THE Radnorshire Wildlife Trust has been awarded almost a quarter of a million pounds to expand an ambitious project to tackle climate change.

The trust bought the 164-acre Pentwyn Farm in Llanbister Road in 2021 and launched its ‘A Wilder Pentwyn Appeal’ – a project aimed at helping breathe new life into an upland area of Powys.

The appeal has been boosted by a National Lottery grant of £249,504 to expand its nature conservation work in the heart of Powys.

The grant will help the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust (RWT) forge ahead with its 30-year vision for a Wilder Pentwyn, to develop the land and work with communities and landowners to deliver nature recovery at scale.

The vision for the farm is to transform it into a place for nature and people, creating a landscape buzzing with wildlife and a place for people to connect with the natural world, reflect and trial new ways of thinking about land options. 

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Martin Wilkie, head of reserves and land management for the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust (RWT), said: “The National Lottery players have supported a project of national significance, allowing us to collectively make steps towards nature recovery at landscape scale.

“We want to see at least 30 per cent of Radnorshire actively managed for wildlife by 2030, and the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust are making a step-change by taking action and allowing nature’s recovery.

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“The Wilder Pentwyn project will use novel approaches that put nature first, on a site that provides landscape and community benefits, and exists alongside the future of farming.”

The farm was purchased in October 2021 through an environmental philanthropic loan to help deliver goals for nature and climate, while fostering and supporting new ways of economically and truly sustainable land use.

The ground-breaking project will help deliver a wide range of benefits for wildlife and people and collectively transform the way we support nature’s recovery. The project will promote access, inclusion and support wellbeing while creating a place to share knowledge and help deliver public goods, like regulating water flow and soil health, priorities emerging from future farming schemes and important outcomes for nature and people.

The money will mean employing a project officer from late 2023 to facilitate community-supported involvement and work with neighbouring landowners and partners to deliver nature and environment goals.    

Specifically, the work will include targeted habitat restoration to help wetland and broadleaf woodland expand more quickly and speed up the return of important natural processes.

The landscape will become a mosaic of species-rich grassland, rhos moor pasture and scarce friddd habitats embedded within a rich cultural landscape that is resilient for the future for both wildlife and people.

The plans will allow species to recover and move unhindered through the landscape. Birds like the curlew, whinchat and, hopefully, hen harrier, will return from surrounding habitats, butterflies like small-pearl bordered and marbled white will colonise newly created sites and common spotted orchid, marsh marigold and mountain pansy will emerge from seedbanks exposed from foraging pigs and free-ranging cattle.

County Times: Pentwyn Farm was bought by the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust in 2021 Pentwyn Farm was bought by the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust in 2021 (Image: None)

The grant boost will also help build a dedicated volunteer base, directly involving more people, developing skills and socialising, and allow the RWT to connect with people further afield through digital animation and audio soundscapes.

The RWT have already introduced free-ranging or extensive grazing on site with eight Belted Galloway cattle, working with a local grazier to vary plant structure and promote wildflowers, using Nofence collars to track, monitor and digitally herd them if required.

Gathering information from ecological surveys and environmental DNA sample will improve the knowledge the trust already has and inform how the land is responding.

Wilder Pentwyn Farm will be a farm where nature is the lead crop. The RWT will allow plant diversity and habitats such as scrub, wetland and broadleaved woodland to recover. This will provide year-around food sources for wildlife as well as cover for shelter and nesting.

Most of all the trust want to see nature increase on the land, draw people in and give them hope for the future.

Pentwyn is currently only accessible via the public rights-of-way while the trust undertakes initial works. However, it is looking forward to welcoming people onto the site for guided walks and other events in the near future.

The Pentwyn appeal has raised just over £950,000 of its £1.5m goal so far. To donate to the appeal or to find out more and support the RWT, visit https://www.rwtwales.org/appeals/wilder-pentwyn-appeal.