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Fen Management Handbook - Scottish Natural Heritage

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7.5.2 Drain filling using brushwood faggots<br />

Brushwood faggots are another alternative method of blocking up drains, made by<br />

bundling birch twigs using twine (either jute or plastic), and staking in place within the<br />

drainage channel to prevent movement. Water flowing over and through the packed<br />

material will deposit fines and organic matter that aids consolidation and provides<br />

a firm substrate safe for livestock to cross, and ripe for colonisation by vegetation.<br />

However, at a trial site in Blackensford in 1999, the use of faggots to prevent<br />

headward erosion was unsuccessful. Faggots have the best chance of success if used<br />

in conjunction with other material such as bank spoil to infill a channel, and where the<br />

water table remains above the faggots throughout the year to prevent rapid decay.<br />

Faggots can also be used to good effect in conjunction with clay plugs.<br />

162<br />

Gabion baskets were installed in the New Forest during the early 1990s in<br />

an attempt to control erosion. The wire cages were filled with oversize gravel<br />

to provide a robust material over and through which the head of water could<br />

descend from the level of the mire down into the drainage channel. The success<br />

of this technique has varied. The wire of the baskets is vulnerable to the acid<br />

waters of the mire, which is thought to remove the protective zinc coating and<br />

hasten rusting. Apart from the reduced structural integrity, exposed and broken<br />

wire is unsightly and a potential hazard for livestock and people. The water exiting<br />

the mire did not always flow over or through the gabion, and in several instances<br />

the peat has continued to erode upstream of the gabion. Consequently use of<br />

gabions has been discontinued and is not recommended.<br />

7.6 References<br />

Broads Authority “Broadland Turf Pond Surveys 2005 and Analysis of Data 1983-2005<br />

Brooks, S. & Stoneman, R. Conserving bogs: the management handbook. The<br />

Stationery Office, Edinburgh.<br />

Boeye, D., van Straaten, D. & Verheyen, R.F. 1995. A recent transformation from poor to<br />

rich fen caused by artificial groundwater recharge. Journal of Hydrology 169, 111-<br />

129.<br />

Conway, V. 1942. Biological Flora of the British Isles. Cladium mariscus. Journal of<br />

Ecology 30, 211-216.<br />

Excell, A. 2003. Restoration update – Redgrave and Lopham <strong>Fen</strong> NNR. Conservation<br />

Land <strong>Management</strong> 1 (2), 8-12.<br />

Grootjans, A. & Van Diggelen, R. 1995. Assessing the restoration prospects of degraded<br />

fens. In: Restoration of Temperate Wetlands (eds. B.D. Wheeler, S.C. Shaw, W.J.<br />

Fojt & R.A. Robertson), pp. 73-90. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester.<br />

Hawke, C.J. & José, P.V. 1996. Reedbed <strong>Management</strong> for Commercial and Wildlife<br />

Interests. Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Sandy.<br />

Meade, R., Mawby, F. & Hammond, G. 2007. Swarth Moor: restoring the fen and raised<br />

bog to favourable condition. Contract FST 19/04/049 Report to <strong>Natural</strong> England<br />

by Roger Meade Associates, Frank Mawby Associates and Penny Anderson<br />

Associates.<br />

Meade, R. & Wheeler, B.D. 2007. Raised bogs from gravel pits? In: Minerals extraction<br />

and wetland creation, Proceedings of a workshop held in Doncaster 26-27<br />

September, 2005 (eds. R. Meade & N. Humphries). pp. 41-49. <strong>Natural</strong> England.<br />

Roworth, P. & Meade, R. (1998). Pumping Shirley Pool. Enact 6 (2), 12-13.<br />

White, G. and Gilbert, J., eds., 2003. Habitat creation handbook for the minerals<br />

industry. Sandy: RSPB.

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