East Midlands Focus

Wet Grassland and Grazing Marsh Restoration Success

Important successes in the restoration of wet grasslands in Lincolnshire have been achieved, with large numbers of breeding and wintering waders and wildfowl, demonstrating just what can be done to benefit biodiversity. FWAG Farm Conservation Adviser Roger Wardle reports.

FWAG has been working with interested farmers to help retain and restore the traditional pastoral livestock farming systems that provide essential habitats for many declining species.  Economics form a very important and sometimes complex part of the interaction between FWAG, the farm business and other parties in developing schemes that maintain farm viability, usually through Environmental Stewardship, providing funding for both annual and capital works.

In February 2004 Fred Rowson and his family made an application to recreate 46 ha (115 acres) of wet grassland and hay meadows.  Work involved creating linear channels that simulate in some ways, wide spaced ridge and furrow.  Channels are unconnected to the ditches and are a modification to the system of foot drains used by the RSPB.  The difference is that they are somewhat deeper and spoil is carefully spread to create multiple, discrete, water catchments for each channel.  This new system was developed on the same principles that were successful in years gone by for livestock watering using dewponds.

The channels provide extensive marginal feeding areas for waders and their chicks but also allow easy access for management tasks with tractors.  Birds mostly nest on the dryer slightly raised slopes with good vision of predators and are unlikely to be flooded out.
 
There was scepticism that this system would work on the sites clay soils but the results have far exceeded expectations.  The system is very sustainable as it harvests and stores the rainfall in normal seasons without the need, cost, or energy to pump water.  The secondary advantage of this system is the high water quality that teams with insects, in turn feeding the birds and attracting other species such as dragonflies and bats.

There was great excitement when in the first year the former wheat fields attracted 12 pairs of breeding lapwing together with other scarce species.  This was only the start, and by the third year, during 9 hours of survey work, this had increased to an incredible 74 lapwing nests.  Other breeding species included, redshank, a very scare inland breeder in recent times, due to lack of suitable habitat.  Research is now beginning on assessing the habitat more carefully, including a study on the presence and density of invertebrates that appear a key to the very high survival rate of the lapwing chicks. 

However, much of the credit for the success of the project must go to Fred Rowson and his tenant graziers who have followed recommendations carefully in order to create suitable conditions for the birds.  Breeding birds have not been the only success, with huge numbers of wintering and migrating birds, on occasions up to 5000 in number, including 850 grazing widgeon.  The results from this site are being used to encourage other similar projects in the vicinity with a further 75 ha having just been completed under HLS, with early signs of similar success.

Not all schemes are for birds.  A further example is land owned by Andrew Spence where the protection and extension of species rich grassland and extremely scare hay meadows were targeted.  Careful simulation of the SSSI conditions, including raised water levels, has encouraged successful colonisation by the scarce green winged orchid (orchis morio).

It cannot be overstated how much the co-operation and interest of the farmers has been to the current success stories.  Whilst these features have been created in Lincolnshire, they could never the less be equally successful in other parts of the country, not just on the lowlands but along river and stream corridors to benefit a wide range of species, not just breeding waders.

The good news for the future is that the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation is currently providing funding for the secondment of Roger Wardle to the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust to work as Environmental Land Management Project Officer. This was made possible with the help of many organisations, including funding from English Nature and English Heritage, to help restore the Lincolnshire Coast Grazing Marsh.

Roger can be contacted on 01522 535540 or roger.wardle@fwag.org.uk

For a pdf version of this article, please click the link.

• Wet Grassland and Grazing Restoration Success (PDF 2.58MB)