Ideas for brand new Derbyshire wetland

[Muncus]

As part of my volunteer work, this week I've been helping out with the construction of a new wetland area in Derbyshire.

It's essentially a drainage ditch that has been diverted into a man made meander and a small earth dam erected to hold back some water. We will be adding reed beds, which will filter most of the iron oxide out of the water. The iron oxide comes from an old coal mine the water runs through. Also we are adding a sluice to control the levels better, it's anticipated that the finished level will be about a foot higher.

The site will be fenced off from the public with a raised viewing platform to the left of the photo.

So I was wondering if any of you had any ideas about what to put in the area behind the reed beds. The plan at the moment is grass, but I think it will be nice if we could add some kind of wetland meadow, does anyone know what species should be included?

I am doing some Googling but any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Melonfish]

i'll have a look at my local mossland, there are in fact two man made SSSI's in my area (within 3 miles of my house) and both of them are wetlands.
first is a moss where they used to dredge peat from in the 19th c, the second was a clay pit until the 60's and is now wonderful wetlands full of allsorts of newts and frogs etc.
i'll have a word with the local rangers and see what i can find out from em!
pete

 

[pete79]

What's your soil type, and drainage, in the area you're thinking about. It's a critical factor iin what plants will survive there. Don't underestimate the value of grass though. Widgeon and geese love grass at the edge of a pond (cause that's what they eat). Also a bit of long grass at the edge of a pond is ace for little critters like grass snakes and amphibians to hide up in. Wet loving plants which like medium to poor nutrient conditions are things like loosestrife (a very cool plant and not too common in the UK anymore) and reedmace (but this can dominate the area if not kept in check, but gives good habitat for hoverflies). A cool plant to try and get in the margins, if available, is bistort. It tends to grow standing in shallow water, and is something you don't see every day.

 

[locum76]

that looks like a nifty project, as others have said i would have introduced a few choice grasses.

are you introducing any mammals to the pond?

(its a shame it has to be fenced off though).

 

[robin wood]

Nice project, what was there before?

Generally speaking I think conservationists tend to plant too much and try to control too much, this is largely done because they like to be seen to be doing something. I would leave it more to nature. If you did absolutely nothing then that bare land will be covered next year with natural vegetation, local plants, local seed source, local genetic type. The alternative? bought in seed from the other side of the country? do you know the seed sources or genetic types you are introducing?

I would expect newly disturbed earth like that to be nutrient rich. This will favour the plants which grow strong and fast, in the first year you may get a big flush of annuals, next year bienials. There may be lots of thistles, there me some interesting things that you had not expected hidden in the seedbank in the soil.

I would worry less about what you want to plant there and more about how you will manage it long term, that is what will affect what is there in 25 years not what you plant. So will you treat it like a meadow and cut and remove each year? will you leave it alone in which case you can expect a progression through rank vegetation to scrub and eventually woodland.

 

[Broch]

Robin makes some good points there. A pond is not a natural stable environment and, over time, will allways revert to swamp and marsh so you need to have a management plan. Be very careful about anything you introduce because it invariably invades and becomes dominent - this is true of a lot of rushes and grasses.

Over the last 15 years I have reverted some grazed hillside to nature and now we have birch, ash, and oak all self seeded. The hardest work of all the area is the 20 foot pond which needs almost constant management

 

[pete79]

Robin Wood has made a valuable point. Long term management is a big consideration; massive in fact. A lot of effort goes into habitat creation sometimes, without a lot of follow up. A word of warning.......willows. Start controlling them when they're small, because if you don't they take over (they're good for inverts and stuff when small and bushy, but if they're allowed to get leggy and tall they're not much use for a lot of critters and shade out marginal vegetation). I used to manage a large wetland, which had been allowed to become infested with willow. It was a full time job just cutting he stuff, let alone all the oher management which needed to be carried out.

 

[Broch]

A word of warning.......willows.

Oh yes , and Willow!!!