11 OCTOBER 2006

New wet meadows created in the Cambridgeshire Fens are now attracting nesting wading birds – and point towards a solution to one of Cambridgeshire’s biggest environmental challenges.

The meadows, created on arable land at Manea close to the Ouse Washes, attracted 20 pairs of three species of waders, namely eight pairs of lapwings, seven of redshanks and five of snipe.

This project, managed by RSPB in partnership with the Environment Agency, Natural England [note 1] and Cambridgeshire County Council with additional financial support from Defra, has transformed 44 hectares of cropped land to Dutch-style wet meadows. The project started in 2002 and involved sowing grass and creating a high water table with lots of ‘wet edge’ by raising water levels and creating a network of shallow ditches.

The project was started to investigate the feasibility of creating new habitats as part of a long-term solution to the problem of wader nests so often lost to spring and summer floods on the Ouse Washes. Several hundred pairs of wading birds, snipe, redshanks, lapwings and black-tailed godwits, attempt to nest every year on the Ouse Washes, but as their nests are on the ground these are destroyed when the Washes flood.

The Ouse Washes were built to take flood water in the Fens and beyond, especially in winter, but a combination of factors has led to more regular spring and summer floods in recent years and longer, deeper winter flooding.

In March 2005, Elliot Morley (then a Minister at Defra) announced the Government’s commitment to fix the deterioration of the Ouse Washes Special Protection Area. To fulfil obligations under EU Directives, the Government agreed to fund land purchase and habitat creation outside the Washes to provide alternative homes for these birds. The Environment Agency is leading this exciting habitat creation protect which will enable it to continue to operate the Ouse Washes to protect people and property.

Pat Sones, the Environment Agency’s Ouse Washes Habitat Creation Project Officer said: “The lessons learnt from the experiences of this pilot project will be very beneficial to us as we create wet grassland on a very large scale. It’s very exciting to see how quickly our hard work could start to bear fruit.”

Graham Elliott, Fens Area Manager for the RSPB, said: “Cambridgeshire is by far England’s most important county for wading birds nesting on wet meadows – nearly all the black-tailed godwits and well over a half of England’s nesting snipe.”

He continued: “Creating new wet grassland outside the Ouse Washes, secure from the risk of spring and summer floods, will be an important part of the future for breeding birds here.”

On the Ouse Washes themselves, overall it was neither a good nor a bad year for birds. Flash-flooding on 30 May covered much of the western side of the Ouse Washes, flooding out an estimated 140 nests of wading birds on RSPB and Wildlife Trust land. Happily, the floods did not affect the whole of the washes and many birds nested again.

The final figure for the main three species of waders – lapwings, redshanks and snipe - was 600 pairs [note 1], very similar to the total in 2005. So although there was no repeat of the appalling breeding season in 2004, numbers were well down on the 809 pairs in the last good year of 2003 [note 3].

Black-tailed godwits continued to struggle, with just three pairs at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust’s Welney reserve.

- ends -

For further information contact
Graham Elliott, Fens Area Manager tel 01480 819214, 07850 825433 (mobile)
Ouse Washes: Jon Reeves 01354 680212
RSPB regional office: Chris Durdin on 01603 660066 or mobile 07734 717020
Environment Agency Media enquiries: contact Rita Penman or Catherine Burbage on 01733 464357

Additional notes:

English Nature is now part of Natural England, which has all the functions of English Nature, as well as substantial parts of the Rural Development Service and Countryside Agency.

2. Breeding wader pairs for the Ouse Washes 2006/2005. Figures are for the Ouse Washes from Welney to Earith, excluding the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust reserve.

Year: 2006 2005
Lapwing 141 150
Redshank 260 253
Snipe 199 196

3. The Ouse Washes are a 19 mile (30 km) stretch of seasonally flooded wet grassland between Earith and Denver, intersected by ditches which are noted for their aquatic flora and invertebrates. The Ouse Washes cover some 2,400 hectares, mostly in Cambridgeshire, partly in Norfolk. The RSPB manages 1227 hectares including 184 hectares owned by The Wildlife Trust, Cambridgeshire. Constructed during the 17th century, as a winter flood storage reservoir for the waters of the River Ouse. It is the largest regularly flooded washland in Great Britain. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar site (a wetland of international importance designated under the Ramsar convention).

4. The Ouse Washes have one of the largest populations of breeding waders in lowland England, especially snipe, redshank and lapwing. These are ground-nesting birds that nest from April, the critical months being May and June. In 2004, spring floods reduced nesting waders on the reserve to 218 pairs. In 2003, a year without spring flooding, the RSPB/Wildlife Trust nature reserve on the Ouse Washes held the highest ever recorded number of breeding redshanks at 333 pairs, plus 204 pairs of lapwings. The Ouse Washes is the most important site for nesting snipe in lowland UK: 272 territorial birds on the reserve alone in 2003.

5. Black-tailed godwits: once widespread on wet meadows, the population of black-tailed godwits tumbled due to widespread land drainage and is now virtually restricted to the Ouse and Nene Washes. Just 51 pairs bred in the Fens this year – about 75% of the UK population, 48 pairs of which were on the Nene Washes. An increase in spring and summer flooding since the mid seventies has been the main cause for the godwit population on the Ouse Washes dropping from 65 pairs in 1972 to just three pairs this year.

6. The RSPB in the Fens: the RSPB intends to create 5,000 hectares of new wetlands in the Fens in the next 20 years, and is part of the Wet Fens Partnership that is promoting wetland creation. New wetlands will prove a lifeline for birds and other wildlife, and provide local communities and visitors a chance to discover the unique fenland environment. The RSPB manages wet grazing marshes at the Ouse and Nene Washes in Cambridgeshire and is creating new freshwater wetlands at Lakenheath Fen in Suffolk, at the Hanson-RSPB wetland project at Needingworth in Cambridgeshire and adjacent to the Wash at Freiston Shore and Frampton Marsh in Lincolnshire.

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