Farming for

A Living Landscape

Protecting Wildlife for the Future

This partnership project, led by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, operates at a landscape scale to protect, restore and re-create semi-natural habitats in the Nene Valley and the wider catchment.

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.

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.

Nene Valley Nature Improvement Area

Agri-environment schemes are vital to the Nene Valley

Rebuilding habitats for wildlife and people

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Dovecote farm meadow before...

...and after restoration

Reconnecting the Upper Nene ValleySummer 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

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.

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.

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.

Bonus for ground nesting and farmland birds

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.

This project has been supported by Defra, DCLG, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission and Natural England.

The Wildlife TrustsThe Kiln, WatersideMather RoadNewarkNottinghamshireNG24 1WT

Tel: 01636 677711

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 (cowen@wildlifetrusts.org)

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