Fen Management Handbook - Scottish Natural Heritage

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7.5.2 Drain filling using brushwood faggots Brushwood faggots are another alternative method of blocking up drains, made by bundling birch twigs using twine (either jute or plastic), and staking in place within the drainage channel to prevent movement. Water flowing over and through the packed material will deposit fines and organic matter that aids consolidation and provides a firm substrate safe for livestock to cross, and ripe for colonisation by vegetation. However, at a trial site in Blackensford in 1999, the use of faggots to prevent headward erosion was unsuccessful. Faggots have the best chance of success if used in conjunction with other material such as bank spoil to infill a channel, and where the water table remains above the faggots throughout the year to prevent rapid decay. Faggots can also be used to good effect in conjunction with clay plugs. 162 Gabion baskets were installed in the New Forest during the early 1990s in an attempt to control erosion. The wire cages were filled with oversize gravel to provide a robust material over and through which the head of water could descend from the level of the mire down into the drainage channel. The success of this technique has varied. The wire of the baskets is vulnerable to the acid waters of the mire, which is thought to remove the protective zinc coating and hasten rusting. Apart from the reduced structural integrity, exposed and broken wire is unsightly and a potential hazard for livestock and people. The water exiting the mire did not always flow over or through the gabion, and in several instances the peat has continued to erode upstream of the gabion. Consequently use of gabions has been discontinued and is not recommended. 7.6 References Broads Authority “Broadland Turf Pond Surveys 2005 and Analysis of Data 1983-2005 Brooks, S. & Stoneman, R. Conserving bogs: the management handbook. The Stationery Office, Edinburgh. Boeye, D., van Straaten, D. & Verheyen, R.F. 1995. A recent transformation from poor to rich fen caused by artificial groundwater recharge. Journal of Hydrology 169, 111- 129. Conway, V. 1942. Biological Flora of the British Isles. Cladium mariscus. Journal of Ecology 30, 211-216. Excell, A. 2003. Restoration update – Redgrave and Lopham Fen NNR. Conservation Land Management 1 (2), 8-12. Grootjans, A. & Van Diggelen, R. 1995. Assessing the restoration prospects of degraded fens. In: Restoration of Temperate Wetlands (eds. B.D. Wheeler, S.C. Shaw, W.J. Fojt & R.A. Robertson), pp. 73-90. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester. Hawke, C.J. & José, P.V. 1996. Reedbed Management for Commercial and Wildlife Interests. Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Sandy. Meade, R., Mawby, F. & Hammond, G. 2007. Swarth Moor: restoring the fen and raised bog to favourable condition. Contract FST 19/04/049 Report to Natural England by Roger Meade Associates, Frank Mawby Associates and Penny Anderson Associates. Meade, R. & Wheeler, B.D. 2007. Raised bogs from gravel pits? In: Minerals extraction and wetland creation, Proceedings of a workshop held in Doncaster 26-27 September, 2005 (eds. R. Meade & N. Humphries). pp. 41-49. Natural England. Roworth, P. & Meade, R. (1998). Pumping Shirley Pool. Enact 6 (2), 12-13. White, G. and Gilbert, J., eds., 2003. Habitat creation handbook for the minerals industry. Sandy: RSPB.
