Newsletter, May 2024

Click on the links below to read the latest news from the Shropshire Hills National Landscape Team:

Your invitation to our Summer Forum

We would like to hear your views...

Supporting farmers and land managers in the Shropshire Hills

Restoring ancient woodland in the Shropshire Hills

Conservation Fund helping to inspire community action

Skip about on our Shuttle Bus, starting Saturday 25th May

New Visitor Publication 

Bishop's Castle - a firm favourite on the Walking Festival calendar

and a firm favourite local walking guide, Clun valley & borders 33 favourite walks

Your invitation to our Summer Forum...

We would like to hear your views...

We are in the process of reviewing the Management Plan for the Shropshire Hills.  This is a plan for the area, not just our team, which all partners help to deliver. We would like to hear your views on

• what you value about the area?
• what your concerns are? 
• what you think should be the priorities for the future? 

Please follow this link to participate in the Management Plan survey.  

You might appreciate the views, peace and quiet, wildlife, opportunities to walk or cycle, or the heritage and culture. You might have views on protecting the quality of the landscape, helping nature to recover, how we respond to climate change, future directions for farming, or how tourism and visitors should be managed.

Over the summer we will be drafting the new Plan, setting out priorities and actions to conserve and enhance the area's natural beauty from 2025 - 2030. Your views will help to shape this document, which will undergo public consultation during the winter.

Supporting farmers and land managers in the Shropshire Hills

Just over £1¾ million has been awarded to more than 100 farming projects in the Shropshire Hills since September 2021.  This is through the Farming in Protected Landscapes Programme which we deliver locally with Defra funding.

Grants are available to support changes on farms which help to restore nature, tackle climate change, develop sustainable farm businesses and enable more people to enjoy and explore this beautiful countryside.

This year, there is a further £1 million available from Defra to support farming projects in the Shropshire Hills. We are working with farmers and land managers to help them to develop projects and guide them through the application process. 

For more information about the programme, please visit our website, or contact our Farming in Protected Landscapes Advisers:

• Alison Jones, 01743 254745, email alison.m.jones@shropshire.gov.uk
• Helen Oliver, 01743 251845 email helen.oliver@shropshire.gov.uk

A snapshot of our 100th project

The 100^th grant awarded through Farming in Protected Landscapes in the Shropshire Hills was to Myndtown Farm for improved stock watering to enable a better grazing regime.  This is a small project (awarded £6,200), but typical of many of our farm projects which have made simple infrastructure changes to benefit both the farm business and the wider landscape.  This farm is on the edge of the Long Mynd Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).  The project is enabling the farmer to change from grazing sheep to grazing cattle on the SSSI. Cattle graze with their tongue and leave a longer length of grass/plants than sheep, which is good for maintaining a variety of plants and reducing soil erosion. Cattle are also less selective in their grazing habits which helps to prevent dominant plants, such as bracken, from spreading. The funding is supporting the purchase of equipment to create a permanent supply of water to this part of the farm, which includes solar powered water pump, piping, drinking tank and drag tank to move the cattle around.

Join us on a farm visit in June...

In June, we have two farm visits planned for members of the public to find out more about the challenges of modern day farming in the Shropshire Hills, and the changes being made through the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme to benefit the Shropshire Hills.  Click on the links below for more details:

• 13 June, as part of our Summer Forum, one of the choice of field trips is a farm visit to see how funding is supporting farmers in the Clee Hills.
• 15 June, Meet the Farmer Guided Walk, a chance to find out more about the work of the Upper Onny Farmers Group.

Restoring ancient woodland in the Shropshire Hills

Ancient woods are some of our most valuable habitats.  At this time of year, they can be full of bluebells and other delicate woodland plants such as wood anemones, primroses and wood sorrel.  Centuries of undisturbed soils and accumulated decaying wood have created this ideal habitat for communities of plants, fungi, insects and other micro-organisms. 

In the Shropshire Hills around 5% is classed as ancient woodland, although two thirds of these sites are mostly conifer.  These woods are known as PAWS - Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites and, as the name suggests, they are ancient woodlands which have been largely felled and replanted with non-native species.

Although damaged, the sites still have the complex soil of ancient woodland and can be restored with careful management. This is the aim of our Ancient Woodland Restoration Project, which has identified woodland sites and is working with the woodland owners to improve the woodlands' condition.

The project is a partnership with Woodland Trust and Forestry Commission. Our Woodland Project Officer can providing management advice, condition assessments and help to secure funding for practical restoration work.  Practical work has included stock and deer fencing to protect young trees and woodland plants, the removal of rhododendron (an invasive plant), selective tree felling and thinning to encourage light into the woodland and regenerative planting.  

For more information visit our website. There are also suggested woodland walks on the walking page of our website.

Conservation Fund helping to inspire community action

This spring, the Shropshire Hills Landscape Trust has awarded just under £20,000 to 14 local initiatives.  The projects are varied and deliver practical conservation work and/or educational and awareness-raising activities relating to the Shropshire Hills and its conservation.

