 OnTrent Demonstration Project; Southern Meadow, Stone.
A Local Nature Reserve......
The OnTrent Initiative has been working in partnership with Stafford Borough Council on a habitat restoration project at a site next to the River Trent at Stone in Staffordshire.
The work is a demonstration project aimed at promoting sustainable management and wetland creation to farmers and land managers in the Trent Valley. The work has attempted to undo some of the damaging improvment and drainage work that has taken place in the past. All work is carried out in an an environmentally sympathetic way.
The land is being managed to continue to form part of a viable farming system.
Description of the site.
Southern Meadow is a 8.3ha lowland pasture site in the floodplain of the River Trent, off Valley Road to the south of the town of Stone.
The site includes a large area of grassland, a small pond, some wet grassland areas and a length of wet woodland along the western boundary. The river Trent flows along its northern and eastern edge.
Near the river the site is open with occasional large willows, poplars and alder. A local grazier grazes the site under a Countryside Stewardship Agreement from Defra.
Survey Results
Ecology. Consultation was undertaken with all the ecological specialists in the area as well as as a survey on the site itself. The majority of the site was found to have been seeded years ago with grass species that now dominate. The pond and wet woodland on the site were found to support a very diverse range of plants, the woodland is now a valuable piece of wetwoodland; a rare habitat in the Trent Valley. This part of the site will be protected from any changes elsewhere on the site.
Archaeology. The Staffordshire County archaeologist was consulted to find out if there was any historical records on the site. There are no known archaeolgical remains on the site. A meander used to exist on the river at the north of the site shown on a 1904 map. Soon after this the meander was filled in to try and speed up the flow in the river.
Underground services. All the local utility companies were contacted to find out if any pipes or wires crossed the site either above or below ground. There is one electricity line above the site and several underground clean and foul water pipes crossing the site, all of these will be avoided by any work on the site.
Soil conditions. Trial pits were dug across the site to assess the type of soil. A layer of clay underlies most of the site, there is topsoil on the surface.
Levels Surveyors measured the land and ground water levels throughout the site to help understand where water flows on and off the site.
Practical work
- Two barn owl boxes have been installed on the site.
- A public consultation event was held with the local community.
- Old fencing has been replaced around the pond and wet woodland to protect it and allow it to extend beyond its existing boundary.
- Several of the mature trees have been pollarded, this prevents them from falling over and lengthens a tree's life.
- Hedgerow restoration - laying the hedge, which has been neglected for years, to make a useful barrier and corridor for wildlife.
- Tree planting, providing more cover for widlife on the site in appropriate areas.
- Information signs to explain what is happening and why.
- Writing a management plan for the site for the long term.
- Improving the gate and public access on to the site.
- Grassland diversification, breaking up parts of the improved grassland to encourage some of the slower growing wild flowers to return.
In 2005 the site was designated as a Local Nature Reserve by Stafford Borough Council. It forms part of the Stafford LA 21 LNR project. For more details on this work, and other LNR's in Stafford please click here.
For the Future
Bank re-profiling; softening off the riverbanks on the inside of the bends to make it more interesting for wildlife and safer for cattle and people near the river.
Inside of the former meander on the Southern Meadow during the winter frost.
Work on the OnTrent Demonstration site is funded by OnTrent, the Environment Agency and Lafarge Aggregates. The work is part of the English Nature Wildspace! award to Stafford Borough Council. | 
