End of Year Update: Review of 2025 Grants

2025 has been an incredible year for Devon Environment Foundation. We raised over £900,000 for local nature restoration this year, and since our launch in 2020, we have now awarded over £1.7 million in grants! 🥳

This is all thanks to our generous donors, and our brilliant grantees who deliver such important impact on the ground, protecting and restoring the nature we all love.

We’ve enabled a diverse range of projects this year, read on to learn more…

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Q1 – 14 Grants (£297,674.88 awarded)

Biochar Crusher – £5,000
Supporting the development of an affordable, mid-scale biochar crusher to make biochar processing more managable for local farmers to improve soil health, reduce run-off and sequester carbon – a model that can be replicated across Devon and the UK.

Swift Boxes – £11,576
Further funding for Devon Birds’ Swift Boxes project, tackling the sharp decline in swift populations by installing nest boxes and audio lures in church towers and other suitable buildings to establish new breeding colonies across Devon.

Apricot Centre Regenerative School (Phase 1) – £151,436.88 
A major investment supporting the Apricot Centre’s regenerative land-based education, skills development and nature-friendly farming practices. This funding from NoVo Foundation will strengthen long-term resilience for people, land and wildlife in Devon.

North Devon Hedgehogs  – £9,000
Supporting local action to conserve hedgehogs through habitat improvement, community engagement and awareness-raising, addressing one of the UK’s fastest-declining mammals.

Flete Field Lab – £8,500 
Continuing to support pioneering field-based research and design of practical low tech, nature-based solutions to restore degraded water and soil ecosystems, while generating credible evidence of their effectiveness.

Pesticide Free Devon – £8,000
Helping local communities reduce pesticide use through education, campaigning and practical support, improving biodiversity, water quality and public health.

Earth Action North Devon – £19,000
Inspiring reconnection with nature and driving sustainable behaviour change – accelerating environmental action across North Devon and fostering a healthier relationship between people and the natural world.

Youth Sailing Estuary Custodians – £6,000
Engaging young people with Devon’s estuaries through sailing and hands-on conservation, building skills, confidence and a lasting connection to marine and estuarine environments.

Cove Discovery Project – £15,000
Funding immersive outdoor learning and discovery experiences that connect school children with local landscapes, wildlife and conservation through exploration and education.

Life on the Edge – £10,000
Supporting targeted action for species and habitats along South Devon’s coastline, working with communities and land managers to protect threatened wildlife, especially the Six-banded Nomad Bee, Britain’s rarest bee.

Wild About Devon – £3,000
Providing a small grants pot to kick start hyper-local community-based wildlife projects which will also result in increased community engagement and increased levels of wellbeing.

Biodiversity in Schools – £500
Seed funding enabling schools to embed biodiversity into learning through practical activities that inspire young people to care for nature.

Shad on the River Taw – £15,662
Supporting conservation action for shad, a priority migratory fish species, through habitat restoration, monitoring and partnership working within the River Taw catchment.

Species Recovery Centre – £35,000
Funding specialist facilities and expertise to support the recovery of lost and rare species through research, captive breeding and reintroduction programmes.

 

Q2 – 4 Grants (£46,750 awarded)

Washfield Wetland – £18,000
Supporting wetland creation and restoration to improve biodiversity, enhance natural flood management and improve water quality within the local catchment.

Moor Trees – £10,000
A pilot project to explore boosting the natural regeneration of native woodland within target river valleys, encouraging a greater diversity of trees and shrubs through land management and availability of existing seed sources, along with the strategic planting of tree clusters.

Force for Nature – £8,750
Expanding volunteer-led conservation action, providing a valuable ‘workforce’ for landowners to deliver practical habitat creation and restoration while engaging communities directly in nature recovery.

Friends of the Dart – £10,000
Engaging with the community to raise awareness about the sources of river pollution and promote tangible, impactful steps that householders, landowners, farmers and local businesses can take to reduce pollution; alongside lobbying South West Water to upgrade critical  infrastructure.

 

Q3 – 3 grants (£16,397 awarded)

Bidwell Brook – £7,397
Using trained citizen scientists to inform evidence-based land management strategies, improve water quality, and protect aquatic ecosystems – serving as a transferable model for other catchments.

Pocket Meadows – £2,000
Supporting the creation of small-scale wildflower meadows that provide vital habitat for pollinators while engaging local communities in nature recovery.

Harvest Mouse – £7,000
Continuing DEF’s long-term support for this priority species project, advancing innovative survey methods and working with volunteers and landowners to improve harvest mouse habitat across Devon.

 

Q4 – 5 Grants (£365,304.88 awarded)

Apricot Centre Regenerative School (Phase 2) – £151,240.41
Further support for the Apricot Centre’s regenerative land-based education, skills development and nature-friendly farming practices, fuding from NoVo Foundation to strengthen long-term resilience for people, land and wildlife in Devon.

Save Beer Mill for Nature – £155,660
A significant grant achieved via an exceptional Crowdfunding campaign to secure a special piece of land that had come to market, for nature, forever.

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna – £18,404.47
Supporting research and awareness around the return of bluefin tuna to UK waters, contributing to understanding of marine ecosystem recovery.

Saltmarsh Protection – £20,000
Funding action to protect and restore saltmarsh habitats, delivering benefits for biodiversity, coastal resilience and carbon sequestration.

Pesticide Free Devon – £20,000
A further award to expand county-wide efforts to reduce pesticide use, specifically working with local councils and farmers, to enable healthier ecosystems and communities across Devon.

 

The urgent need for funding nature restoration in Devon continues to grow. 

We’re busy behind the scenes working on an ambitious plan to scale up nature restoration along Devon’s rivers, where we believe our environmental spend can have the biggest strategic impact for nature – slowing the flow of water through our landscape to:

  • reduce soil erosion, run-off, and pollution
  • decrease floods/droughts
  • sequester carbon
  • clean up water quality
  • and, of course, improve conditions for wildlife to thrive 🦋🐦🐟

 

A huge thank you from us for all your support in 2025. We look forward to delivering even more positive change for nature in Devon from the grassroots in 2026!