Make hay while the sun shines....and ponds!

Stafford Brooks is well underway. Senior Marketing and Communications Officer Christine Harding summarises the project works over the last month.

July 2024 has been an important month for Stafford Brooks, with the delivery phase of the conservation work taking off at full speed, and as the old adage goes you need to “make hay while the sun shines.”

This expression is more than just sagely advice passed down from medieval English farmers, but very literal for our grassland, wetland, and river conservation work. This work hinges on weather, and the narrow window of summer when the sun is shining, the ground is dry, most young birds have fledged, and the local meadows are packed full of flower seeds.

For Stafford Brooks, our work schedule was designed to flex and shift as needed around this very important window of time. With quite a few factors to consider, we’re excited with how much work has been able to progress so far. Have a look below.

A marsh flowers in the summer — SWT Rob Woodhouse

Radford Meadows:

Work started here as soon as the nesting birds survey was completed. Like everyone else, we need to check for nesting birds within 24 to 48 hours of works starting on site. Especially as while most young birds have fledged, it is still nesting season and we have to be mindful of second broods.

Here, we scraped back the earth in key places to make ponds where water will sit better on the site, improving habitat for insects and wading birds. This wetland reserve holds lots of water already, but it can dry out in times of warm weather. For the wetland to be most effective, we need some areas to always hold water so that the wetlands species that live here are supported in the driest periods. This will help improve habitat, but also help slow the spread of some more aggressive plant species like tufted hair-grass grass. As part of the future longer term management of this site species such as Broad-leaved dock will have a targeted management plan to reduce its dominance.

Removed BL dock as it seems to have increased this year following the flooding as an opportunistic plant first to colonise.

A freshly dug pond in a field begins to fill with water. — SWT Rob Woodhouse

One of the freshly made ponds at Radford Meadows Nature Reserve already begins to fill with water. Notice the shallow slopes down into the banks which will allow wildlife easy access to the water. There are also small islands which will provide safe space for wading birds.

a recently made pond in a wetland begins to hold water in the landscape. — SWT Rob Woodhouse

Riverside Local Nature Reserve (Fairway):

This beloved nature reserve owned by Stafford Borough Council was the next stop in our schedule. Making use of the good weather, our specialist contractors began digging ponds and ditches to add more areas for the water to sit in the middle of the site. Using the spoil, they also made islands, adding variation to the levels of the ground. Wetland species really benefit from this variety, it makes entering and exiting the water for feeding a breeding purposes safer. You can think of it like nature’s accessibility ramps.

Some of the spoil has also been spread out, and on top we will spread seed of an appropriate wetland mix of flowers and grasses. This will help re-balance the kind of plant life growing in the area, encouraging a wider variety of flowers to grow. Not only will it be very pretty once it establishes, it’s also going to attract more insects and birds, making a more balanced and healthy habitat. We have also started on prepping the drier areas of grassland by cutting them and removing the arisings before we harrow the site in August and it receives locally sourced green hay (hay cut from a nearby flower-rich meadow and baled whilst it is still green so that it dries and the seeds drop out when spread on the Fairway meadows).

A bright orange machine scrapes the earth to make space for water — SWT Rob Woodhouse

A newly made pond under a cloudy sky — SWT Rob Woodhouse

This shallow pond has a sloping bank as well, so wildlife can easily enter and exit the water. Surrounding the pond, spoil has been spread out so that it is ready to receive the seed of wetland flowers and grasses.

The Meadows at Queensville:

After a very long stretch of intense wet in the spring, the ground has finally been dry enough to mow in prep for harrowing (raking) the land and planting out the lowland meadow wildflowers. This work is underway.

Areas outside of the amenity green spaces will be covered in green hay and seed. It will take some time to green up again, but over the coming months local residents will see young sprouts popping up, with the early blooms like oxeye daisies starting to appear next summer.

In several years, when the meadow is fully mature, the meadow will boast a variety of pretty flowers, bees and butterflies, and even more visiting birds that will be able to be enjoyed from mown walking routes

Rising Brook:

Grassland works on this piece of council owned land have started at the end of last week. The tall grass has been cut and harrowed after a completing a bird nesting survey. The area is prepped to receive wildflower meadow seeds, and crucially the machinery operators digging two pools in August will have better visibility while navigating the site.

Signs on a stand in front of a gate to a local green space. — SWT Rob Woodhouse

a tractor works on a sunny day mowing high grass. — SWT Rob Woodhouse

Preparing the ground for the next phase where meadow plants will be sown.

Kingsmead Marsh Local Nature Reserve:

On the last day of July we completed our bird nesting survey and work on this borough council owned nature reserve have started. Here we will create small pools to enhance the important lowland fen habitat and create open water which will support dragonflies and birdlife. Similar to the work at Riverside, adding a variety of depths to the pools will be created to help wildlife access open water or wetland as needed.