Wet habitats are favoured by many of Yorkshire’s Species of Conservation Concern (approximately 25%). Almost half of plant species now extinct in Yorkshire were found in wetlands. Limestone habitats are also especially rich in biodiversity, and our chalk rivers demonstrate this. Therefore, bringing water back onto the land will have huge biodiversity benefits. Restoring our rivers and associated habitats will also improve water quality, support flood management, and help store carbon.
Recent centuries have heavily modified the physical state of our rivers and streams, separating them from their floodplains and altering their dynamic processes. We must restore the natural processes to enhance the functionality of these natural systems and reconnect rivers with their floodplains. This will allow water to move more naturally through our landscapes, creating more space for nature whilst helping with water storage and reducing the impacts of flood events as well as drought.
Managed systems such as drains, ditches, canals, and ponds can continue to be managed to remove water from fields to support food production, but there is great scope to allow nature to inform management, so these can act as stepping stones and corridors across large areas, connecting important wildlife sites. Canals can function as important habitats in their own right, as well as effective wildlife corridors which are easily accessible to people. Hull and East Yorkshire have several significant canals, including Pocklington Canal and Leven Canal, which are both designated as SSSIs.
Freshwater systems and standing water such as ponds are efficient vectors for INNS which are damaging our native wildlife, such as Himalayan Balsam, New Zealand Pygmyweed, and American Mink. Any habitat intervention must take care not to allow these species to spread further than they already have, and to eradicate them where possible.
Migratory fish, Bittern, Lapwing, Curlew, Snipe, Redshank, Cetti’s Warbler, Reed Warbler, Marsh Harrier, Kingfisher, breeding Variable Damselfly, dragonflies, rare aquatic beetles, Corky-fruited Water-dropwort, Greater Water Parsnip, Water Vole, Grass Snake, Eurasian Otter, bats, and amphibians.
Rivers, chalk rivers, reedbed, canals, drains, ditches, floodplains, floodplain meadows, ponds, lakes, species-rich grasslands, and riparian woodland.
Carbon storage, water storage, improve water quality, flood alleviation, and recreation.
The River Hull Headwaters Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) was designated in 1988 due to its location as the most northerly chalk river catchment in Britain. A long section of the stream was straightened over 200 years ago, to speed up the flow of water downstream to a water mill site. The mill has long since gone and work has been undertaken over many years on short sections of the stream to try to improve in channel features.
In 2019 work started, through collaboration between the landowners and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, with support from Natural England, the Environment Agency, and Yorkshire Water to look at reconnection of the stream to a former meandering channel. The channel had been ‘lost’ with no water flowing in for over 150 years. The outline and form of the original channel was still defined in the adjacent wetland areas on the grassland, so work was undertaken over three years to return the stream flow to this channel.
Natural rivers have bends which create pools where large fish can live. Gravel bars form on the inside of the bends which benefit insects and plants. Shallow, stony areas called riffles develop in-between where smaller fish can hide. Trees are able to recolonise banks which in turn create habitat for wildlife and help strengthen the banks reducing erosion.
In 2022 full re-connection of the flow was completed, with 100 metres of the straightened channel now a linear pond feature and the chalk stream able to re-grade and re-form the features in the meandering channel. No planting or ‘seeding’ of the in-channel vegetation has been carried out, but within 9 months of restoration, beds of Common Water-Crowfoot, Lesser Water Parsnip and Water Starwort have re-appeared, along with open water chalk and flint gravels.
Whilst it’s my job to try and maximise biodiversity, it’s also a passion, particularly along the river Hull where I studied otters when they were still near mythical. Walking along fragments of historic wetlands like Figham and Swinemoor, Pulfin bog and Tophill Low, it’s a glimpse into a past landscape. I’ve had the privilege to work alongside some really motivated local people, many of whom have also become part of that past landscape, and it’s a great motivation to continue their efforts.
It’s easy to get disillusioned by biodiversity decline, but through hard work and effort we’ve seen great results with Marsh Harrier nesting again in the Hull valley, Bearded Tit and Bittern prospecting for nests amongst the reedbeds and some threatened species like Water Vole and Cuckoo we’ve managed to retain; but this all takes lots of work from lots of connected partners. It’s very satisfying to see the ‘island’ of our reserve which 40 years ago was the very last stand of biodiversity, now becoming a resource of species to repopulate restored habitat.
Perhaps our most high-profile work at the moment is around wetland plants. Born of a very successful re-introduction of Greater Water Parsnip in 2009, we’ve now expanded this to a host of species like Bogbean, Milk Parsley, Marsh Pea, Lesser Water Plantain, and Marsh Lousewort. Genetically these river Hull plants are right for our environment and it’s been wonderful to support partner organisations with re-introductions across the region. Much of our work depends on dedicated community volunteers who are a driving force in physical results.
My biggest hope is for sustainable farming alongside nature, in which production agriculture is safeguarded by a connected landscape where ecosystem services deliver water quality, flood risk management, BNG, and carbon capture. On this landscape canvas we can enrichen biodiversity to again see some of the enigmatic species like Crane, White Stork, and Swallowtail Butterfly once more. The East Yorkshire nature tourism resource was already valued at £21m in 2018 and a biodiverse landscape helps grow the region’s identity and reputation, and hopefully provides work and roles for new generations.
