River Restoration

Washfield Wetland

£18,250 awarded

Project Dates: 14.11.24 to 15.02.25

Supporting the start-up costs of the ambitious new Washfield Wetland site – a collaboration of local farmers and landowners who have come together to create a haven for wildlife in Lower Washfield, near Tiverton in Mid Devon.

The creation of an extensive new wetland habitat will dramatically increase local biodiversity whilst improving river water quality, reducing soil run-off, and reducing flooding at key sites downstream, including Tiverton High School and Tiverton Hospital.

Key deliverables of the DEF-funded part of the project include:

Creation of wildlife infrastructure including raptor perch, osprey nest platform, carrion table, insect hotels, bird and bat boxes, otter holt and a sand martin nesting bank
Development of a wildlife hide to allow people to view and engage with wildlife on the wetland site
Creation of a multi-species wildlife tower
Reintroduction of 250 harvest mice, planned for spring 2025
Tree planting, including volunteer tree planting events

DEF is able to support this project thanks to a successful fundraising campaign. Big thanks to all who generously donated! 💚 The money we raised will enable Wild Tiverton CIC to purchase and build vital wildlife shelters and habitats, to help wildlife populations to recover, and an observation hide to allow people to study and record the wildlife recovery.

In the coming years, as the wetland develops, new habitats and food sources will be created to allow many species to find their own way to the site – and then they hope to re-introduce Water Voles, Harvest Mice, Beavers, Mole Crickets, Glow Worms and possibly even Storks.

Images credits: Kevin Keatley.

Further Information

Everyone in the Tiverton area of Mid Devon has experienced the impacts of the river Exe flooding, whether it’s their home being inundated, roads becoming impassable, or sports matches being cancelled. As climate change intensifies, this flooding will become more frequent.

Equally, most local people know about the catastrophic loss of Britain’s wildlife over the last 50 years. Many older residents remember the river bursting with salmon and eels when they were children and most despair at the polluted, empty stretch of water it has become in recent years.

WASHFIELD WETLAND: More than ten landowners and farmers between Tiverton and Cove in Mid Devon have come together to create a new vision for the Exe. Instead of a drastically constrained river passing through agricultural fields stripped of almost all vegetation and supporting almost no wildlife, they imagine the river flowing through an interlinked series of wet woodlands, reed beds and rough grasslands abounding with every type of wildlife from the tiniest beetle to Devon’s iconic beavers, otters, salmon, kingfishers and water voles.

A river flowing much more freely over her floodplain, creating a mosaic of pools and ponds, dams, scrapes and bunds. A kaleidoscope of riparian habitats supporting a treasure trove of wild creatures. Washfield Wetland is a new wildlife recovery zone right in the heart of the Exe valley.

The aim is both to help decrease flooding in Tiverton downstream and to begin to reverse the drastic loss of biodiversity in the river catchment, whilst also contributing to tackling climate change through carbon sequestration.

There are already many fantastic rewilding sites up and down Britain – from Knepp and 42 Acres to Heal and Haweswater. Washfield Wetland aims to be a new jewel in the rewilding crown. One that will not only boost biodiversity, clean the river and help tackle climate change, but also inspire everyone from school children to politicians to get actively involved in restoring our rivers and creating new spaces for nature recovery.

A huge thank you to all the donors who generously helped enable this project, including Unique Hideaways.

IMPACT SUMMARY MAY 2025:

Project Activities:

The project has implemented a number of practical conservation aimed at increasing biodiversity on the site, including:
– Planting 664 trees and approximately 200 metres of wildlife hedges.
– Sowing 400 metres of wildflower verges.
– Creating dead hedges and woodpiles.
– Digging one large pond (9m x 5m) and one small pond (1m x 2m), the latter located at the harvest mice release site.
– Building a reptile hibernaculum, a beaver lodge, an otter holt, and a carrion table.
– Starting work on a sand martin nesting bank.
– Building and installing 10 bird boxes, 10 bat boxes, and two double height swift boxes with a caller speaker.
– Constructing a butterfly breeding enclosure.
– Building a multi-species wildlife tower.
– Removing hundreds of metres of barbed wire fencing and rubbish, and taking down stock fences to allow wildlife movement.
– Completing groundworks for a large aviary, which Secret World Wildlife Rescue will install for soft-releasing rehabilitated birds.
– Sowing 0.2 acres of cocksfoot grass for the harvest mice release.
Wildlife monitoring using camera traps has recorded species including otters, beavers with two kits, kingfishers, a polecat, foxes, kestrels, hedgehogs, red deer, roe deer, and badgers.
Species reintroductions and releases are a significant part of the project:
Harvest Mice: Led by Eva (12) and Emily (13), a harvest mouse breeding project is thriving, with guidance and initial mice provided by Derek Gow. Approximately 45 mice have been bred so far. The goal is to release 250 harvest mice in September 2025. This project has received local and national attention, including a brief appearance on BBC’s Blue Peter.
Birds: The aviary will serve as a soft-release site for rehabilitated birds such as owls, raptors, corvids, and garden birds”
Community involvement has been strong, with 74 volunteers attending a planting day and over 60 individual volunteers participating.

Project Impact:

Awareness has been raised through media coverage, including being featured on the front page of the Tiverton Gazette and on the Devon Live website. Eva’s harvest mouse project gained national attention through Blue Peter
The project has gained significant community support through volunteer engagement, leading to increased local support for rewilding.
Through the rewilding of the land, and the implementation of the wildlife structures and habitats, the project site is becoming more biodiverse. This can be seen through species data collected using the camera traps.

Press feature re tree planting at the site in Feb 2025.