Fen Management Handbook - Scottish Natural Heritage

Summary table of key techniques for preventing or reducing nutrient enrichment
Limitations / less
appropriate sites
Appropriate sites
Effectiveness /
strengths
Action Timing
Rationale for
use
Technique
All site types Can be expensive,
requiring capital
expenditure.
Year round Very effective. Addressing
an acute farm-yard problem
can effectively shut-off
in one go major nutrient
sources.
Wide range of potential actions,
including:
Reduces nutrient
addition to the
catchment and
its export to the
wetland.
Wider catchment
management
Difficult to enforce.
Agri-environment and other
land management incentive
schemes.
Habitat reversion schemes
(e.g.improved grassland
to semi-natural grassland,
heathland, woodland etc)
.through application of high tier
agri-environment options.
Farm-yard infrastructure
improvements such as
separating clean (roof drainage)
water from foul (farm yards,
silage effluent)
All site types. Can result in long-term
management agreement
costs.
Any time Generally regarded as
effective, though often
used on a precautionary
basis without much actually
evidence that the technique
has worked.
Definition of low or zero nutrient
application over an area of
at least 10 m width. Ideally
combined with management of
rough vegetation in buffer zone
to help take-up nutrients and/or
trap soil particles, or low earth
bunds to ‘filter’ water.
Buffer zones Creates a zone
of low or zero
nutrient addition
around the site
margins, together
with measures to
encourage nutrient
uptake/retention
within buffer.
Very wide range Dry areas for lie-up at
night desirable. Fencing
usually needed to
focus grazing where it
is needed. The wettest
sites may be ungrazable.
Sustainable and potentially
cost-neutral or even
profitable but labour
intensive moving stock.
Aids good vegetation
structure and composition.
Can be year round,
but usually April to
end October.
Grazing Vegetation
Grazing by animals (preferably
accumulates cattle, ponies or hardy sheep).
nutrients from the Animals need to be moved daily
soil. Removal of for effective nutrient removal.
the vegetation
thus enables some
nutrient off take.
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