CLM20-2 full issue-1 - Flipbook - Page 5
Saltmarsh restoration
through flash
re-creation
Bart Donato and Mhairi Maclauchlan
S
altmarshes are one of the UK’s most
dynamic habitats, their form and function
shaped by lateral processes of erosion
and sediment deposition (which can operate
differently according to the state of tide) along
creeks and channels, and vertical accretion and
loss determined by overall sediment supply. Much
attention has been paid to the extent of the UK’s
saltmarsh in the face of loss to land reclamation
and sea-level rise, with consequent implementation
of ‘realignment’ schemes to regain formerly lost
habitat, but there has been less focus on the
restoration of existing marshes.
The grazed saltmarshes we see today are the
product of a long history of modification from their
original form. They have been altered over time by
agricultural practices, including grazing (at varying
intensities) and, in some areas, ploughing, surfacewater drainage, turf-cutting, the application of
artificial fertilisers, and exposure to agrochemicals
such as the antiparasitic drug ivermectin.
Although the vast majority of grazed
saltmarshes in north-west England are protected
by national and international designations
(Site of Special Scientific Interest, Special Area
of Conservation, Special Protection Area and
Ramsar Site), these date only from the 1980s
or later, by which point many saltmarshes had
already been modified. As a consequence, our
baseline expectations and targets for recovery of
these sites are often limited. For the past 15 years
we have been seeking to redress some of these
modifications, with an aim to secure and restore
the hydrological integrity and the characteristic
birdlife of the Solway marshes; this article
describes the techniques used and results of this
work to date.
Although the relic populations of breeding
waders (lapwing, redshank and oystercatcher)
on the Solway marshes are notable, the writings
of the Victorian naturalist Macpherson (1892)
and, more recently, the late Derek Ratcliffe point
at their populations being orders of magnitude
greater in the past, and represented by a wider
range of species than we would now expect.
Ratcliffe estimated that 50–100 pairs of lapwing
Conservation Land Management Summer 2022 | Vol. 20 No. 2 3