Case Study 7.1 Fen Water Management – Montiagh’s Moss Montiaghs Moss (pronounced “Munchies”), which lies a short distance from the eastern shore of Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland (grid reference J092653), was formerly a lowland raised bog. The site has been cut-over to the extent that no remnants of original bog surface remain. The site is linked to Lough Neagh and to nearby Portmore Lough by a man-made watercourse called the Navvies Drain. Successive lowering of Lough Neagh over the past 150 years has probably taken the water table down by about 2.3 m. Historically many families would have cut peat on the bog and although some of the fen peat could have been cut and dried directly for burning, most of the site demanded a different technique called puddling. The peat was wetted in short trenches, trampled to form a peaty porridge and then spread out in an even layer on adjacent ground to dry. It was then broken into turves that had improved burning characteristics. This technique left a mosaic of pools and ‘floors’ of different wetness. The practice of hand-cutting turf has now virtually stopped, and natural succession has resulted in many areas which were previously open water becoming choked with vegetation, and Willow/Alder/Birch scrub encroaching on drier areas. Pools cleared of choking vegetation The withdrawal of active land management by the local community and subsequent deterioration in site condition led Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) to begin purchasing plots of land. Management objectives The paradox for Montiaghs Moss is that what emerged in the place of the former raised bog was a wonderful mosaic of pools, fen, mire, grassland and scrub, but the human activities responsible for the original loss of habitat, and subsequent creation of such rich biodiversity, are now in decline. The challenge for NIEA is to maintain the current conservation interest and establish the necessary equilibrium to maintain designation features, such as Marsh Fritillary Euphydryas aurinia, other notable invertebrates and fen vegetation in the most cost effective way possible. Management rationale It is unknown if the site could ever revert back to lowland raised bog. Left unmanaged it is likely to become dominated by woodland. The moss supports a number of notable plant species and is especially noted for its invertebrate fauna. Water levels on Lough Neagh, and therefore by default on the Montiaghs Moss, are 163
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The Fen Management Handbook Edited
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Acknowledgements Production of the
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1. Introduction and Basic Principle
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Estimates of the original coverage
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Guiding principles for fen manageme
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Section 12: Fens from an Economic P
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2.1 Diversity and conservation sign
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Part of Cropple How Mire in Cumbria
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The moss flora of base-rich springs
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Bog bean growing in a transitional
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Mesotrophic openwater transition fe
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Water shrews (Neomys fodiens), also
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2.4.1 Vegetated margins of open wat
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2.4.3 Grazed or cut fen in floodpla
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2.6 Amphibians Amphibians are depen
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The mud snail Omphiscola glabra (12
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Old trees and dead wood Continuous
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Vascular plants Flat-sedge Blysmus
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3. Understanding Fen Hydrology Quan
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Groundwater discharge to fens is us
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Water Table 3.4.1.4 Spring fed fen
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3.5 Factors determining fen type 3.
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- Flooding - frequency and magnitud
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3.7 Further information and advice
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Groundwater inflow. Groundwater lev
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It is likely that groundwater disch
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Case Study 3.3 Hydro(geo)logical im
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4. Understanding Fen Nutrients Nutr
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nutrients. For example, at high con
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4.2.1 Groundwater and surface water
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4.2.3 Point and diffuse sources of
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Area of acute nutrient enrichment o
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4.4 Classifying water chemistry usi
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4.6 Identifying nutrient enrichment
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Negative indicator species for diff
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Many of the floristic changes which
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Case Study 4.1 Understanding Fen Nu
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5.1 Why do fens need management? In
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5.2 Checklist of key stages in deci
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5.3.3 Scale Although fens are linke
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5.4 Site survey to establish what i
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variability and how these relate to
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- The fauna which inhabit the fen c
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- Prioritise objectives to achieve
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inundation are less likely to be sp
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5.13 References Barsoum, N., Anders
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Case Study 5.2 Fen Management and R
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- 14km of livestock fencing install
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Case Study 5.3 Fen Management and R
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6. Fen Management and Restoration -
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Both the benefits and potentially l
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Cattle forced by flooding to the ed
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At low/medium stocking density, cat
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Goats have narrow muzzles and a fle
Page 109 and 110: Fens usually feature a range of dif
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Page 113 and 114: extensive areas of wetlands which w
Page 115 and 116: ‘Soft track’ machines, such as
Page 117 and 118: The design of the pipeline allows f
Page 119 and 120: Protocol for burning standing reedb
