Stay Back From The Water And Reap The Benefits

There is a management option under Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) agri-environment schemes for farmers to create ungrazed grass margins along waterways and other field boundaries.

The margins must be at least two metres wide and fenced off to exclude livestock. There are many advantages in having well vegetated margins along farm waterways (riparian zones).

The aims are to provide additional habitat and food source for a range of farmland birds and mammals, and to reduce nutrient run-off from farmland. In addition, these margins can help reduce riverbank erosion.

Bank erosion can cause problems on farm waterways, such as bank collapse. In addition to the land loss, soil entering a waterway may cause silting up which can reduce the range of aquatic life that it supports. For example, sediment trapped in trout and salmon spawning beds make them unproductive. Waterways prone to silting up also require more maintenance.

A vegetated margin can help improve bank stability, thereby reducing erosion and silting up of the river, stream or sheugh. This margin can also contribute to water quality improvement by filtering out sediment and nutrients from surface run-off from the adjoining fields. It should be noted, however, that restrictions on the land application of slurry, manure and dirty water under the Nitrates Action Programme continue to apply even where a vegetated margin exists.

As a wildlife habitat, vegetated margins are particularly important as they form the boundary between water and land, where many aquatic insects spend part of their life cycle. These insects provide an important food supply for a wide range of birds, including dippers, sand martins, swallows, wrens, chaffinches and wagtails, all of which feed extensively on aquatic insects.

The most important step in establishing an effective vegetated waterway margin is to exclude livestock by erecting a stock proof fence. Funding is available to farmers for the creation of ungrazed grass margins under the DARD agri-environment schemes. To date there has been poor uptake of this option. Don’t miss an opportunity to create a valuable wildlife habitat, improve water quality and to obtain a better field boundary.

For further information on grass margins and agri-environment options contact Countryside Management Branch staff at your local DARD office