Anyone living in and around Crosby Ravensworth and Maulds Meaburn may have seen the diggers and dumpers moving around at Crake Trees Manor Farm during the early Autumn and wondered just what is going on!
Well, we have been working closely with Mike and Ruth Tuer, the owners of Crake Trees and other partners to undertake an ambitious and exciting programme of river restoration and wetland creation that will benefit people and wildlife.
About the Crake Trees Manor project
By the time the last tree is planted, the project will have seen the creation of nine wetland areas and 11 ponds, planting of around 500 trees, restoration of 600m of the Micklebank Syke and Howe Beck (two important headwater tributaries of the river Lyvennet) and reconnection of the channel with the floodplain in key areas.
What makes this project exciting is that:
- due to the scale of the project, we have been able to create a huge range of habitats for a diverse array of wildlife, from wading birds such as curlew, lapwing and oystercatcher, to newts, toads, otters, bats and many more. Being able to create so many large-scale features on one project site is not something we often get the opportunity to do, and
- there will be significant natural flood management (NFM) benefits that will reduce potential flood risk downstream.
Working with nature to reduce the risk of flooding
By devoting a large area to wetlands and ponds, Crake Trees Manor Farm will be able to store over 20,000m3 of water in times of high rainfall. That’s 20 million litres of water that isn’t making it into the rivers during times of high flow and contributing to downstream flooding. In addition, the river restoration and reconnection of the floodplain, combined with the tree planting, will slow the flow of the water that isn’t being stored in the ponds, further reducing that downstream flood risk.