Page 121 and 122: Long rotation scrub clearance may b
Page 123 and 124: ‘Bird-eye’ and incineration A t
Page 125 and 126: 6.7 Restoring fen meadow Many forme
Page 127 and 128: Current Management The current mana
Page 129 and 130: Case Study 6.2 Fen Vegetation Manag
Page 131 and 132: species diversity of wetland passer
Page 133 and 134: The temptation to burn large areas
Page 135 and 136: Outcomes In the eight years that th
Page 137 and 138: Anglesey sites is now underway supp
Page 139 and 140: Close grazed short sward of sedges
Page 141 and 142: Turf cutting Turf cutting has been
Page 143 and 144: 7.1 A framework to assist decision
Page 145 and 146: Surface water level change e.g. - a
Page 147 and 148: and the surface to acidify, resulti
Page 149 and 150: Smaller excavations are preferable
Page 151 and 152: Morton Lochs, which extend to appro
Page 153 and 154: Although shallow excavations are pr
Page 155 and 156: At Leighton Moss in Lancashire, are
Page 157 and 158: Excavating spoil within the area to
Page 159: uilt dams can only be formed in dit
Page 163 and 164: Case Study 7.2 Fen Water Management
Page 169 and 170: 8. Managing Fen Nutrient Enrichment
Page 171 and 172: Summary table of key techniques for
Page 173 and 174: 8.2 Managing the source of nutrient
Page 175 and 176: Marginal interceptor ditch at Cors
Page 177 and 178: 8.3.4 Bund creation In some cases i
Page 179 and 180: emoval or soil stripping, both of w
Page 181 and 182: 8.5 Monitoring nutrient reduction D
Page 183 and 184: Recent photo of stripped surface sh
Page 185 and 186: 9.1 Scope for fen creation The Grea
Page 187 and 188: 9.3 What type of fen? New fens can
Page 189 and 190: 9.5 Restraints on fen creation Plan
Page 191 and 192: 9.6 Check list of issues to conside
Page 193 and 194: 9.7 Site assessment Planning and de
Page 195 and 196: LIDAR maps can provide a general un
Page 197 and 198: generally more acidic than silts an
Page 199 and 200: Site visits and careful assessment
Page 201 and 202: 9.8.4 Plastic membranes On sites wi
Page 203 and 204: Use of seed bombs ‘Seed bombs’
Page 205 and 206: Experience has shown that the most
Page 207 and 208: 9.10.2 Creation of niches for plant
Page 209 and 210: Meade, R. & Wheeler, B.D. 2007. Rai
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- On-going measurement of the effec
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with appropriate training. Providin
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10.3 Biological monitoring techniqu
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Undesirable species for key NVC com
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10.3.3 Vegetation Mapping An initia
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It is good practise to record with
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10.4 Biological monitoring techniqu
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for Ornithology, the Bat Conservati
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Box 2: Construction, installation a
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10.8 Monitoring surface water flows
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- Phytometric tests measure how wel
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Storage of data and information on
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period, simply because it is design
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Another consideration is the likely
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11.1 An historical perspective Poll
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Inviting volunteer involvement in f
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11.3.3 Stakeholders ‘Stakeholders
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have been designated under access a
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11.6.4 Boardwalks Boardwalks are no
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11.6.5 Water borne access Waterways
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- Explore opportunities to stimulat
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Case Study 11.1 Fens and people - S
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Case Study 11.2 Fens and People - H
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12. Fens from an Economic Perspecti
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12.1.3 Biomass energy and Biofuels
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12.2 Environmental regulation 12.2.
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the peat carbon store is depleted t
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Another mechanism for funding wetla
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Whitlaw Mosses in Scotland (see det
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12.8 References Dickie, I., Hughes,
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Nitrogen fixation conversion of gas
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Appendix III - List of species refe
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Table 1 - Mammal species associated
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280 Bittern Botaurus stellaris All
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Grasshopper Warbler 282 Locustella
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Table 4 - Fish species associated w
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Table 5 - Legally protected inverte
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288 Community Topogenous fens S24 P
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290 Community S8 Scirpus lacustris
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292 Community M11 Carex demissa - S
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294 Community M23 Juncus effusus /
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Appendix V - Legal and regulatory c
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298 Type of Works Guidance for UK C
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Appendix VI - Fen management for br
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However, three of the four species
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Sensitive periods Harvest mice bree
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species like bittern, and then drop
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Sensitive periods Species breed wit
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Great Crested Newt Great crested ne
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Appendix VIII - Fen management for
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Mollusca (snails, slugs and mussels
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Other than for rare or exceptional
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There is usually some degree of sub
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Management requirements for protect
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Appendix IX - Further reading Secti
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Koerselman, W., Bakker, S.A. & Blom
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Section 5: Fen Management and Resto
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Patzelt, A, Wild, U. and Jörg Pfad
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Index A access 103, 110, 190, 226,
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cutting 114 disposal 117 management
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