Things never stop happening on the marsh!
This is how many rubbish rafts start. This fallen tree is in Hoo Brook, close to Wilden Lane.
Fallen tree along Hoo Brook, close to Wilden Lane.
The Wilden Marsh Blog
A nature conservation blog about the fauna and flora of Wilden Marsh Nature Reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Lower Stour Valley, Worcestershire, England.
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I daresay you or someone else will be down with the chainsaw soon, Mike 🙂
Environmental Agency people where cleaning Hoo Brook blockages last week. I don’t know why they left this fallen tree.
Thought about introducing beavers Mike? 😉
Now this is not a good idea, Sarah. Beavers would leave a lot of fallen trees in their wake, and controlling water levels would be a nightmare.
I was joking 😉 I know that areas like the marsh and small rivers can be really damaged by beavers. It undermines the banks and causes so much soil erosion! There are parts of the country, like in the hills where you often get fast flowing rivers where beavers can be helpful in creating their dams, slowing the rivers and decreasing soil erosion. It’s also believed that this could reduce flooding in lowland areas. At the moment there are lots of woodland management and forestry agencies actually creating beaver like dams themselves to try to manage flooding. I’m in favour of reintroduction of species once native to the UK but they have to be introduced into the right habitats!!!
I realised you were joking, Sarah. As you probably already know, beavers are very eager creatures. 🙂
They are indeed 😉 I want to go and photograph the ones that have established themselves in Devon! There’s been a very mixed response from the community to their presence there. There’s been a big reintroduction in Scotland that is dividing the communities too! Some areas that they’ve moved into are being damaged badly but they’re working well in others. So now there’s consultation ongoing about how to manage them! I think lynx reintroduction to areas where beavers and other small animals are causing land management issues could be the answer. But then I just want to have the lynx back in the wild here so I’ll come up with all manner of good excuses 😉
Change can often be difficult to accept, and trying to reintroduce anything will rarely go smoothly. The problem with reintroduction these days might be that the environment is not what it used to be and the natural controls are missing.
I know Mike! The environment and our part in it has changed so much. I do often wonder though if reintroduction of a number of species, that form a part of the natural control, into specific and controlled areas could show us if this could be a successful way forward. Just bringing back one species can knock everything out of balance! I know falconers down this way who are employed all over the country to help manage rabbit and hare numbers. So essentially we’re utilising a natural control method falsely! Increasing the numbers of wild hawks and eagles takes time but the successful reintroduction of the red kite in the south shows that it can be done!
The foxes control the rabbits on the marsh, Sarah.
Oh I love seeing your fox photos 🙂 They just look so healthy and happy! The marsh and woodland is good habit for foxes.
The marsh and Hoo Wood foxes do seem to thrive in their habitats, Sarah.
😀