Halford Flood Meadow Diary (click images to enlarge)

The agreement to make Halford Flood Meadow into a Biodiversity Offset site so that developers can replace and increase the biodiversity they have taken away with their development is still to be made. This is very frustrating but is understandable as it is a new process which needs a lot of thought. We are hopeful that we are very close to an agreement now.

Before we miss another window of nature to get things growing, we have put down some trial plots for spring seeding. This involves scarifying the ground to expose 50% bare soil and then sowing the seed on top and rolling or treading it in. The trial patches are in three different areas of the field to inform how the seed reacts to low and high nutrient soils. Seeding normally happens in the autumn but it is possible to sow seeds successfully in the early spring. Fritillary bulbs are also being planted in different areas of the field, their locations will be recorded to provide an indication of the best conditions for the plant to survive. It is very exciting to have made a start but the work can't start in earnest until the agreement is complete.

Halford Flood Meadow featured in The Council of European Surveyors conference in Seville, Spain on 27th October. Mike Hopkins, director of Storm Wildlife and a Member of the Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors was asked to present at the conference in the "Blue Surveying" session. Mike had recently written an article in the Civil Engineering Surveyor publication titled "Why the geospatial profession is critical to saving planet Earth" and the presentation was centered around the vital points made in the article. Although Mike wasn't able to be there in person, he sent on a video which was played in the Blue Surveying session which can be watched on YouTube via the link here:

https://youtu.be/Kgp3RtMkMAU

I can't be entirely sure that our wetland seed planting back in April is producing the wildflower purple-loosestrife in abundance but there is certainly more around this summer than I have seen before. It is great to see something battling back against the nettles with their magenta spears conquering some ground on the river bank. This is an invaluable source of food for long-tongued insects like elephant hawk-moths, so we will be looking out for those around the river.

Since the hay cut we have put 100 weaned lambs on the meadow - only for six weeks just to keep the grass down before preparing the meadow for seeding. We are still waiting for the important Section 39 agreement to be reviewed by Warwickshire County Council before we can firmly commit to our 30 year management plan. September and October will be busy months in the meadow with seeding and tree planting but we must have the agreement signed before we can make the investment. Watch this space!

We have been trialing some UK wetland seed mix in the very margins of the River Stour around Halford Flood Meadow. At current river levels the dominant vegetation in 95%  of the bank faces is nettles - which is great for caterpillars and butterflies. We are taking small steps to introduce different UK wetland plant species to provide a richer habitat within the riparian zone. This will attract more birds and insects near to the water and a better riverine ecosystem for existing fish and invertebrates and any new species that want to move in. It's an experiment and we will soon see what level of success is achieved. We will be monitoring this and we'll report back in our future diary entries.

It is likely that we will sow spring barley in some areas of the meadow soon. This is known as a catch crop which will draw excess phosphorus out of the soil in an effort to take the nutrient levels down to a point which is tolerable for a species rich meadow. It is well known that species rich meadows are very difficult to establish so we need to follow the management plan for the soil preparation to give the meadow the best chance of success.

We have received the thirty year draft management plan for Halford Flood Meadow. The 158 page document is comprehensive and details a mosaic of vegetated ground coverings and management strategies for them to thrive. We have shared this with our neighbour downstream and talked about the soil conditions and logistics of managing the meadow to achieve a good condition. He sent me a photo of Halford Bridge during the peak of the July 2007 flood event which certainly helps in the consideration of how we establish and manage the desired mosaic of vegetation.  You can see the destructive nature of the river at these high flows, this flood washed the parapet of the bridge away as the river overtopped it, turning the bridge into a weir. With the temperatures rising owing to climate change, the warmer air holds more moisture and therefore produces higher rainfall events, so although the 2007 flood was extreme, as long as the temperature of our atmosphere rises, the annual probability of events like this become greater.

Mike and Polly Hopkins gave a talk to a full house at Halford Village Hall last night. The LEO club (Ladies Evening Out) invited them to do a talk about their plans for Halford Flood Meadow. Polly started by providing the background to the acquisition of the flood meadow and Mike went into the reasoning behind choosing biodiversity as the leading factor for the proposed land use and then explaining the risks and challenges that lie ahead. Sharon Alexander from the club thanked Mike and Polly for an interesting talk and wished them every success in the regeneration of Halford Flood Meadow.

It is very clear that the flood meadow isn't flat! The accurate topographic survey clearly shows the low channels in blue where the main flow across the meadow occurs once the river overtops. It is also noted that the banks around the upstream end of the meadow are raised which prevents the floodplain becoming functional until later on in a high rainfall event. This very valuable topographical survey will be used to make decisions on the best way to manage the meadow for an uplift in biodiversity and provide a reduction in flood risk.

Part of the baseline survey requires a habitat assessment which is scored by sampling small areas of the field and identifying different vegetation species within the sample. By creating a species rich grassland will provide a more diverse habitat for a wider range of living things to thrive and multiply. A senior ecologist from Middlemarch Environmental carefully analysed the sample plots and found an average of 6 species per sample with common species being rye and timothy grasses, dandelion and dock. It will be a few weeks before the full report is available and the ecologists have enough survey information to calculate the baseline biodiversity value of the site. Once this is available we will be in a better position to decide how we can create an uplift in the biodiversity of the meadow. A species rich grassland would have more than 15 plant species per square meter with more than 30% cover of wildflower and sedges. Could this be our target for the meadow and what is the best way to achieve this? Hopefully all will be revealed soon!

We have appointed Middlemarch Environmental to carry out a habitat condition assessment, biodiversity offset strategy and management plan for the meadow. This will inform us of where our starting point is with biodiversity on the site and the potential uplift we can achieve and what we would need to do in order to reach the desired target condition. Ecologists will use an equation called the Biodiversity Impact Assessment Metric which will score the site in “biodiversity units”. The uplift in biodiversity units for the meadow will be predicted against different management styles that are appropriate to the ground conditions. What will the advice be? Grassland, wildflowers, wetland, woods or a mixture?