Back from the Brink was a major national partnership programme that sought to conserve some of the UK’s most threatened species through 19 conservation projects. The programme was led by a consortium of Natural England and Rethink Nature, the latter comprising seven species-focused charities including ARC. ARC led on one of the landscape-scale projects, Gems in the Dunes, which you can read about here. The partners involved in each project converged to pool specific knowledge and broaden methods of working. Each of the partners were involved in multiple conservation projects within the Back from the Brink Programme, resulting in a varied, holistic approach to habitat management, survey and community involvement.

ARC involvement

Primarily, ARC focused on leading the aforementioned Gems in the Dunes project. This project’s target species included the natterjack toad and the sand lizard on the sand dune habitat of the Sefton Coast. Importantly, the project looked beyond amphibians and reptiles, targeting other groups too including plants and invertebrates. The project was highly successful in helping target species and engaging local communities. For example, we created and enhanced a total of 11.5 hectares of mosaic habitat designed to help dune wildlife, working with landowners including golf courses, The National Trust and Network Rail. This led to agreed habitat management that would benefit a range of dune species.  We also developed an approach to managing the Sefton Coast dunes that will ensure rare species are better prepared for the impacts of coastal change in the coming decades.

Gems in the Dunes pond dipping public event

ARC also took part in the Roots of Rockingham project, led by Butterfly Conservation, informing and advising on adder monitoring and conservation management over 16 sites. Helping enhance these woodland sites was also an opportunity to monitor and improve habitats for our more widespread species such as slow-worms. As well as physical contributions in the field, ARC staff provided education and training in the form of virtual presentations to volunteers and members of the public.

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The Dorset’s Heathland Heart project, led by Plantlife, resulted in enhanced habitat for sand lizards at our Creech reserve. This project overall helped to create more than 400 patches of microhabitat across 13 sites in Dorset heaths.

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We ensured that our reserves contributed to work helping other priority species, such as the ladybird spider project led by Buglife. Another Dorset project, this time focused on the ladybird spider which is so endangered that it’s population in Dorset can be individually counted. ARC staff took part in the breeding and release of these arachnids.

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ARC played a key role, alongside the programme lead partners, in developing key documents on the generic issues for species recovery raised by Back from The Brink. For example, the programme resulted in useful insights into how to manage for multiple species at landscape scale, and how to measure progress in species recovery. You can read these reports here: https://naturebftb.co.uk/resources/