
Grazing Links, a Devon Wildlife Trust intiative, and offshoot of the wider Culm Natural Networks project, aims to link local graziers in Devon and Cornwall who own traditional breeds of livestock with neglected culm grassland sites requiring summer grazing. The project offers free on-site visits, management and grant advice to owners and managers of Culm grassland, and can also help find solutions to grazing problems. Grazing Links has engaged with local communites to raise awareness of the need to protect Culm grassland.
Culm grassland is unimproved pasture found on the Culm Measures, which extend westward from the River Exe Valley through Exmoor and Dartmoor to the North coast of Devon and North Cornwall. Culm grassland is generally relatively wet, and is characterised by species-rich flora and fauna and emblematic species such as the rare Marsh Fritillary butterfly. It is similar to the Rhos pasture found in Wales and Scotland. A pilot study by Devon Wildlife Trust in the late 1980's revealed that over 90% of Culm grassland sites had been lost since 1905.


