Turn the Tide Teignbridge

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Turn the Tide Teignbridge

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Turn the Tide is a fun, free, family-friendly environmental festival for all ages. We are a Community Interest Company, non-profit, run entirely by volunteers.

We work in partnership with Dawlish Town Council and are very grateful for their support. Announcing Turn the Tide, an annual event with Town Council. We also organise complementary events and activities throughout the year. Our first event was on 2nd June 2022 - on the Lawn, in the marquee, and other venues in Dawlish. On May29th 2023, we held our second event on the lawn and an evening fundraiser, 'Choral Tide' at the Hope Centre in Dawlish. In 2024, we are planning for two days, 8th and 9th June. Turn the Tide celebrates Dawlish Parish’s wonderful seaside location, coastline and waterways, featuring environmental, local, sustainable and ethical charities, organisations and businesses in and around Dawlish. Bringing a sea change to our town! Organised in conjunction with Dawlish Town Council by Dawlish Wildlife Wardens, Dawlish Against Plastic and Reconnect magazine.

• a fun, free event for all ages
• a celebration of our coastal location and sustainable living
• full of interactive, informative and inspirational activities
• workshops
• Music and entertainment

Watch this space for more details of what to expect! Email [email protected] if you'd like to join us. We welcome volunteers who would like to help plan the event.
• The event is non-party political.
• No charge for non-profit organisations to attend. If you know of other individuals, companies or organisations that would be interested in a presence, or have any other suggestions, please let us know.

03/11/2026

If you've spent any time around Dawlish Brook, you'll know that Mallards aren't exactly shy!

They're some of our most familiar residents, often seen swimming along the Brook, resting on its banks or confidently wandering across the Lawn.

Male Mallards are easy to recognise by their glossy green heads and chestnut-brown chests. But during summer, they temporarily develop mottled brown feathers, looking surprisingly similar to females!

And that familiar loud 'quack'? It's usually a female making all the noise. Males have a much quieter, raspier call.

Autumn is when Mallards begin pairing up for the next breeding season, so keep an eye out for some interesting courtship behaviour along the Brook.

With so many ducks and other wildfowl calling Dawlish home, it's important we help keep their habitat healthy. Food left behind can attract rats and affect water quality, so please make sure nothing is left on the banks or in the water.

🦆 Next time you're walking along the Brook, take a moment to see what our resident Mallards are getting up to!

02/11/2026

📍 Newhay, Dawlish

Tucked away beside St. Gregory's Dawlish, the Newhay is one of Dawlish's much-loved green spaces, with open meadow, mature trees, and a stretch of Dawlish Water running alongside it.

For generations, local people have enjoyed this peaceful corner of Dawlish, whether playing as children, walking their dogs or simply spending time outdoors.

But the Newhay is important for more than its memories.

Its mixture of grassland, trees and water provides a variety of habitats for local wildlife. In fact, a recent survey recorded an impressive 77 different plant species at the Newhay!

The mature trees offer shade and shelter, the meadow supports insects and other small creatures, and the brook forms an important part of the local freshwater environment.

Green spaces like this also help our town adapt to a changing climate. Trees provide cooling shade during increasingly hot summers, while vegetation and healthy soils help absorb rainfall and reduce surface water runoff.

In July 2025, a petition to save the Newhay was presented to Dawlish Town Council with 1,542 signatures, demonstrating just how much this special place means to the community. It has since been recognised as an Asset of Community Value.

The Newhay is a reminder that protecting our green spaces isn't just about preserving somewhere beautiful. It's about looking after nature, our local environment and the places that bring communities together.

💡 Want to help? Friends of the Newhay, Dawlish are hosting a free community event on Saturday 14 November to share memories, explore ideas and help shape the Newhay's future. Join the procession from the Lawn at 12:30pm or head to St Gregory's Church from 1–4pm.

Find out more and book your free place 👉 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/do-you-care-about-the-newhay-tickets-2003222886579

Can't make it? Share your memories, photographs and ideas in collection boxes at Presents Of Dawlish, the Hub store, The Strand Community Centre or The Dawlish Bookshop on Queen Street.

31/10/2026

🎃 Nothing says Dawlish quite like a swan!

One of our directors, Georgia, had grand plans to carve a fabulous swan pumpkin to wish you all a Happy Halloween. Unfortunately, her artistic abilities didn't quite match her ambitions, so here's the drastically less elaborate version instead.

From all of us at Turn the Tide, Happy Halloween!

And a little wildlife-friendly reminder for when the festivities are over: please don't leave your pumpkins in woodlands or other natural spaces. Pumpkins can make wildlife unwell, particularly hedgehogs, and discarded food can disrupt local habitats.

Instead, remove any candles and decorations, compost your pumpkin at home if you can, or pop it in your food waste caddy for Teignbridge Council to collect.

Happy Halloween! 👻

28/10/2026

🦇 Something spooky is flying overhead this Halloween…

But there's nothing to fear from the common pipistrelle!

Weighing about the same as a 20p coin, the common pipistrelle is one of the UK's smallest bats. Despite its tiny size, it can eat up to 3,000 insects in a single night!

These little bats are a familiar sight in gardens, parks and woodlands, darting through the dusk in search of midges, mosquitoes and other flying insects. They use echolocation to navigate and hunt in the dark.

Although they're one of our most widespread bats, common pipistrelles still face threats from habitat loss, disturbance and artificial lighting.

Want to help our nocturnal neighbours? One of the easiest things you can do is switch off unnecessary outdoor lights at night. Dark spaces help bats travel and hunt without disturbance.

You could also consider putting up a bat box! These provide additional places for bats to shelter and roost, particularly where natural spaces are limited.

