2 minute read
Re-curving the river at Smallbrook Meadows
By Connor Stapleton-Goddard, Water Team Projects Officer
We have recently completed an exciting project at Smallbrook Meadows to re-meander the River Were with a more natural curved shape and reconnect the river to its floodplain, improving habitat for endangered water voles and restoring natural processes.
Smallbrook Meadows is a unique mosaic of six small water meadows, wet woodland, marsh, ponds, chalk streams and hedgerows. The nature reserve, which is located on the southern edge of Warminster and lies between the Rivers Were and Wylye, is owned by Wiltshire Council and managed by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.
Thanks to the hard work of Trust staff, volunteers and contractors on the ground, we now have a curvier river channel that has been reconnected to its floodplain and we’ve introduced a wider range of microhabitats such as wetland scrapes, which will provide a host of benefits for the resident water voles, aquatic invertebrates and wild brown trout. Invertebrates such as dragonflies and damselflies will flourish in particular when the new scrapes become filled each season as water levels rise.
The more natural shape and size of the river channel will also kick-start natural river processes such as sedimentation in the margins and faster flows in the main channel to keep important gravel habitats clean for spawning fish and promote weed growth.
This wetland restoration project was funded by National Highways’ Environment and Wellbeing Designated Fund as part of the Network for Nature programme, which aims to create, restore and connect habitats for wildlife which have been impacted by historic road building activity.
We’ll be monitoring the new river channel closely over winter to see what it looks like with the higher water levels and translocated plants. As the new channel has lots of young, delicate plants, we ask that people stick to the paths and off the new banks. There is a great view of both the new and infilled channels from the footbridge at the upstream end of the improved area at the reserve!
Find out more about the Water Team’s projects and opportunities to volunteer at: www.wiltshirewildlife.org/water-team
