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Appendices:

Appendix 1: Interview with Morgan Ravine, Reserve Manager at Lizard National Nature Reserve:

What are the future plans for Goonhilly Downs Nature Reserve?

“The future plans really involve a continuation in the management practices to keep the SSSI within favourable condition. This is achieved through grazing (using both ponies and cattle as they both graze in different styles and habits) and small, managed burns. The burns ensure a mixed age of Heather and open up bare patches which certain plant and herb species benefit from.

What are the challenges maintaining the nature reserve?

“Lots! The sheer amount of land to start with combined with the relatively small number of staff mean we have to utilise local contractors for larger jobs such as big fencing projects or certain habitat creation projects e.g. we had a contractor in with a digger creating ponds and scrapes in a few areas in early spring which is something we don’t have the skills or equipment to do. Other challenges include simply keeping on top of infrastructure condition – it’s not practical or feasible to go out monthly and check the whole reserves gates and fences so to a certain extent we rely on reports from other landowners and local residents to keep on top of some of these issues. Another issue is being able to carry out enough wildlife monitoring to really understand what we have in what areas which we ought to be using to build into our management plans. For example, if we found good nightjar numbers in an area of heathland that was being fairly heavily grazed during the summer we would want to review that – grazing is obviously vital for lowland heathland management but too many grazing animals in an area good for ground nesting birds could be detrimental. I have a plan to try and expand our monitoring next year as this year I start in March and felt like it took a while to get up to speed! Another challenge is working better together with the other landowners and organisations like National Trust, Wildlife Trust, Trelowarren Estate etc to look at managing the entire peninsula as one extensive nature reserve, increasing connectivity, joint working etc.

What can be done to attract more visitors?

“This is an interesting one as the coastal areas of the NNR are extremely popular, although I think the National Trust deal with the issues in this regard at places like Kynance and Lizard Point. Kennack Sands is our land and is heavily visited. The challenge is getting people to explore more of the inland areas of the NNR as, ultimately,

many visitors to Cornwall come for the coastal experience. So I’m not sure how to answer that at the moment. Marie (who you have spoken with) has helped in her role as Visitor Warden in engaging with the public about the work that we do on the NNR but I don’t think that alone is the answer.

Is having the nature reserve open to the public 24/7 healthy or does it create more damage than good?

“Overall I’d say healthy. I think we’re at an advantage here in that we are quite a long way from larger urban areas so the majority of people visiting the NNR later on or earlier in the day are local residents, birders etc out walking. We have very little anti-social behaviour on the NNR compared to sites I’ve worked at in the past nearer much more densely populated areas.

What more do you think can be done to preserve the remaining historic artefacts that are on the nature reserve?

“The continued grazing regimes mean these areas aren’t choked with vegetation and brambles. There’s also a few areas that we take brushcutters to periodically to keep them visible and undamaged – around the old settlement near Kynance for example.

How has the closure of Goonhilly Earth Station to the public affected the nature reserve?

“Although I wasn’t here when this happened, the rest of the team think it’s probably eased the pressure on that particularly area of the NNR. I think that is sometimes the problem managing nature reserves – the areas nearest an ‘attraction’ or easily accessible car park get hammered with too many visitors for a small area to deal with.

How do you attract people to the nature reserve?

“Our new website and facebook pages are quite active now with posts and updates about the reserve. As previously mentioned, Marie our Visitor Warden is raising awareness for the work we do as an organisation (I think there’s a lot of common misconception that the National Trust manage all of the NNR but the area managed by NE is largest – around 2000 hectares).

Does Natural England have restrictions in what you're able to do to maintain the nature reserve, and if so, how do you overcome this?

“Historically, restrictions have been because of lack of staff and funding. At present this is a bit less of an issue. Other ‘restrictions’ include the fact that much of the NNR is designated as SSSI or SAC, which means a landowner cannot do whatever they want