A small Spartina anglica plant in the foreground as the group is shown a recovering area of saltmarsh. Photo credit: Robert Dewar
In partnership with the Highland Environment Forum, RSPB's Central Highland reserve team hosted an excellent field visit and knowledge-sharing session at Nigg Bay reserve on 3rd August 2022. A group of 9 enthusiastic land managers and representatives met at Nigg community hall to hear the background to the management activity for Spartina anglica and the challenges of trying to eradicate this voracious plant. The plant can have significant negative implications for important saltmarsh habitat, and species that rely on it, if left unchecked.
Through LIFE 100% for Nature, efforts have been scaled up to tackle the invasive Spartina anglica and the group were taken on a tour of some of the saltmarsh areas where Spartina is being treated. It was particularly encouraging seeing photos from around 10 years ago of a large stand of Spartina which had taken over and dominated an area of saltmarsh, compared with now. Already, saltmarsh pioneer plants like glasswort are emerging and starting to recolonise the area once covered by the invasive Spartina stand. In these areas, the challenge of identifying small, or emerging Spartina plants was clear. This is where the excellent knowledge of the site team and volunteers is vital to the pre-spray monitoring activity as well as the ongoing mapping and monitoring of the plant locations to ensure no Spartina plants are missed in the management window.
To find out more about our conservation work around the Cromarty Firth, aiming to improve the special intertidal area, read the full blog here: Turning back the tide of an invasive plant in the Cromarty Firth