Fen Management Handbook - Scottish Natural Heritage

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74 An initial assessment of nutrient status – key questions The greater number of ‘yes’ answers to the following questions indicates an increasing likelihood of nutrient enrichment occurring on a fen: Vegetation Are there any ‘competitive’ plants present on the site, which are not typically associated with that habitat, or not usually abundant? Are any nutrient-demanding fen species like reed or reedmace expanding over the fen? Are there any obvious variations in vegetation height and/or stem density proximal to potential enrichment sources? Are any algal mats/blooms present? Is woodland/scrub increasing on the site? Does the distribution of vegetation with an enriched appearance point to likely sources of nutrient e.g. marginal field drains, rural soakaways etc. Air, water and soils EC and pH of water 4.7 References Is the fen close to a source of potential aerial nutrient pollution such as a busy road, airport, intensive poultry or pig rearing? Is the site bordered directly by improved grassland or arable cultivation? Is the fen likely to be receiving nutrient-rich water from nearby intensive agriculture, farmyards or polluted waterbodies? Is there evidence of catchment soil erosion with sediments entering the fen? Is the peat substrate regularly drying out or are water levels strongly fluctuating? Does reference to the Air Pollution Information Service (www.apis.ac.uk) indicate likely Critical Load Exceedance for atmospheric N deposition? Are there any ‘hot spots’ of relatively high EC that might indicate high amounts of solutes entering a fen? Is there any evidence of very high pH (alkaline) water that might protect the fen from high phosphorus levels? Bobbink, R., Ashmore, M., Braun, S., Fluckiger, W. & Van den Wyngaert, I.J.J. 2002. Empirical nitrogen critical loads for natural and semi-natural ecosystems: 2002 update. In: Proceedings of the Expert Workshop on Empirical Critical Loads for Nitrogen on (semi-natural Ecosystems – Berne Switzerland, November 2002). Unpublished report prepared by UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution. DEFRA. 2008. Catchment Sensitive Farming. Information on the On-going Review of the Catchment Sensitive Farming Programme. Unpublished report by Defra. EA (2009). Guidance on Monitoring and Investigation at Groundwater Dependent Terrestrial Ecosystems (GWDTE). EA Technical Note. JNCC. 2004. Common Standards Monitoring Guidance for Lowland Wetland Habitats. Version August 2004. Peterborough: JNCC. Nohara, S., Verhoeven J.T.A. & Whigham D.F. 2002. Nitrogen and Phosphorus Cycling in Peatlands in Japan. Unpublished abstract from the SWS Conference: Wetland Restoration Addressing Asian Issues through International Collaboration. Wheeler, B.D., Shaw, SC & Cook RED (1992). Phytometric assessment of the fertility of undrained rich-fen soils. Journal of Applied Ecology, 29, 466-475.
Case Study 4.1 Understanding <strong>Fen</strong> Nutrients: Biglands Bog This 12 ha wetland site near Wigton in north Cumbria (grid reference NY258537) has some attributes of basin mire but also has an axial stream and is best classified as a floodplain fen. It lies within a shallow river valley on a bed of drift. Boulder clay, alluvium and sand & gravel act as aquitards and aquifers respectively, so that in the past, soligenous fen has developed on groundwater seepages along the edge, topogenous fen has developed on the floodplain of the beck and small areas composed of ombrotrophic peat have developed over a deep basin and where the fen has been isolated from the main water flow. Records from the 1950s show that the groundwater-fed fen supported species associated with base-rich conditions such as the moss Scorpidium scorpioides, and with the ombrotrophic mires, these were the main interests of the site. In more recent times, the groundwater-fed fen vegetation has been lost. The floodplain fen has taken over in all but the ombrotrophic areas, which are thought to float and remain just a little higher than the flood waters. The beck catchment is now largely arable; it carries discharge from a sewage works and much silt. The consequence from flooding several times a year has been a build-up of nutrientenriched silt and the spread of enriched surface water over most of the site. This is thought to be responsible for the massive expansion of S28 Phalaris arundinacea tall herb fen. The fact that change has occurred is supported by the stratigraphic studies of Wheeler and Wells (1989). In their description of one of the bores taken on the western edge “The uppermost horizons were largely obscured by a thick alluvial deposit (and associated Phalaris rhizomes) but immediately below this (40 cm depth) the peat contained rather little wood and was apparently deposited in rather wet circumstances with rafts of Scorpidium and some rather more base-tolerant Sphagna. This may indicate a ‘flooding’ horizon upon more solid, woody peat.” Biglands Bog illustrates how vulnerable some types of fen can be to land-use changes and that any prospect of reversal involves fundamental changes in catchment and surface water management. M4 Carex rostrata-Sphagnum recurvum mire M9 Carex rostrata-Calliergon cuspidatum/ giganteum mire M18 Erica tetralix-Sphagnum papillosum raised & blanket mire M27a M27 Filipendula ulmaria-Angelica sylvestris mire, Valeriana officianalis-Rumex acetosa sub-community M27b M27 Filipendula ulmaria-Angelica sylvestris mire, Urtica dioica-Vicia cracca sub-community S27a Carex rostrata-Potentilla palustris tall fen, Carex rostrata-Equisetum fluviatile sub-community S28 Phalaris arundinacea tall-herb fen W3 Salix pentandra-Carex rostrata woodland. W4 Betula pubescens-Molinia caerulea woodland 75
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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
Page 21 and 22: Mesotrophic openwater transition fe
Page 23 and 24: Water shrews (Neomys fodiens), also
Page 25 and 26: 2.4.1 Vegetated margins of open wat
Page 27 and 28: 2.4.3 Grazed or cut fen in floodpla
Page 29 and 30: 2.6 Amphibians Amphibians are depen
Page 31 and 32: The mud snail Omphiscola glabra (12
Page 33 and 34: Old trees and dead wood Continuous
Page 35 and 36: Vascular plants Flat-sedge Blysmus
Page 37 and 38: 3. Understanding Fen Hydrology Quan
Page 39 and 40: Groundwater discharge to fens is us
Page 41 and 42: Water Table 3.4.1.4 Spring fed fen
Page 43 and 44: 3.5 Factors determining fen type 3.
