New films highlight protected landscape

Natural England teams up with poet and filmmaker in new project to ‘show the need for nature recovery’

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THE stunning beauty of the South West has inspired many writers and artists, but now Natural England has joined forces with a poet and filmmaker to create a series of six videos about nature on protected sites in this corner of the country.

Featuring protected sites in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset, the films, called Wild Westcountry Odyssey, are the result of a collaboration between Natural England’s Protected Site Strategies (PSS) Research and Development Programme and the RENEW Biodiversity project at the University of Exeter.

RENEW (Renewing Biodiversity Through A ‘People In Nature’ Approach) involves the university and the National Trust, in partnership with major conservation bodies such as the RSPB and Wildlife Trusts, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Natural England says the aim of future Protected Site Strategies will be to ensure the “root causes of environmental issues” - often driven by factors beyond the sites themselves - are addressed in ways that “guarantee wildlife thrives on those sites, while helping nature recovery beyond their boundaries”.

All six of the sites chosen for the films are Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Habitat Sites.

The films are the work of Simon Willis and each includes two short poems, specially written by John Wedgwood Clarke, Professor of Poetry at the University of Exeter.