Find out how to choose and position a bat box with the Bat Conservation Trust 👉 https://www.bats.org.uk/our-work/buildings-planning-and-development/bat-boxes/putting-up-your-box

26/10/2026

🍄 Enter our Fungi Photography Competition!

We're inviting photographers of all ages and abilities to get outdoors and capture the wonderful world of fungi!

Whether you've spotted mushrooms in your garden, toadstools in the woods or something unusual on your travels, we'd love to see your photographs.

Sponsored by Forest Fungi, the competition costs just £1 per photograph, with a maximum of three entries per person. You can use a camera or phone, and photographs taken within the last four years are welcome too!

All entries will be displayed at the Turn the Tide Festival on Dawlish Lawn on Saturday 10 July 2027, with prizes up for grabs.

Entries close on Friday 9 July 2027, so there's plenty of time to get snapping!

Find out more, including how to enter and the competition rules 👉 https://www.turnthetidefestival.uk/events-initiatives/2027-fungi-photography

24/10/2026

🍂 Every autumn, millions of leaves fall from our trees, but they don’t suddenly stop being useful once they hit the ground.

Fallen leaves create shelter for all sorts of wildlife. Insects and other invertebrates hide amongst them, while animals such as hedgehogs can use piles of leaves when building their winter nests.

They’re also part of a natural recycling system. Fungi, worms and microorganisms gradually break leaves down, returning nutrients to the soil and creating rich organic matter that helps plants grow.

🍁 Want to give wildlife a helping hand?
In your garden, clear leaves where they could become slippery, but try leaving some under hedges, around shrubs or in a quiet corner of the garden. You can also collect them to make leaf mould, which can be used as a soil improver once it has broken down.

21/10/2026

That beak is hard to miss!

The Eurasian curlew is the UK’s largest wading bird, instantly recognisable by its long, downward-curving bill. The females have the longest bills, which can reach around 15cm.

Around the Dawlish area, the Exe Estuary is an important place for curlews, particularly during the winter months. They use their extraordinary bills to probe mud and soft ground for worms, shellfish and other invertebrates.

You might hear one before you spot it too. Curlews get their name from their distinctive, bubbling ‘cur-lee’ call.

Sadly, curlews are in serious decline in the UK and are now Red-listed as a bird of conservation concern. Loss and changes to breeding habitat, predation and low breeding success have all contributed to falling numbers.

Spot a curlew locally? Record your sighting through BTO British Trust for Ornithology BirdTrack to help scientists monitor bird populations 👉 https://www.bto.org/get-involved/volunteer/projects/birdtrack

17/10/2026

📍 Cockwood Harbour

Cockwood Harbour is one of those places that can look completely different depending on what time you visit. At high tide, boats float across the water. A few hours later, many of them are sitting on the mud as the tide retreats back into the Exe Estuary.

That changing landscape is part of what makes the harbour such an interesting habitat too. At low tide, exposed mud provides feeding opportunities for birds, while the shallow water and surrounding estuary support fish, invertebrates and other wildlife.

You might spot gulls around the harbour throughout the year, as well as little egrets stalking through the shallows looking for food. And while Dawlish is famous for its black swans, over at Cockwood you might instead spot a familiar white mute swan gliding around the harbour.

Cockwood Harbour is directly connected to the wider Exe Estuary, so the health of the water, mud and wildlife here is linked to the health of the whole estuary.

💡 Want to help look after it?
Give feeding and resting birds plenty of space, keep dogs under control around wildlife, take litter home with you and avoid disturbing wildlife on the exposed mud.

You can find out more about the Exe Estuary and how to help protect it through the Exe Estuary Management Partnership 👉 https://www.exe-estuary.org/

14/10/2026

There’s more living in Dawlish Brook than you might think… including European eels!

And these aren’t just any fish. European eels have one of the most extraordinary life cycles in the natural world.

They begin life thousands of miles away in the Sargasso Sea, before their larvae travel across the Atlantic towards Europe. Young eels then make their way into rivers and streams, where they can spend many years growing, including right here in Dawlish Brook.

Eventually, as adults, they begin the huge journey back across the Atlantic to the Sargasso Sea to reproduce.

Sadly, European eels are now Critically Endangered. Habitat loss, pollution, barriers such as weirs and dams, and other pressures have all contributed to their decline.

It makes the Brook more than just a familiar part of Dawlish. It’s a habitat and wildlife corridor, connecting wildlife here in Devon with ecosystems thousands of miles away.

WADE: Waterways Around the Dawlish Environment do brilliant work caring for and improving the Brook and its wildlife. Give them a follow to find out more about what’s happening along our local waterway.

12/10/2026

Meet the Turn The Tide team: Scott Williams

You might already recognise Scott from around Dawlish, whether through Turn the Tide, WADE or Dawlish Town Council, but how much do you know about the person behind it all?

Scott moved to the UK as a child, settling in the South Hams with his family. After studying Catering Management and working in hospitality, his career took a turn into publishing, eventually leading him to take over Reconnect Magazine – a free Devon community magazine covering nature, sustainability, arts, rewilding, energy, community and wellbeing.

His passion for the environment also led him to become a volunteer Wildlife Warden with Action on Climate in Teignbridge, before helping to organise the very first Turn the Tide festival in 2022.

Since then, Scott has continued to get involved in environmental and community projects across Dawlish. He founded WADE: Waterways Around the Dawlish Environment, which works to celebrate and protect our local waterways, and in 2024 was co-opted onto Dawlish Town Council, where he now serves as Deputy Mayor.

At Turn the Tide, Scott brings together his interests in nature, community, creativity and environmental action, along with a fairly impressive inability to stop volunteering for things.

Thanks for everything you do, Scott!

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https://www.turnthetidefestival.uk/

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