local beckside regen

[ecolojim]

not woodland or forestry per se but im looking at this as an ecological issue and as a management plan of sorts.

 

bit of background

 

scotton beck drains a number of hundred acres of land varying from arable and grazing, mixed use common land, and a number of large domestic gardens. At its termination it outflows into the river Eau which in turn flows to the trent and some 15 or so miles later, the humber. Ive personally seen water voles in the beck from time to time, though less and less recently.

 

Being almost constantly subjected to large amounts of land drainage, ground water and to a much lesser extent surface runoff for a number of years now, and surrounding land being of a very sandy construction and susceptible to erosion by both water and wind, the beck is in a pretty poor state of repair.

 

the beck borders our fields here on the farm for its final 1/4 to 1/2 a mile and lately has made itself very clear that it cant cope with the demands now placed upon it.

 

The following photographs show the state the beck is now in. they are all taken from the conservation strip of our field which is noticeably higher than the field across from it. the other field, which is supposed to be sheep grazing land, is becoming almost permanent marshland. the bank on our side is eroding, the beck bottom is now almost the same height as that of the sheep field. The lack of flow has caused a large amount of flooding issues of gardens further up.

 

As can be seen in the photos, there are hundreds of crack willow (Salix fragilis), many of which are past their best and have failed, some quite dramatically. Most of these have chosen to fail and fall right in the middle of the beck diverting it every which way. the field across is flooded, the bank on our side has eroded at one point significantly (to give an idea of scale, the conservation strip is roughly 25 feet wide, the 'ravine' that has formed is at least 5.5 feet deep.

 

everyone is agreed that something needs to be done and the beck should probably be excavated to some extent and a large amount of material should be removed to improve flow. Dad wants to rip all the willow out and cut it up for firewood, Im wondering if theres a better way.

 

Instead of removing the laid and regrowing willow for firewood) how about shoring up the bank at strategic intervals by implanting and staking the fallen (already rooted and regrowing) willow into the bank face. the roots would spread throughout the bank and improve its strength and the regrowth creating a more consistent bankside screen of trees and providing a ready supply of coppiceable material? To my mind this would largely mitigate the erosion problems faced on the higher side (ours) and should allow the beck to be excavated due to the removal of the fallen material and problem trunks.

 

let me know what you guys think. I see this area and I see nature, but I also see a conflict between what nature provides and what man requires.

 

[ecolojim]

[ecolojim]

[ecolojim]

on the topic of habitat, as i mentioned before, there are water voles in the area, but they are very likely currently put off by the fragile nature of the bank, and the open-ness in a lot of places.

 

We do have a lot of pipistrelles in the area, mostly around the farmyard, but I cant see them having anything to do with the tangled laid mess, I would think it's far too low down so removing it poses no issue. plus, anything standing above 3m would be left anyway so if they use the row of trees as a navigation marker or corridor then that would also not be affected. likewise with hunting perches for our local barn owls.

 

I do happen to know that a couple of those standing rotten trunks are providing habitat for brown rats, but thats not such a desirable thing.

[Charlieh]

will prepare a response and email it to you, could you pm me your email addy and the grid ref of the beck, I will then post a summary of my thoughts

 

 

what conservation schemes are you in? also do you have otters

 

charlie

[slasherscot]

i do some work with a company specially in this type of Riparian woodlands, check out their website u may get some ideas.....http://www.scottishnativewoods.org.uk/index.asp?lm=70

[ecolojim]

thanks guys. Charlie, you have PM

 

another pondering I had which was actually suggested by Garth was to use the new growth from the laid trunks and limbs, and implant that into the bank, encouraging it to root and filling the gaps between the trees and making a full willow screen and a more stable bank

[treedave]

I've done some spillway repair using willow, nice a basket weaving kind of way. Not sure if it will be exactly what you're after, but it is good for less "engineered" bank repair and you can cut it to a screen in time.

 

http://handbooks.btcv.org.uk/handbooks/content/chapter/396

 

About halfway down the page

[madmatt]

Hey Jim,

 

How's the new job going?? you all trained up yet?

 

looks like a nice little job your planning.

 

Matt