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Habitat Creation in Lyneham (2021-2024)

With funding contributed by Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL), the Cluster is facilitating five farms to jointly deliver the following along the stream at Lyneham Heath:

  • improved habitat for farmland birds, pollinators, aquatic life and other wildlife

  • improved water quality from farmland diffuse pollution

  • natural flood management and a more natural hydrological regime reinstated

  • multiple sources of funding applied to demonstrate blended finance

These farms are showcasing this project to help build confidence in similar schemes with key stakeholders across the Cluster region. In the heart of the Cluster’s area, this project is a demonstration of farmer collaboration for landscape habitat restoration. The key habitat features created by the 5 farms are: - Fish passage enabled in 2 x Lyneham Heath water jumps - 3 x wood debris dams - 3 x contoured reedbeds to intercept sediment and nutrient from arable runoff (375m) - 2 x Spring fed pond and wetland features (0.6ha) - Arable reversion to seasonally flooded meadow and flood storage capacity (1.4ha) - Bank re-grading to reconnect stream with floodplain (80m) - Arable Reversion to wildflower meadow (18ha) - Orchard wildflower underplanting (4ha) - Enhance floristic value of meadows (6.1ha) - Pollen & nectar rich margin (0.1ha) - Ecological abandonment & connectivity to the Norrells, an ancient woodland (5.7ha) This is a bottom up, landscape-approach to habitat conservation, and through knowledge exchange we aim to encourage more neighbours and contemporaries to participate. Other Cluster and catchment initiatives layered on this site will be capturing natural capital with more targeted measurement: Carbon with the FiPL funded Soil Carbon baselining project; water quality and flooding with the ECP; and biodiversity with various projects - e.g. Glorious Grasslands and our supplementary bird feeding initiative.

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