Download Nene Valley - The Wildlife Trusts

Farming for
Nathalie Hueber
A Living Landscape
Nene Valley Nature Improvement Area
Rebuilding habitats for wildlife and people
It will create a better functioning environment that is rich in wildlife,
beneficial for people and supportive of ecosystem goods and services
such as food production, natural flood attenuation and recreation.
At the heart of the 41,350 hectare Nature Improvement Area
(NIA) is the Upper Nene Valley Gravel Pits Special Protection
Area, Site of Special Scientific Interest and Ramsar Site.
BCN Wildlife Trust
This partnership project, led by the Wildlife Trust for
Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, operates
at a landscape scale to protect, restore and re-create seminatural habitats in the Nene Valley and the wider catchment.
Working with landowners is key to success
Agri-environment schemes are vital to the Nene Valley
The Upper Nene Valley is an
important
wetland
landscape
used by internationally significant
numbers of over-wintering golden
plover, gadwall and mute swan;
nationally significant over-wintering
numbers of seven other waterfowl
species and a nationally significant
breeding
bird
assemblage.
However, the Valley sits within an
area of the country which has seen
one of the highest rates of species
extinction in the UK. The river has
been separated from its floodplain
and as a result diverse habitats
have been lost, along with the
ecosystem services they provide.
There are very few protected
nature conservation sites and just
5% of the Nene Valley has been
formally designated, while urban
areas cover 9%.
This means
that mechanisms to make the
wider landscape more wildlife
friendly are incredibly important
for achieving the aims of the NIA.
Agri-environment schemes are one
of the most effective tools available
and currently cover 55.8% of the
Nene Valley, comprising 12.8%
Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) and
43% Entry Level Stewardship (ELS).
The NIA team’s land management
advisor has been proactively
bringing land holdings into HLS
and as a result, a further 1,167
hectares of land will come into
HLS during 2013-14, bringing the
coverage of HLS up to 13.5%.
The agreements will include
at least 73 hectares of priority
habitat creation or restoration.
Protecting Wildlife for the Future
Summer Leys nature reserve is a former gravel pit
that is now one of the most important wetlands
in the Upper Nene Valley and a hotspot for
breeding and overwintering wildfowl and waders.
It is surrounded by several other lakes and a mixture
of grassland and arable fields, including Wollaston
Meadows SSSI - one of the few remnants of
species-rich grassland left in the Nene Valley. To
improve the wildlife value of the surrounding land
and reconnect the fragmented habitats, seven HLS
agreements have been implemented to recreate 80
hectares of species-rich grassland, restore five lakes
and several smaller ponds, and manage grassland
for overwintering and breeding waders. Access for
people has also been improved by installing a boardwalk
over a previously inaccessible reedbed and putting up
fencing and gates to enable management of access
in more sensitive areas.
Dovecote Farm arable reversion scheme
The developing meadow flora has been monitored every year since
establishment, based on methodology set by the Floodplain Meadows
Partnership; 33 plant species were recorded in 2013, including some
of the key species of wet meadows such as great burnet, ragged-robin
and meadow foxtail. The meadows are usually cut for hay in summer
and have produced a high yield every year, even when improved
grasslands nearby are suffering because of poor weather conditions.
RNRP
Dovecote Farm sits alongside the River Nene and is traversed by the Nene
Valley Way long distance footpath. The fields selected for reversion cover
13 hectares and were originally species-rich meadow until the 1970s, when
they were converted to arable. Despite annual flooding, arable production
continued until 2007 when the last crop of oilseed rape was harvested and
the fields were brought into HLS under specific arable-reversion options.
Dovecote farm meadow before...
Matt Johnson
The reversion scheme has reduced sediment and chemical input to the
river, while creating habitat for pollinating insects, birds and small mammals.
The HLS agreement has also improved access for people by linking up
existing footpaths to provide a walking route alongside the new meadows.
...and after restoration
The intensive agriculture of the Nene Valley can be inhospitable to many
bird species and other wildlife. The NIA team is working with landowners
to encourage the uptake of more wildlife-friendly farming practices,
including hedgerow restoration and appropriate management to provide
nesting sites;
wild bird food plots and restoration of species-rich
grassland to increase food supplies; and habitat creation to reconnect
the wildlife rich lakes and gravel pits and create a resilient ecological
network, so that opportunities for birds now stretch across the Valley.
Jamie Cooper
Bonus for ground nesting and farmland birds
Redshank will benefit
This project has been supported by Defra, DCLG, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission and Natural England.
A Living Landscape is a recovery plan for nature championed by The Wildlife Trusts to help create a
resilient and healthy environment rich in wildlife and provide ecological security for people. To find out
what advice and support is available from a Wildlife Trust near you, visit wildlifetrusts.org/farming
For more information on this project, please contact Charlotte Owen ([email protected])
The Wildlife Trusts
The Kiln, Waterside
Mather Road
Newark
Nottinghamshire
NG24 1WT
Tel: 01636 677711
Zsuzsanna Bird
Reconnecting the Upper Nene Valley