Fen Management Handbook - Scottish Natural Heritage

‘Soft track’ machines, such as that used by the RSPB on their Ham Wall reserve
in Somerset, are also designed for large-scale mowing and collection.
Softrac with ‘cut and collect’ harvester in use at Aber Bogs, Loch Lomond NNR (A.McBride)
Machines developed specifically for wet conditions include the Swedish
manufactured ‘Truxor’ which is both amphibious and capable of tracking across
dry ground. This type of machine is being used at Amwell Nature Reserve in
Hertfordshire to improve the structure of reedbeds for bitterns.
Rubber tracked tractor with Ryetec contractor flail collector cutting fen on the Leckford Estate on the River Test, Hampshire.
This type of machine works well on land which is too soft or steep for a wheeled tractor, and has facility for attachment of swipes,
flails, rotovators and chippers (S. Duffield).
Fen harvesters have recently been developed to make annual cutting and mowing
of large areas such as the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads more viable. This type of
machine cuts in a single pass with double reciprocating blades, and simultaneously
collects cut material using an augur. The cut vegetation is then fed via rollers into a
forage harvester which chops it into strands approximately 20 mm long, which are
thrown via a chute into a large 8 cubic metre bin. The harvester can then either tip
and pile the material, or it is fed with air into a pipeline which either blows the cut
material off-site or into a bulk trailer, thus avoiding risk of damage to the fen surface
from repeated use of terrestrial vehicles.
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