Nature recovery on the Lizard is working from the ground up

Nature recovery on the Lizard is working from the ground up - National Trust

The steep cliffs around Lizard Point, home to rarities such as Wild Asparagus, The Lizard, Cornwall. Credit National Trust Images David Noton

Down on the Lizard, in deepest Cornwall, a landscape-scale coastal project to recover rare species is starting from the ground up.

Funded by Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme the National Trust is honing in on the important conservation of the vital micro habitats found on cliffs and bare rocks, in ditches, pools and trackways. In these often overlooked places, tiny lichens, liverworts and the smallest plants are key to the ongoing success and survival of the whole landscape.

The Lizard is one of the most biodiverse places in the country, with many unique species finding refuge on semi-natural heathlands and grasslands and along the coastline. But, worryingly many species that make the Lizard such a special place for nature seem to be in decline, and even facing extinction.

Much of the Lizard is in the care of the National Trust, Natural England and Cornwall Wildlife Trust – the three partners in the Lizard National Nature Reserve (NNR). The National Trust and Natural England are working closely together on this project, with the overall aim of recovering species across the entire 2,400 hectare NNR.

Many so-called ‘Lizard specialities’ are to be found nowhere else in the UK, and 15 of these key species are central to the success of this new project – from very rare, crusty lichens and rosettes of black crystalwort to wild asparagus, dainty yellow centaury and pygmy rush. Using a diverse approach of different land management practices, including using multiple species to help manage the land – this unique project aims to restore and revitalise not only the Lizard rarities but also the unique wider landscape.

Detailed surveys by the University of Bristol and local botanists, dating back to the 1970s set an unparalleled baseline against which to assess change. Unfortunately the results from four years ago, indicated the habitats and species were struggling.