Wild About Devon (WAD) is a platform and network to help guide and inspire community action for wildlife. With so many fantastic community groups in Devon playing their part to tackle the Climate and Ecological Emergency, WAD provides a central place to link communities with conservation organisations and experts.
Our aim is to inspire communities to set up their own groups and projects with help from the Devon Local Nature Partnership’s many partners and start to make a real difference in their area.
Join the Wild About Devon Facebook Page to share and find out about community events.
Contact us with news, ideas or feedback at: naturalenvironment-mailbox@devon.gov.uk. Wild About Devon is all about connecting people and so will only work with your input. Please let us know if you can help or how we can improve things. Contact us at naturalenvironment-mailbox@devon.gov.uk
Wild About Devon want to keep in touch with you to facilitate networking for communities taking action for wildlife and to share information on grants, awards, events and other relevant information. To join the Wild About Devon Forum, please fill out this form.
By signing up to the Wild About Devon Forum, you are consenting to share your email address with the other members of the Wild About Devon Forum to facilitate networking within the group, and agreeing not to share members’ email addresses outside of this forum.
Nominations now open until Friday 28th February!
Find out how to submit nominations, and read about previous award winners.
A key part of Wild About Devon’s mission to support community action for nature is the involvement of Parish and Town Councils (P&TCs). Taking action for wildlife should be a priority for P&TCs along with pavements, potholes, play areas and planning!
Find out more about legislation, policy and planning
Surveys, Funding, and the role of
Parish and Town CouncilsFind out about our Forum, including in person and online events, and how to get involved
Wild About Devon runs an annual grant scheme providing funding to community wildlife and nature projects. Find out about past and present funding.
Take a look at our Community Action Map and add your group
We’ve created a 3-minute animation to help summarise Wild About Devon.
There is a steering group overseeing the work of Wild About Devon. See the full list of organisations.
Important: This initiative is overseen by the Devon County Council ecology team who co-ordinate the Devon LNP. They do not have the capacity to provide direct advice to community groups and so please don’t expect this. However, the contacts list (below) provides details of organisations, groups and consultants who can provide advice (either free or for a charge).
Community Wildlife Grant Scheme 2024 – Applications are closed!
Due to overwhelming demand, all funds have been distributed for this year’s Community Wildlife Grant Scheme! The response from communities across Devon has been fantastic, with numerous inspiring projects already underway to protect and enhance local wildlife.
Communities could apply for up to £500 to fund initiatives that support local wildlife and biodiversity. 
This grant scheme recognises the vital role community action can play in creating long term benefits for wildlife. This could range from gardens and parks, to churchyards, orchards, window boxes, ponds and ditches, buildings and more!
The grant was developed by the Devon Local Nature Partnership and is financed by the Devon Environment Foundation (DEF), Devon Communities Together (DCT), and Devon County Council (DCC), as part of the commitment to help tackle the Ecological Emergency.
While the application window was originally set to close on 1st October 2024, the high level of interest and volume of fantastic projects led to the scheme closing early on 2nd September 2024.
Stay tuned for more updates on the 2024 grant scheme and its impact.
To find out more about the scheme, please visit the Devon Communities Together website. If you would like to find out about the positive impacts brought about by the grant scheme in 2023, read this summary report.
Community Action Map
Help us all to connect and find out what others are doing by adding your group or project to this new interactive map.
Wild About Devon Facebook Group
Got a burning question that other community groups might be able to answer? Want to share your expertise and help others or just connect with like-minded souls? Why not join our Wild About Devon Facebook discussion group! Use this to share information on events, webinars and other handy updates on wildlife issues and projects across Devon.
Community Action for Wildlife Devon | Facebook
Wild About Devon Forum
We hold two forum meetings a year to get community nature practitioners together to network, share ideas and learn about the fantastic work taking place across Devon.
Our next event will be held on the 4th July. Join our mailing list or email bridie.devonnature@gmail.com if you would like an invite.
We previously held some online webinars with useful content – find the previous webinars here.
Contacts
Webinars
We are setting up a series of webinars for community groups and Parish and Town Councils and will promote any other relevant webinars that partners are running. See our community webinars page for details.
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Privacy Notice – Wild About Devon
Devon County Council (DCC) is collecting and or processing your personal data as a Data Controller under Data Protection Legislation and our ICO registration number is Z6475582. This privacy notice concerns the processing of personal data that takes place by DCC’s Natural Environment Team.
This notice explains what information we collect, why we collect it and how we keep it secure. It also explains your rights and our legal obligation. Should you wish to find out more about Devon County Council’s data protection policies please contact our Data Protection Officer.
We will notify you of any changes to this privacy notice
This privacy notice was last updated 27th October 2022. If we use your personal data for any new purposes, updates will be made to the policy information and changes communicated, where necessary in accordance with current data protection legislation. Any queries relating to this privacy notice please contact the Data Protection Officer.
What information are we processing?
We may collect, store or otherwise process information about you which may include:
- Your name
- Your email address
Purpose of collecting or processing your personal data
DCC may need to collect or otherwise process your personal data personal data so that we can;
- Notify you of information related to Wild About Devon
The legal basis for us collecting your personal data
Where we are collecting personal data about you for the provision of one of the purposes outlined in this privacy notice, we rely upon your consent for this purpose. You may withdraw your consent at any time by emailing us.
Personal data that is collected for any of the purposes outlined in this notice is never used for direct marketing purposes and is not sold on to any other third parties.
Recipients or categories of recipients that we may share your personal data with
If we feel that it is necessary to share your personal data with professionals to ensure you or someone you work with is safeguarded from harm, we rely upon the provisions of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and Children Act 1989 & 2004. Where it is necessary to share medical or social care information for these purposes, we rely upon article 9(2)(h) of the General Data Protection Regulation (information necessary for medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems).
We may also need to share some personal data about you, so that we can support third party organisations to discharge their regulatory requirements. This includes organisations such as;
- The data protection regulator (the Information Commissioner’s Office)
- The Care Quality Commission
We may also share information to enable us to comply with court orders and other legal obligations. If this is necessary, we will only share the minimum amount of personal data needed for this purpose.
International transfers
No personal data is transferred outside of the European Union.
How long will we hold your personal data?
Devon County Council will retain your personal data for the length of Wild About Devon initiative.
Your data protection rights
Under Data Protection Legislation, you have the right to obtain a copy of their personal records held by us, this is called a Subject Access Request (SAR).
Further details on your rights under data protection legislation and how to exercise them.
We are required to offer you the opportunity to withdraw your consent at any time. If you wish to withdraw your consent, please contact ‘naturalenvironment-mailbox@devon.gov.uk’.
Complaints
If you have any comments, queries or complaints about this privacy notice or the processing of your personal data please contact our Data Protection Officer.
Alternatively, if you are not happy with the way that DCC is handling your personal data, you are entitled to appeal to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). The Information Commissioners Office enforces and oversees the Data Protection Regulations.
Contact details::
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AFEmail: casework@ico.org.uk
Automated decisions
The intended processing of your personal data, will not include use of technology that will make decisions about any individuals by automated means.