Page 45 and 46: - Flooding - frequency and magnitud
Page 47 and 48: 3.7 Further information and advice
Page 49 and 50: Groundwater inflow. Groundwater lev
Page 51 and 52: It is likely that groundwater disch
Page 53 and 54: Case Study 3.3 Hydro(geo)logical im
Page 55 and 56: 4. Understanding Fen Nutrients Nutr
Page 57 and 58: nutrients. For example, at high con
Page 59 and 60: 4.2.1 Groundwater and surface water
Page 61 and 62: 4.2.3 Point and diffuse sources of
Page 63 and 64: Area of acute nutrient enrichment o
Page 65 and 66: 4.4 Classifying water chemistry usi
Page 67 and 68: 4.6 Identifying nutrient enrichment
Page 69 and 70: Negative indicator species for diff
Page 71: Many of the floristic changes which
Page 75 and 76: 5.1 Why do fens need management? In
Page 77 and 78: 5.2 Checklist of key stages in deci
Page 79 and 80: 5.3.3 Scale Although fens are linke
Page 81 and 82: 5.4 Site survey to establish what i
Page 83 and 84: variability and how these relate to
Page 85 and 86: - The fauna which inhabit the fen c
Page 87 and 88: - Prioritise objectives to achieve
Page 89 and 90: inundation are less likely to be sp
Page 91 and 92: 5.13 References Barsoum, N., Anders
Page 93 and 94: Case Study 5.2 Fen Management and R
Page 95 and 96: - 14km of livestock fencing install
Page 97 and 98: Case Study 5.3 Fen Management and R
Page 99 and 100: 6. Fen Management and Restoration -
Page 101 and 102: Both the benefits and potentially l
Page 103 and 104: Cattle forced by flooding to the ed
Page 105 and 106: At low/medium stocking density, cat
Page 107 and 108: Goats have narrow muzzles and a fle
Page 109 and 110: Fens usually feature a range of dif
Page 111 and 112: Excessive poaching where cattle hav
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
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‘Bird-eye’ and incineration A t
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6.7 Restoring fen meadow Many forme
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Current Management The current mana
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Case Study 6.2 Fen Vegetation Manag
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species diversity of wetland passer
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The temptation to burn large areas
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Outcomes In the eight years that th
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Anglesey sites is now underway supp
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Close grazed short sward of sedges
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Turf cutting Turf cutting has been
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7.1 A framework to assist decision
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Surface water level change e.g. - a
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and the surface to acidify, resulti
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Smaller excavations are preferable
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Morton Lochs, which extend to appro
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Although shallow excavations are pr
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At Leighton Moss in Lancashire, are
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Excavating spoil within the area to
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uilt dams can only be formed in dit
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Case Study 7.1 Fen Water Management
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8. Managing Fen Nutrient Enrichment
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Summary table of key techniques for
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8.2 Managing the source of nutrient
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Marginal interceptor ditch at Cors
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8.3.4 Bund creation In some cases i
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emoval or soil stripping, both of w
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8.5 Monitoring nutrient reduction D
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Recent photo of stripped surface sh
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9.1 Scope for fen creation The Grea
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9.3 What type of fen? New fens can
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9.5 Restraints on fen creation Plan
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9.6 Check list of issues to conside
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9.7 Site assessment Planning and de
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LIDAR maps can provide a general un
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generally more acidic than silts an
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Site visits and careful assessment
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9.8.4 Plastic membranes On sites wi
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Use of seed bombs ‘Seed bombs’
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Experience has shown that the most
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9.10.2 Creation of niches for plant
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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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Fen Management Handbook - Scottish Natural Heritage

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