From tor to shore

The nature warden had to double check Were they seeing an illusion? But now the gnawed trees and the damn across the river Parr, which rejoices in wild turbulence into its source and destiny, the sea, in St Austell Bay, showed that their insight was correct. Beavers were back!. These pleasant creatures were not reintroduced by humans. They had been dreamed of as a future project, but beavers know nought of organisational planning. They wanted to find a place and  just came. No matter that you need a license from the government to introduce beavers. They have just arrived. How they found their way is a mystery. But a nice one. No matter that the woodlands at places on the moor can be a bit scrubby, the beavers had found a home, and they had welcoming human neighbours. For a change.

Yet these rodents were not the only returnees on the ancient moor. An old British cattle breed has been introduced to run free on the moor. English longhorns .Why this breed? They are placid and unaggressive, important qualities in a beast with powerful horns. Moreover, they are tough enough to survive in wild conditions, and they derive their toughness from their ancestor, the aurochs. Some other breeds lack this toughness. Moreover, the English Longhorns can eat both grass and tree leaves, a resource known as tree hay. Longhorns use their horns to tear down branches to get the leaves. This does not harm the tree as it is a natural form of pollarding, which gives the tree vigour. Longhorn cows will happily eat a patch of nettles, for nettles, like all spiky plants are a good source of nutrients. The Longhorn's mouth is tough enough to cope with the sharpness. Thus they can digest rough pasture..

Pigs have been selected for their ability to weed ground, however rough the pasture is. The breeds chosen are so-called iron age pigs and the related breed, the Ginger Tamworth, both have snouts evolved for excavating roots.  This ability makes these pig breeds able to clear an area of land far quicker than am human can. It is to be expected that the newly introduced pigs will mate with the wild pigs loose in many parts of Britain. Humans may not want this interbreeding, but we have introduced wild animals, so we cannot complain if they behave accordingly. Moreover, a wild boar can weigh 350 pounds. Now who fancies getting in the way of a 350 pound boar and his beloved?

There will be other animals which are native to the area. Badgers, which have suffered an unsuccessful cull to prevent their spreading disease to cattle will dwell safely on the moor. It is hoped that the insect fauna, including rare butterflies, such as the endangered marsh fritillary will be beneficiaries of the project. But promoting the presence of rare insects means providing habitat. The marsh fritillary, for example, has a caterpillar which can only eat the leaves of devil's bit scabious, which will grow in meadow land in late summer

The Parr is a short river, running for a few miles across the moor,, then across farmland before it joins the ocean.  The passage to the coast is an area that needs treatment, as nitrate and phosphate run off from farms pollutes the waters of the river and the bay, harming wildlife. The rewilding trusts hopes to work co-operatively with the farmers to their mutual 

The river's course makes its way through some woodland, mainly small patches on farms. An expansion of the area under tree cover is planned, but we are in the sapling stage at the moment, and juvenile trees need to be protected from the depredations of deer, which eat young bark. While deer are less common on the wet moorland, they are rife in wooded territory.

Birds and small mammas are not as easy to introduce as large mammals are, so you cannot guarantee that your planned introductions  will work. Yet if you provide habitats then the desired creatures may follow. Examples of birds that reserve wardens hope will arrive  spontaneously of their own accord are spotted flycatchers and yellow hammers. These thrive in a woodland area, and as insects are quick to recolonize areas where there is abundant insect life for them to eat it is likely that they will come and stay. Small mammals that wardens hope will bee drawn to inhabit  the wood include dormice. These creatures given to long periods of winter hibernation  are much loved, but rarely seen. So the wardens hope that the expanded woodlands  that will be found in the Parr Valley will provide an expanded range of habitats for these creatures.

Yet the beavers are providing a useful service through their water-engineering activities. Pools of water draw not only a specific pond fauna, with their own supply of insects, such as dragon flies and their blue relatives, damselflies, but frogs and toads. Newts are a possibility that would be welcome.

St Austell Bay is on the south coast of Cornwall. It is a world renowned site for its rich forests of sea grass. This is an ecologically valuable grass species that has evolved to live under shallow water, up to fifty meters deep, but often much less. Twenty per cent of sea grass meadows have been lost because of pollution and trawling, but this has resulted in ecological ill-consequences. The grass, which exists in large meadows, is a vast store of carbon dioxide and left to its own devices will soak up masses of this greenhouse gas. Its fronds are a valuable defence of the sea shore, as in storms the force of waves is absorbed by the grass fronds waving harmlessly rather than striking land and causing shoreline erosion. 

The grass meadows are an ecologically safe habitat for fish. Species of the small fish wrasse find safety from predators in the meadows, as do larger species such as cod, which come towards the shore in Spring, and cod's relative, pollack. Huss a small shark, finds refuge in the forest of fronds. The fronds are a good protection for small and juvenile fish. Seahorses are present in neighbouring Studland  Band the reserve's managers hope to attract them to St Austell Bay.

The underwater habitat is attractive in its appearance because of the prange of colours. Known as maerl, it has been at times harvested as a fertilzser with a limy component and thus has been broken up for spreading on,farms and gardens. It will not be harvested because it is being preserved for posterity. Nor will fishing be allowed so that the bay will be a refuge and a nursery for fish we are looking to bays like St Austel to help luminescence of Cornish coral. This is not a true coral, but a calcified seaweed that has developed a shell through the calcification powers of lime rich waters flowing from land into the bay. It displays a rans rebuild fish stocks.. Ecotourism will be encouraged so that humans can enjoy the natural riches of the environment.

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