“The RSPB will be holding a consultation event on Thursday 22nd September in the parish rooms in Sidbury between 2pm and 6.30pm.”
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Fire Beacon Hill nature reserve is an important habitat for all sorts of Devon wildlife:
Several nationally uncommon species occur on the heath including the Grayling butterfly, and breeding Stonechat, Dartford Warbler and Nightjar.
With a little more here:
Fire Beacon Hill Local Nature Reserve – East Devon
This is from a “public review and consultation on current management and future options” from 2018:
Fire Beacon Hill Local Nature Reserve (c26 ha)… is owned by Sidmouth Town Council and is managed on the Council’s behalf by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). RSPB also manages an area of heathland within Core Hill Wood. The RSPB has managed the LNR since 1994. Initially management included manual removal of some scrub and trees to restore open habitats – a very labour intensive procedure…
FIRE BEACON HILL LOCAL NATURE RESERVE: Information Leaflet
The RSPB has been pushing for the remaining trees to be spared the regular “sculpting”, to allow overhead electricity wires to pass through them.
The wires are also a hazard to birds that hit the wires. As Charles Sinclair of the Sid Valley Biodiversity Group says:
“I have heard of a nature reserve where foxes regularly prowl under the electricity lines to pick up the injured or dead birds as their first meal of the day.”
Sid Valley Biodiversity Group – Promoting & Enhancing The Natural Beauty of the Sid Valley
The RSPB have been working with both the East Devon AONB team and Western Power Distribution for several years looking at the possibility to underground the 33KVA power lines that cross over Fire Beacon Hill.
The RSPB will be holding a consultation event on Thursday 22nd September in the parish rooms in Sidbury between 2pm and 6.30pm.