The Vision
Exminster working together to enable nature and wildlife to thrive. A village recognised as valuing biodiversity and an exemplary part in a wider nature recovery network.
Theme 1 - Building on existing voluntary action
The Exminster Greenspaces volunteers have continued with over 25 working parties and events since July – seeking to enhance the village for both people and nature. The teams work has included:
On going management and enhancement of the village orchard, including summer path cuts, hedge trimming, mulching and pruning. We added a fabulous bug post crafted by the team at NHS New Leaf.
Work in St Martins churchyard included maintaining a balance between untrimmed wildflower areas and managing vegetation around the graves. Checking and clearing the churchyard nestboxes, both of which had been occupied this year.
The small wildflower bed introduced by the Deepway Community Centre was a riot of colour by early July.We plan to extend this in 2025 and have another couple of potential sites.
New trees have been planted this autumn including a birch in the churchyard, two trees in the hedge at the Bowling Green and a donated oak sapling in the meadow. Also down in the meadow we planted a small extension of the central hedgerow, drawing on hazel saplings grown in the Greenspaces mini tree nursery.
We’ve added some daff bulbs along Reddaway Drive and at the foot of
Exminster Hill – a number donated by a supporting neighbour.
In the Wilderness a team enthusiastically cut back some invasive bamboo and we were able to pass some of this to the New Leaf team to use in their bug hotels.
Theme 2 - Community engagement
The Exminster Greenspaces Facebook group provides a regular flow of topical Greenspace and nature themed posts. We have continued to build a following with 629 at the last count. 
The Wildlife Gardening WhatsApp group continues to share tips, sightings and inspiration. This ties in with the Devon Wildlife Trust Wildlife Garden Award which we championed last year.
For the first time we ran a nature themed photo competition with prizes from kind sponsors. We had some lovely entries with the three category winners included below.
There have been a number of opportunities to attend community and group events this year to help build awareness and promote the work of Exminster Greenspaces and the wider nature recovery agenda. These included the ‘Love Exminster’ event on Deepway Green in July where as well as handing out free tree saplings and sunflower seedlings, we had materials on hand to build simple insect water stations and bee hotels.
A small grant from the Devon Local Nature Partnership supported the purchase of a group feather banner in the summer which we can use at future events and working parties to help build awareness and profile of the volunteer team.
Over the summer bringing citizen science into play again (similar to the garden bird count in Jan), we collated local entries as part of the Big Butterfly Count. We now have three years data. This summer as suspected the numbers reflected a significant drop in butterflies compared with the previous year, possibly down to the wet Spring and early summer. Interestingly, numbers of the small gatekeeper butterflies held up and seemed in good numbers in sites like the village orchard.
Theme 3 - Partnership working
Exminster Greenspaces continues to be an active member of the ACT Wildlife Warden Network across Teignbridge . Opportunities to tap into the network’s expertise have included attending a training session with a focus on running events for children and a farm walk to explore the topic of tree seeds and propogation.
November saw an inspiring gathering of community groups and nature focussed groups in Ivybridge to explore opportunities for further networking and to hear about the latest news on the development of the Local Nature Recovery Strategy. This was hosted by the Devon LNP as part of the ‘Wild About Devon’ initiative.
We hope to maintain a developing relationship with the Brook Academy in the new Matford development and the incoming residents as more of the new build properties are occupied.
A group from the Matford Brook Academy came along to St Martins churchyard in early July when Greenspaces volunteers and Kelvin Boot a local ecologist helped the children explore the biodiversity to be found in this special place.
It was exciting to see and offer some advice to a new community group take shape in our neighbouring parish of Kenton – with the Kenton Nature and Greenspaces group. Hopefully some of our experience has been helpful as they take their first steps in supporting wildlife in Kenton.
We are always open to new suggestions, ideas and offers of help. Please get in touch with Jeremy Pyne or the Exminster Green Spaces Group.