Chearsley Wetland reflects on two-year success
Chearsley Wetland has marked its two-year anniversary, which has seen the site transform into an example of how farming and wildlife can work in harmony to restore landscapes.
As well as a backwater, the project created a variety of shapes and sizes of pools and scrapes.
All these features encourage species of plants, insects and animals that thrive in wetland habitats.
Kay Lidgard, a catchment coordinator at the Environment Agency, says: “While the Environment Agency supports many partnership projects improving local water environments, Chearsley Wetland is a particularly inspiring example – and the success of the project is evident in the wide range of species recorded at the site since its transformation.”
The project began as an effort to change 17 hectares of floodplain land into complex wetland habitat.
The area now has 15 new ponds, a mixture of seasonal and permanent, as well as a backwater channel connected to the River Thame.
Hilary Phillips, RTCT’s senior project officer, says: “Seeing how quickly the land has recovered from the initial groundworks to create the 15 new ponds and backwater, and the speed at which flora and fauna has started to colonise new habitats, it gives me hope that we can help to restore nature across our depleted landscapes.
“With willing farmers and the right resources, we can deliver change at a scale which is greater than the sum of its parts.”