Project Dates: 01.04.24 to 01.02.25

Wild About Devon is an initiative providing small grants of up to £500 to empower communities to kickstart new wildlife projects in their local areas.

Examples of wildlife projects supported include creating or restoring wildflower meadows, planting hedgerows, and installing ponds – resulting in much improved and connected wildlife habitats springing up around the county.

This is the third year DEF has provided a grant for Wild About Devon, in partnership with the Devon Local Nature Partnership and Devon Communities Together.

Some key metrics from Wild About Devon 2023:

• 113 organisations applied, and 39 were funded.
• 1,185 trees planted.
• 11 wildflower meadows created, featuring at least 44 different species.
• 578 volunteers engaged, providing 1,943 volunteer hours to local wildlife projects.
• At least 218,369 metres squared of habitat were created and improved!
• 300m of path, 400m of riverbank, & 100m hedgerow were restored.
• Learn more about Wild About Devon’s 2023 impact here.

Our 2024 grant aims to continue to deliver:

• Restoration of neglected habitats such as hedges, grassland or woodland.
• Creation of new wildlife areas including ponds, wildflower meadows, hedges and woodlands, especially in places which help connect existing wildlife areas.
• Creation of new wildlife groups.
• Enhancement of community gardens, churchyards and other public spaces.
• Purchase of tools, materials, training, or safety equipment.
• Purchase of monitoring equipment for species recording and education.

A huge thanks you to Lightrock Power for enabling DEF to support this project for a third year.

Image credits: Devon Communities Together.

IMPACT SUMMARY FEBRUARY 2025:

A total of 53 applications were received through the project, with the full £10,000 being allocated to the chosen projects.

Of the 53 total applications, 33 of these were successful, which consisted of the following groups:

• 21 wildlife/community groups
• 5 Parish/Town Councils
• 4 educational establishments
• 3 churches
• 1 museum and heritage centre

The grant funding enabled 13 applicants (39%) to kickstart projects, and the remaining 19 (61% of total) to progress with their projects. 14 applicants (42% of total) were able to complete their projects using their grant funding, with the remaining 18 sharing that their projects remain in progress. (58% of total).

• 13 projects were able to attract £13,825.90 of matched funding in total
• 12 projects were delivered using a cumulative total of 260 volunteers,
• 4 of these projects reported that the delivery achieved a cumulative total of 268 volunteering hours.
• 6 projects saw 722 people reached through outreach and engagement during project delivery
• 11 projects created wildlife boxes for 30 species
• Of these, 5 projects produced a total of 150 boxes
• 6 projects introduced total of 22 new plant species as part of their projects
• 7,831.5m2 of habitat created/restored across 11 projects

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