part of the South Exmoor SSSI. On all these commons, the main habitat type is heather moorland. DESIGNATIONS AND AGRI-ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS In total, the North and South Exmoor SSSIs cover 13,130ha of moorland and most of the area is within the Exmoor Heaths SAC (10,699ha). The commons form part of the Exmoor ESA, though as can be seen from Fig 3.19, significant areas of common land, such as Dunkery Hill, Withypool Common and the adjoining commons of Ilkerton Ridge and Furzehill Common were never entered into the Scheme. Dunkery Hill, however, is now in a Wildlife Enhancement Scheme, though not (apart from Winsford Hill) any of the other major commons (see Fig 3.20). GRAZING, GRAZING LEVELS AND CHANGE There are 19 registered moorland commons, and around 123 commoners with grazing rights on one or more of these. However, the actual number of active commoners has been estimated to be as little as around 2070. A postal survey of Exmoor farmers, conducted by Land Use Consultants for the Southwest Uplands Federation in 2007, found that, of those respondents who were active commoners, around twice as many grazed sheep as grazed cattle. A smaller number grazed Exmoor ponies, these staying on the moorland all the year round. Scottish 70 Moorlands at the Crossroads, see post 65 Blackface and Swaledale are the main hardy breeds of sheep, while the suckler cows tend to be Limousin, Hereford or Angus crosses. The Exmoor NPA Management Plan 2007-2012 para 6.22 drew attention to a, perhaps unintended, consequence of the uptake of agri-environment schemes: “There is already a trend away from keeping stock that are well adapted to grazing the moorlands in favour of stock better suited to their more productive in-bye ground. In part, this has been in response to the requirement of the past 12 years not to graze any cattle at all (particularly dry cows) on moorland in winter. Whilst this policy has had benefits in reducing damage to habitats it has also contributed to the spread of gorse and bracken, replacing heather and all other vegetation; a change in breed of cattle, from hill breeds, to less hardy breeds (such as Limousin X cows) that generally fare better than traditional breeds in winter housing, and the need to put up large winter housing sheds.” Table 3.12 shows the current SSSI condition assessments that are made for the purposes of the PSA targets, from which it can be seen that of the 14 units comprising the 4 major common areas, 3 are considered “favourable” (F), 9“unfavourable recovering” (U/R), 1 “unfavourable no change” (U/NC) and 1 “unfavourable declining” (U/D). Table 3.12 Exmoor Commons Target Common SSSI unit Area (ha) assessment Northwest group 40 395 U/R (Brendon Common 41 454 U/R to Ilkerton Ridge) 42 251 F 43 280 U/R 46 57 U/NC 48 296 U/D (see note) Dunkery Hill 11(pt) 547 F 12(pt) 561 F Withypool Common 3 182 U/R 4 363 U/R 5 224 U/R Winsford Hill 7 121 U/R 8 108 U/R 24(pt) 407 U/R Note. MAFF reviewed this common for overgrazing but concluded that it was not "significantly" overgrazed, a view with which EN disagreed. In its Management Plan 2007-2012, the Exmoor NPA attaches great significance to the role of grazing animals in maintaining the moorland character. It states (para 2.17): “The most distinctive elements of the Exmoor landscape are its moors and heaths that afford a sense of wildness that is very rare in southern Britain. These areas have been created by grazing and require grazing to survive. However, changing 66 agricultural practice is leading to a decline in grazing of moorlands by livestock and a risk of them “scrubbing up” as gorse, bracken and young trees invade.” The question left open, of course, is “How much grazing?” The condition of the moorland was examined in a major study prepared by Land Use Consultants for the Exmoor Society in 200471. The details of its careful and comprehensive review of all aspects of the moorlands are outside the scope of this overview, but, especially in the context of the commons, two short passages are particularly worthy of note. Describing the farming systems, the report states (p64): “It is important to stress that the moorlands play only a minor role in modern livestock farming on Exmoor, even amongst those farmers with a relatively high proportion of their farm as moorland. Instead, the moorlands provide the relatively few farmers with access to moorland with an extensive area of relatively poor quality grazing large area „beyond the farm gate‟ which can be used to take the pressure off and rest the more productive and nutritious in-bye grassland. However, the financial contribution of the moorlands through the ESA scheme is more significant.” This is an aspect of management that may, at least currently, be relevant only to Exmoor, but the second passage, taken from the Report‟s overall conclusions (p96) sums up well an issue that affects all upland grazing: “It is on the topic of the agricultural management of the moorlands that there is most disagreement. Although the outright conflict of the late 1970s and early 1980s is fortunately long past, there remains a gulf of understanding between moorland farmers and the different groups representing conservation interests over what the optimal condition of the moorlands‟ vegetation cover should be and how best to provide this. On the one hand, the biological monitoring of the moorland SSSIs undertaken by English Nature shows that a high proportion of the moorlands are in poor or even declining condition. On the other hand, many farmers complain that the grazing and burning regimes they are being encouraged to adopt to improve this condition are not practical in agricultural management terms, are not financially viable and will not ultimately be effective.” 71 Moorland at the Crossroads – The State of the Moorlands of Exmoor 2004 67 Fig 3.18 Exmoor Common Land and Environmental Designations 68 Fig 3.19 Exmoor ESA Agreements 69 Fig 3.20 Exmoor WES Agreements 70 3.2.2.2 DARTMOOR LOCATION, LANDSCAPE AND LAND COVER “Dartmoor is the largest and most southerly upland landscape in southern England, rising dramatically out of the surrounding lowlands to dominate much of South Devon. To the north are the open, rolling ridges of the Culm and to the south the sheltered and long-settled land of South Devon. At its core is an irregular moorland plateau. Here, the high rainfall sustains a blanket of treacherous bogs and mires. From these, the land rises through heather, bracken and grassland slopes to bare crests with dramatically-shaped tors, clitters and broken rocky slopes. The few stunted and distorted trees are an essential part of the bleak, windswept upland character of the moor which is dominated for much of the year by sombre colours such as browns and greys. The Dartmoor mists and fogs, the absence of settlement and the evocative views of prehistoric monuments, such as standing stones, stone circles, reaves and hill forts, are the essence of this landscape, where only forestry plantations and reservoirs are evidence of modern influence.” (Natural England – JCA 150) The commons, amounting to 35,882ha within the Dartmoor National Park, are found in 2 main blocks, one (around 17,000ha) lying to the north and west of the B3212 Moretonhampstead to Yelverton road and the other in the south (around 14,000ha). In addition, there is a rather more fragmented group of commons in the east. There are 8 commons over 1,000ha in size, but the contiguity of commons means that the total areas for management purposes are considerably greater than the size of any individual common.72 “The vegetation of the common land is almost entirely rough grazing with a small area of woodland. Central areas of heather and grass moorland are surrounded by tracts of rough grassland, bracken, gorse and heathland. Height ranges from 152 m to 621 m (500 ft to 2,039 ft) above sea level.” (Dartmoor National Park Factsheet) DESIGNATIONS AND AGRI-ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS The boundaries of the Dartmoor National Park are broadly the same as the Dartmoor Character Area (JCA150) and the Dartmoor Natural Area (Area 92).