WETLANDS RESTORATION

The Radnorshire Wildlife Trust has made an important contribution to national guidance on the conservation of wetlands through its Conservation Manager Julian Jones.

The UK Wildlife Trusts have just launched the complete Wetland Restoration Manual, a definitive guide to best practice in wetland restoration work. Julian is responsible for a substantial section of the Manual, dealing with lowland wet grasslands.

The wetlands of the British countryside - marshes, mires, bogs and pastures that have not been drained - are a haven for wildlife. They are home to a huge diversity of plants and animals that need wet conditions to survive.

However wetlands are not just of interest to wildlife enthusiasts. They are of crucial importance in reducing the risk of flooding in towns and villages.

This is because wetlands act as sponges that store flood water after periods of heavy rain. This slows the flow of flood water downstream, allowing it to drain down to groundwater below the soil surface.

On the coast wetlands provide a barrier between the sea and built-up areas inland. Salt marshes absorb the energy of storms and provide a storage area for high tides.

The Wildlife Trusts in the UK have joined with the Environment Agency and the Water Industry to form the Water for Wildlife partnership. This partnership is working throughout the UK to restore drained and damaged wetlands and create new ones.

In 2004-5, the partnership created or restored 400 hectares (1,000 acres) of wetland in the UK. This included restoring traditional ‘washlands’ which provide animal grazing in summer and flood storage in winter, allowing managed ‘coastal retreat’, putting the bends back in straightened-out rivers, and creating large areas of reedbed.

The newly-launched Wetland Restoration Manual will act as an invaluable tool to support this work.

Julian’s section of the Manual is an impressive piece of work. It covers all aspects of lowland wet grasslands, including their ecology, how they have been affected by changes in agricultural practices and the statutory framework for their protection.

It also includes a detailed practical guide to the restoration of damaged wetlands and the recreation of wetlands that have been lost.

‘It was a big undertaking to write this section of the Manual’, said Julian. ‘I hope that it will encourage landowners to protect the wetlands that survive in Mid Wales and where possible to recreate the wetlands that have been lost.’

The picture that he paints of the alternative is bleak: ‘I think that most people would be very sad if birds like the curlew and flowers like ragged robin and marsh orchids disappeared for good from our countryside.’

The complete Wetland Restoration Manual runs to 660 pages and is available from NHBS (tel. 01803 805913, website: www.nhbs.com) price £45.