Wet woodland is a rare habitat
and more important than you might think...
photo credit Nick Simms
Healthy wet woodlands help to reduce the risk of flooding elsewhere on river courses, by slowing down and storing water, as well as being rich mosaics of interconnected habitat in themselves. They support a huge diversity of plants, animals, insects and fungi, and make for fascinating, beautiful places to visit. Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is busy creating and restoring these woodland areas in Kirklees.
Wet, wet, wet
In West Yorkshire the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust has recently begun work on the Wild Wet Woodlands Project, a two year initiative that will focus on the creation of wet woodland habitat across the Kirklees district. The project is being funded by Biffaward with smaller contributions from Kirklees Council and the Environment Agency. Wet woodland has been identified as a priority habitat by the Strategic Waterways Group, which includes all the West Yorkshire councils.
Five areas in and around Almondbury and Kirkburton have been carefully selected for wet woodland habitat creation. These sites are owned by Kirklees Council and over the next two years they will begin their transition from overgrazed pasture to wildlife rich, wet woodland. The work began this spring when the diggers arrived on site to reshape the land, an essential process that will allow us to slow and retain rainwater runoff in ponds and scrapes. An army of volunteers will then help plant hundreds of young trees and shrubs. Varieties such as willow, alder, aspen and downy birch will be used as they prefer to grow in the wetter soils. It should not take long before wildlife benefits; anyone who has ever built a pond in their garden or seen frogspawn in a puddle will know that wildlife will colonise any wet area pretty quickly. However it will take many more decades before our vision of mature wet woodland is realised and we hope that local people will adopt and care for these sites long after the project has ended.
In addition to creating new habitat, we will be working to expand and improve existing wet woodland habitat on sites which are part of a larger, drier woodland complex. One such site is Carr Wood near Farnley Tyas. 
Owned by Farnley Estates this woodland has a network of small abandoned reservoirs and mill ponds that once provided water for the old Farnley Mill. Used in the fabric production industry until the mid 19th century, over time the woodland has slowly reclaimed these manmade structures and now all that is visible of this once thriving industry are some remnant parts of the mill building and some wild looking ponds. Our job here is to help this fledging wet woodland develop whilst remaining sympathetic to the archaeology of the area.
Penny Spring Wood near Lowerhouses and the extensive Bradley Gate Wood complex between Brackenhall and Bradley will also benefit through this project. On these sites we will be reducing the number of dominant tree species such as sycamore and larch, which in turn will allow more light to penetrate into the woods and develop a more species rich understory. The felled timber will then be put to good use by creating dams from small and large woody debris which is found in healthy, natural watercourses. This in turn is then colonised by insects and, the fish that feed upon them and shelter in the brash. The project will be closely monitored to show the benefits of woody debris to insect populations on the sites.
Big benefits
Although being implemented on relatively small scale, the project will have benefits other than for biodiversity. By storing rain water run-off in ponds, scrapes and pools, the project will help to reduce flood risk elsewhere in the catchment in a more natural way.
Jeff Keenlyside is a biodiversity officer at Kirklees Council and an advocate of the project. He says
“We’re trying to retain the water in the environment so it will help reduce flood risk. It’s about creating natural dams in and around streams so the water pools up and slowly drains away following heavy rain. It’s a relatively new idea at the moment and in the early stages, but we should see quite a lot of work done over the next two years. This can be a much cheaper option for reducing flooding, bringing with it lots of benefits for wildlife.”
Gillian French, Biffaward Programme Manager, says
“Our natural environment must be protected, which is why Biffaward is delighted to support organisations like Yorkshire Wildlife Trust who work tirelessly to conserve our landscape. The work carried out across all these sites will bring
huge benefits to the habitats and wildlife that live within them.”
More trees please
In total this project will create around 18 hectares of wet woodland in Kirklees, a valuable addition to this rare and often ephemeral habitat. But to achieve this vision the project needs the support of local communities and volunteers within the area to help with things like tree planting and pond digging
– if you can help please do get in touch with us at volunteering@ywt.org.uk, and visit our project volunteering page for more information about the conservation activities which we have planned.
Contact
Email Project Officer Nick Simms if you would like more details about the project.
