Painting a picture of the Poldens

From the low-lying Somerset Levels the higher ground of the Polden Hills are easily visible; a distinctive low ridge, rising up to 108m above sea level. This glorious rich, jaw-droppingly spectacular, but at the same time, almost modestly shy landscape has held a very special place in the Trust’s history.

From the low-lying Somerset Levels, the higher ground of the Polden Hills or Poldens are easily visible; a distinctive low ridge, rising up to 108m above sea level at their highest point. Seven thousand years ago, views from the Poldens would have been of the sea, saltmarsh and reedy swamps, while 5,500 years ago there would have been freshwater wetlands full of wildlife. The eastern side is the steepest where flower-rich grasslands now replace sea cliffs. From the top of the Poldens you can see villages, such as Burtle, an ancient sandbank with seashells standing above the peaty soils - a reminder of the area’s marine past. The Poldens is split into two parts - lying west to east - starting close to the coastline (Puriton) and finishing just beyond Street, with a gap near Ashcott. Important for wildlife, the Poldens have been grazed for centuries at a low intensity, developing short calcareous grasslands and downlands. These are home to diverse communities of wildlife, in particular flowers and invertebrates, including many that are locally and nationally rare. The steeper areas – the escarpments – by their nature have mostly escaped significant changes, such as development and cultivation, providing refuges for beetles, butterflies and orchids. Although the Poldens may appear isolated at first glance, they provide a natural corridor and nature recovery network for wildlife between the coastline on the west and different habitats surrounding it inland. They are one of the original landscape-scale restoration projects that we have been involved with (alongside the Avalon Marshes).

Historical Context

Grazing with domestic livestock restores and maintains the species-rich grasslands on the Poldens. However, in their absence, the grassland becomes smothered with scrub (and eventually woodland). This has happened over the past 200 years when grazing shifted downhill to a higher intensity on the lush pastures of the Somerset Levels. Then, during the 1950s and 1960s, parts of the escarpments that had been abandoned by farmers were planted with mostly evergreen trees - for forestry and commercial interests - further suffocating the rich grassland environments. Fortuitously, many trees didn’t survive in some areas and fragments of wildlife-rich downland remained.