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HELPING YOU TO HELP WILDLIFE ON YOUR FARM |
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Reversion of arable land to lowland wet grassland for breeding waders |
01.11.2005 |
Author: Niki Williamson, Fenland Farmland Bird Advisor, on behalf of Chris Barnes
Farm: Guys Cottage, Manea, Cambs |
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Aims:
Chris manages 120 ha in the Cambridgeshire Fens, most of which is farmed by contractors producing mostly wheat. The farm is in ELS, with points coming from 6m grass margins and ditch management. The holding is in several small blocks. Turf Fen is a 40 ha block. The six fields are the lowest lying in the district. The site’s conversion to arable in the 1940s was never a great success. As well as poor clay/silt soil there is a resistant black grass problem which costs £50-£100/ha/year to control. Historic maps show plover traps in the area suggesting presence of a breeding population in the past. The site is also on a direct flight path between the RSPB’s Ouse Washes and Nene Washes reserves, both SSSIs designated for their breeding wader populations. With increased occurrence of summer flooding on the Ouse Washes causing problems for breeding waders, this site could provide a valuable refuge area. Based on these considerations, Chris decided to convert the fields back to grassland. |
Management:
A levelling survey carried out in February 2007 by Natural England showed that the required water levels could be attained.
500kg of grass seed was sown by minimum tillage into stubble from the final wheat crop in September 2007. The mix consisted of 20% creeping red fescue, 15% crested dogstail, 10% common bent grass, 15% rough stalked meadow grass, 20% meadow fescue, 10% Yorkshire fog, 5% timothy, 1% yarrow, 2% meadow buttercup, 2% ribwort plantain.
Existing ditches were slubbed out and reprofiled to remove steep banks and create cattle drinking bays. Some of this material was used to create blind ends to other ditches to raise water levels. Dams with water control structures were installed. The holding used to consist of 14 fields but many dividing ditches were filled in during its time as arable land. It was intended to create a network of furrows and footdrains along the lines of these ditches, using a rotary ditcher with laser-levelling capabilities. It is hoped this will provide a large area of wet features providing chick feeding opportunities, as well as enabling water to reach areas that would otherwise remain dry.
The two fields at either end of the holding are not suitable for management as lowland wet grassland. One is located next to a busy road and one is next to industrial buildings and under telegraph wires. They are however of benefit to other species such as brown hare, reed bunting and corn bunting so were entered into the scheme as HK17, Creation of Grassland for Target Features.
The project needed a large up front investment including £7400 for grass seed and its establishment, £1500 for subsequent sward management, £14,000 for fencing works, £7000 for water level management works, and £5000 to install electric pumps. HLS capital works payments covered about 75% of this outlay. Over the 10 years of the HLS agreement, Chris expects to be better off financially than if he had carried on growing cereals and as such regards the initial costs as part of a long term investment.
By February 2008, there were large bare patches in the sward. It is thought that the grass was being killed off in places by residual herbicide in the soil. This had last been applied in March 2007. The bare patches were resown in March 2008, and grass establishment was much more successful.
This problem had knock-on effects on management, as the land was due to be grazed in 2008. Under the circumstances, this was not possible. The land was topped but attempts were made to create a varied sward by adjusting the height of the topper in different areas of the holding.
Setbacks also arose creating furrows with the rotary ditcher. The land proved too wet and only one field was completed. Plans are in place to improve water transfer around the site by subsoiling and paraplowing along the original lines the ditcher was to follow.
A special project to install power lines for electric pumps was needed due to continued theft of diesel pumps, fuel and batteries. Electric pumps have the added advantage of an inbuilt ‘stopcock’ type arrangement so pumping stops when the required water level is reached, achieving a more stable and automated system.
Ongoing work is centred around fine-tuning water level management. Raising of the water table to adequate levels to create wet areas has so far not been achieved. Work is taking place to build up a bank at the lowest corner of the project so that higher water levels can be achieved across the block of land. Four scrapes are also to be created. Attempts to block ditch ends with steel plates were ineffective and are being replaced with solid dams. Chris was able to graze 200 ewes on the land for 6 weeks in January and February 2009, and this year he should be able to install cattle handling facilities and put cattle on the land for the first time when the breeding season is over.
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Achievements:
Winter bird surveys carried out by RSPB staff have shown peaks of 29 snipe and 67 lapwing during February 2009. Interestingly large numbers of wintering songbirds have also been recorded, including 100+ skylarks, 100+ meadow pipits, 70 linnets and 27 reed buntings. The ungrazed grass would have set seed, providing an abundant winter food source for some of these birds. Presence of a short-eared owl during winter indicates small mammals are thriving on the site. Two snipe and a lapwing were recorded on the site in mid-March 2009. Soil compaction is low and earthworm density is favourable at around 4 worms per 100mm cube. If sward composition and water level management can be rectified then the site should begin to attract breeding waders in the near future. |
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©2010 Farm Wildlife |
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| Images ©RSPB, except Greater Horseshoe Bat ©Bat Conservation Trust |
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