Bringing In The Changes

 

The project funding enables a wide range of measures to be

introduced on farms that would otherwise be unable to

implement them. The Barkby catchment remains unchanged,

while in the Eye Brook and Stonton Brook catchment several

approaches to reducing the impact of farming on water are

being implemented. Having identified additional discharges

of nutrients from domestic septic tanks and sewage

treatment works, most notably at Tilton, we are also

addressing this issues as far as possible. In the Stonton Brook

catchment, additional habitat is being created for aquatic

wildlife.



Field drain interceptor ponds trap sediment and nutrients before they enter the stream.

Ditch dams, flood water ponds and field drain interceptor

ponds are designed to act as silt traps to capture sediment

and nutrients once they have left fields. Surveys of soil

structure result in targeted advice to farmers on soil

management to prevent soil leaving fields in the first place.



A ditch dam holds back water and traps soil from arable fields.

Mapping of variation in soil type and soil nutrients across

fields enables farmers to plan their soil management and

fertiliser applications according to the varying needs of

different parts of the farm. These last two measures help to

ensure that soils and fertilisers are managed more efficiently,

with benefits to food production and farm businesses as well

as to watercourses. We hope to develop this work in future.

As well as improving water quality we also expect silt traps

and better soil management to help reduce future flood risk
in the lower catchments.

 

Reducing soil disturbance improves soil structure and function.

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The Experiment

The Experiment

The Water Friendly Farming project covers an area of nearly 30Km2, including the headwaters of the Eye Brook and neighbouring Stonton Brook, and an adjacent catchment, the Barkby Brook, which is part of the Soar river basin. The Barkby Brook forms the ‘control’ for the experiment, with no changes in management, while we are currently introducing a range of measures in the Eye and Stonton catchments. In the past three years, comprehensive data have been gathered at the base of each of the three catchments, and at about 250 sites across the study area. These represent a valuable baseline against which to monitor future change in response to the measures being introduced. The aim of the project is to find out to what extent it is possible to move towards government targets for water quality by applying a range of measures at the landscape scale. Although research at Loddington and elsewhere provides evidence of the performance of individual measures, remarkably little is known about what can be achieved if they are applied together at the landscape scale.

 

Soil research at Loddington

 

What are we measuring?

We are gathering detailed data on stream flow, sediment, nutrients and pesticides at the base of each of the three catchments. This provides a reliable measure of the amount and quality of the water discharged from each of the three areas of farmland. We are also carrying out less intensive monitoring of water quality in each of the small tributaries in each catchment. Then, at about 250 sites across the study area, we are surveying the aquatic invertebrates and plants in ditches, ponds and streams. Some water quality data are also available for these sites. This provides exceptionally detailed information on the variation in water quality and ecology within each of the three catchments. For example the data highlights the importance of ponds for wetland plants, and the increase in sediment in the stream when it rains. Fish have also been surveyed across thirty sites.

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Exciting Additions to The Trust

We are proud to have recently welcomed five new members of staff into the Welland Rivers Trust this summer on a temporary basis to offer their skills across a wide range of roles. Humanities students Joe Franklin and Alex Leaver are focusing on promoting the online status of the Trust via our social media accounts and blogs (listed below) and updating the website: www.wellandriverstrust.org.uk so as to keep everyone across the Welland catchment who is interested in our work in the loop.

Working on the Stamford Mill Stream project we have two Zoology students; Nikki Warden and Cameron Grundy, and a Sixth Form student Leon Nixon, a Nuffield Research Ambassador. Their aim is to gather data by mapping river habitats from consecutive stretches of the Welland River and the Mill Stream in Stamford. Their findings will be used to determine whether or not redistributing water flow from the river to the historic stream would provide an overall benefit to the local ecology.

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A Nationally Important Experiment

The Welland Rivers Trust - Water Friendly Farming

Flooding is at the forefront of many people's minds after the past two winters. Last winter was the wettest since records began. We have also had more than our fair share of warm summer weather in recent years and the average temperature for central England in the past decade has been consistently higher than the long-term average. Exceptions seem to be becoming the norm!



The Upper Eye Brook is one of the three agricultural headwater catchments involved in the Water Friendly Farming Project.

It is not just flooding that results from lots of rain. Even moderate rainfall results in soil and nutrients washing from fields into streams, clogging up ditches, reducing the quality of the water that is pumped into Rutland Water for our drinking water supply. In addition to this of course, soil is an important resource that needs to be kept in fields to support the production of our food, not just for us, but for the next generation and beyond. It is the most fundamental asset of any farm business.

 

But what can be done? In the home, and when travelling, we can all do our bit to reduce the use of fossil fuels and the associated greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

We aim to improve food production while also reducing its impact on water supplies.

 

As a result of research carried out by the Allerton Project at Loddington, and by other research organisations elsewhere, we also now have a suite of land management options at our disposal to apply on farmland to reduce the movement of soil and nutrients to water. What we don't know is how much improvement there would be if we applied these in combination at the landscape scale across several farms. So, in a nationally important experiment, that is what we are doing. The project will be a valuable reality check for researchers, farmers and policy makers alike.

 

 

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