Something that everyone who manages nature Reserves can be guilty of from time to time is keeping your head down, just cracking on and not having a look at the wider picture. Here at Campfield we are really interested in networking and learning from other sites and organisations. Below is an account of a trip we took to Frampton Marsh to see how they manage a similar habitat to ours. We found it valuable to see what worked and didn't work on their site and relating it to ours:
The Visitor Centre at Frampton Marsh and a warm welcome!
The small team from Campfield (Stephen, Dave and myself) hired a car and set of for the deepest depths of Lincolnshire in September. 5 hours, two loo stops and a tea break later we were at our destination - RSPB Frampton Marsh on the Wash near Boston in Linconshire. No this wasn’t just an elaborate way to tick Little Stint and Spoon Bill off the year list. The team down there have been managing this former prime agricultural land by making it into a wetland paradise for birds. Wet grassland, scrapes, saltmarsh and reed bed make up the Reserve and we were there to interrogate them on a specific part of their management regime that we were hoping to export back up the M6 to Cumbria for Campfield Marsh.
John Badley and Toby Collett Showing us the scrapes and wet grassland. They planted sunflower seed this year much like we have previously at Campfield.
Our Environmental scheme with Natural England comes to a close after 10 years in 2018. This is where we get most of our funds to achieve the work we do for breeding waders, wintering wildfowl and key priorities here on the Solway. With this change we have taken the opportunity to look at the way we operate. Frampton Marsh have become the experts in dynamic management of their wet grassland and scrape system which is something we wanted to learn from the team there. They rotate their management of their wet grassland through a series of wetting and drying which rejuvenates the soil and is good for the invertebrates. By allowing areas to fully dry out then vegetation can be managed and areas of arable crop can be planted for wintering passerine. The wet areas become more productive for breeding waders and also provide food in the winter for arable and wildfowl species. They then rotate and wet up the dry areas over a period of years. Here at Campfield it has often been seen that areas which have been newly flooded up are stacked with breeding waders, however, over time the habitat becomes less appealing and predators hone in on hotspot areas. If we could in part replicated this dynamic system, tailoring it to our situation here (at Frampton they have to pump water onto the Reserve and often worry about not having enough…somehow I don’t think that will be an issue here!), then we could hopefully have an even more thriving Reserve then we have now.
The upshot of this is there may be several changes happening at Campfield over the next 5 years so watch this space! There will definitely be a lot of tinkering over the first few years but if we have as much success as Frampton then it will certainly be worth it.
Some great signage in the visitor centre and around the Reserve.
Frampton Sluice for keeping water in certain areas. The drop boards are put into a metal frame and used to keep water back.