31-Aug-2006
- Work is about to start on one of the largest
habitat restoration projects ever seen in Cornwall.
The £100,000 scheme, led
by the Environment Agency and Rural Development
Service, involves the flooding of 15 hectares
of reclaimed farmland near Sladesbridge on the
Camel Estuary to re-create a valuable new saltmarsh
habitat.
On completion, the estuary and
surrounding wetlands will become even more attractive
to species such as otter, kingfisher, lapwing,
avocet, curlew, flounder and mullet.
The Environment Agency’s Operations
Delivery team will move on site next week and
start re-shaping old floodbanks, putting in new
drainage pipes and creating a network of creeks
in three riverside meadows between Sladesbridge
and Guineaport.
When complete, the previously
defended farmland will become inundated with seawater
at spring tides through a series of pipes and
system of intertidal creeks allowing the area
to revert to saltmarsh and mudflats.
The project has been funded
by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs (Defra) through its Rural Development
Service and Environmental Stewardship scheme with
support from English Nature and two local landowners.
Among birds likely to benefit
from the project is the Lapwing that breeds on
Bodmin Moor and nearby Amble Marshes and could
start nesting in the restored saltmarshes if the
grazing is right. The area is also expected to
attract rare migrant visitors such as lesser yellow
legs.
‘The opportunity to create saltmarsh
in Cornwall is very rare so we are particularly
excited by this project. The restoration of an
internationally important intertidal habitat will
improve an area already rich in wildlife that
also has a high landscape value,’ said James Burke
for the Environment Agency.
Work on the project will start
on September 4 and take around 12 weeks to complete.
An official ‘opening’ is planned for the New Year.
Because of the sensitive nature
of the new habitat, access will be restricted
to fishermen.
The habitat restoration follows
the successful completion in 2003 of a £1.8
million flood defence scheme in Sladesbridge that
now protects 27 local properties. The scheme,
that took a year to build, included the construction
of new flood walls and embankments in the centre
and outskirts of the village to protect Sladesbridge
and the neighbouring communities of Clapper and
Egloshayle.
The area chosen for the project
lies within a natural floodplain and forms part
of a Special Area of Conservation, Site of Special
Scientific Interest, Area of Great Landscape Value
and County Wildlife Site.
During construction there will be some minor disruption
to the Camel Trail to allow machinery to access
the fields.
The Agency also has planning
permission to carry out similar habitat improvements
in a fourth field on the opposite bank of the
Camel taking the total area of habitat improvements
to 25 hectares. This work will be undertaken as
a separate phase – probably next year.
Old maps of Sladesbridge show
that around 100 years ago part of the area ear-marked
for improvements were ‘saltings’ (saltmarsh).
Future management of the site
will include grazing by native breeds of cattle
that are better suited to grazing in wetter conditions.
The amount of water entering the site will be
controlled by the new pipes being installed by
the Environment Agency.
In the past the fields have
been used for light grazing and occasionally cut
for hay in the summer. No major work has been
done on this part of the Camel Estuary since the
1960’s when some old oxbow lakes were filled in.
Mike Dunning