Community action is a common theme.  Whether it's encouraging local parishes to monitor and map the spread of pine martens over the Shropshire Hills, recording curlew activity to find nesting sites, learning how to identify some of our rarer plants and fungi, or gaining new skills in lime mortaring. This citizen science has a real impact on the ground, helping to improve or restore habitat for some of our endangered plants and animals, and helps to preserve important heritage sites.

A key emphasis of several projects this year is the engagement of young people. Funding is supporting Forest School sessions, creating a woodland work area in a school grounds, and encouraging young people to use digital media to explore and discover the Shropshire Hills landscape, its wildlife and heritage.  

read the individual short project summaries here

Thank you to all of our funders who contribute to the Conservation Fund.  These include our Friends of the Shropshire Hills (membership scheme), Business Supporters, the Millichope Foundation, Moonshine and Fuggles, and individual donations.

Skip about on our Shuttle Bus, starting Saturday 25th May

The much-loved Long Mynd and Stiperstones Shuttle will be hitting the road again this month on the 25^th May.  It will ply a more traditional route than last year, crossing the Long Mynd from Church Stretton and reaching out across the Stiperstones as far as Snailbeach. A considerable amount of thought and time has gone into getting the timetable to fit in with the 435 bus and Shrewsbury-Ludlow train services, as well as to give passengers enough time to visit the places they love. We are making as much as we can of our single bus service, which will also now run out to Wentnor with its two pubs, community shop and caravan site.

As we are unable to offer concessionary fares, we’ve kept the ticket costs low with a single fare at £2 and an All Day Rover at £6. The route works as well for passengers who want to hop on and off as it does for those who just want to enjoy a scenic tour. Passengers can also bring their pooches, as the bus, walks and many of the pubs along the route are dog friendly.

You’ll find the timetable on our website and at the bus stops. Printed copies are available from Church Stretton Visitor Information Centre, The Bog Visitor Centre, Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre, Carding Mill Valley and pubs along the route. Hough and Son’s, the butcher’s in Church Stretton, will also have a stock for those wanting to pick one up with their Sunday roast. Buy your ticket for cash only on the bus, or contact us to splash out on a season ticket.

The service is planned to run weekends only from May 25^th to September 8^th. If the service meets its passenger target for this period, we will be in a position to extend the season later into September or possibly have a couple of weekend specials in the autumn to coincide with local events, like the Bog Centre Christmas fayre.

Keep in touch with all our Shuttle news - join our newsletter mailing list.

New visitor publication Launched at the Shropshire Hills Tourism Expo in April, our new visitor map of the Shropshire Hills National Landscape is proving to be very popular. The reverse side features information on walking, places to visit, local festivals and public transport, with web links to more detailed information on our website. You can tear off your copy of the map from the pads which you'll find in local visitor information centres, pubs, cafes, and some holiday accommodation. If you are a local business and would like copies, please get in touch with us.

Bishops Castle - a firm favourite on the Walking Festival calendar

The Bishop's Castle Walking Festival will be celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2025.  As this year's successful 4-day festival draws to a close, activity is already focussed on ways to celebrate this remarkable anniversary and achievements of the many volunteers over the years who have helped to ensure the festival remains a firm favourite on the Walking Festival calendar.

Alongside the 50 or more local walks-leaders who share their routes with visitors to the Shropshire Hills, there is a 'behind the scene' small army of volunteers who organise the festival, from minibus drivers and standby rescue car drivers, to promotion and entertainment. 

Participants come from all over the country, and this feedback sums up the festival's friendly atmosphere perfectly:

“All evening events were very enjoyable and a welcome opportunity to meet with other walkers and members of Bishop's Castle community. We feel that they are an important part of the festival. We would like to take the opportunity to give our sincere thanks to the committee and all the other volunteers for their hard work in organising the festival and for making it such a thoroughly enjoyable experience. It’s one of the highlights of our year!  The welcome meeting followed by four days of walks ending on a Sunday was ideal for us. Good variety of new walks of various lengths provided choice each day. In our nine years of participation, we have never had to repeat a walk” May 2024

For more information (and photographs of this year’s festival), visit the Bishop’s Castle Walking Festival website.

Walkers enjoying a break under a tree, by Jill Key

...and a firm favourite local walking guide

This book is published by the Clun Walking Group, another team of dedicated volunteers.

The Clun valley & borders book has sold over 4000 copies and is now into its 4th reprint. The walk descriptions have been updated and the routes checked on the ground. Profits made from sales are donated to local organisations.  The latest edition is available from many local outlets including the Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre in Craven Arms. 

Happy Walking in the Shropshire Hills!

You can find out more by visiting our website www.shropshirehills-nl.org.uk or contacting us:

Shropshire Hills National Landscape Team
Unit 5, Drovers House,
Auction Yard,
Craven Arms,
Shropshire SY7 9BZ.

Telephone: 01743 254740

Email: shropshirehills-nl@shropshire.gov.uk

Meet the National Landscapes family! There are 38 National Landscapes across England and Wales national-landscapes.org.uk/national-landscapes

The Shropshire Hills National Landscape Team is hosted by Shropshire Council and funded also by Defra, Telford & Wrekin Council and project funders.

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