14 January A Future for Nature on Dartmoor – Nick Bruce-White CEO Devon Wildlife Trust

A Future for Nature on Dartmoor?

 Dartmoor is still an oasis of wildlife, yet its natural heritage is a pale shadow of what it once was. Remote and wild it may feel but make no mistake: Dartmoor is a human landscape to its core. But its nature is rapidly changing. Nick Bruce-White will tell us what is happening in the search for solutions to the challenges facing life on the moor.

 Dartmoor is the largest upland landscape and area of semi-natural habitat in Southern England. Its windswept moorland, blanket bogs and temperate rainforests are home to rare and iconic wildlife, from cuckoos and curlews to fritillary butterflies and blue ground beetles. Yet despite extensive legal designations, many species continue to decline towards local extinction, and protected habitats have deteriorated dramatically. With debate about Dartmoor’s future management seemingly as intractable as ever, can this celebrated landscape still become a place of nature recovery?

Nick joined Devon Wildlife Trust as CEO in September 2023. For the 22 years prior to that, Nick worked for the RSPB in a variety of operational roles. After beginning his career on the Dorset heaths, Nick established the RSPB’s flagship Rainham Marshes nature reserve alongside the Thames in East London. He then went on to manage the RSPB’s nature reserve estate in Northern England, before moving to Devon in 2015 as Regional Director for the South West and then Southern England. Immediately prior to joining DWT, Nick was acting Director for RSPB England.