Crake Trees Manor wetlands and wildlife havens

Welcome to Crake Trees Manor where the owners, Mike and Ruth Tuer have worked in partnership with ourselves, Eden Rivers Trust, the Environment Agency and Westmorland Dales Landscape Partnership Scheme to create the wetland and wildlife haven you see before you.

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 Sike 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.

Here’s our guide to what you can see whilst walking along the public footpaths.

Here you can see a large pond with an area of around 4,500m³ .

This feature was designed to be a permanent pond. The pond is lined to help it retain water and the edges are planted with a variety of plants that love this environment, including various sedges, reeds, ragged robin, water mint, brook lime, and yellow flag iris.

These species are ideal for insects such as dragonflies and damselflies, bees, and butterflies.

The pond itself provides habitat for a wide range of life from invertebrates, such as water boatman and a variety of mayflies to newts, sticklebacks and potentially many more.

There are several scrapes and bunds that can be seen here.

Scrapes are gently sloping, shallow hollows that collect water – in this case from the camping field during heavy rain. Bunds are mounds of earth that keep the water in.

Scrapes store water on the farm that would otherwise be in the river, headed downstream to contribute to flooding.

When this feature fills up, water drains through a pipe to the next pond in the corner of the field.  When this second pond fills up, it too overtops, this time into the scrapes in the adjacent field (Quarry Field).

All of these scrapes have been planted with a variety of wetland plant species to provide food and shelter for wildlife.

In dry periods, this feature allows water to infiltrate into the ground or it evaporates into the air, so it has capacity to store more water when the next rains come.

The ponds to the left and right of the field entrance are designed to hold storm water.

During heavy rainfall, these ponds will fill, keeping that water out of the river. When the ponds fill up to the top, they spill over across the land to a third pond in the corner of the field. This pond connects to two further ponds, each one storing large quantities of water to help reduce flood risk.

A lot of trees have been planted in this area. We only plant native species, so on this site you’ll find willow, aspen, alder, rowan, hawthorn and birch. This helps extend the existing woodland, but also slows the flow of water and further hjelps to reduce the risk of downstream flooding.

These are also really important habitats in their own right and have already been seen to be used by buzzards, owls, heron, deer and fox.

At the bottom of the Quarry Field, some work has gone on in the Micklebank Sike to improve the river habitat there and slow the flow even further.

This has been done by pushing two whole trees into the river. These trees provide cover for a range of wildlife.

Our cameras have caught them being used by foxes, deer, tawny owl, rat and even a stoat.

These trees also provide food and habitat for insects, which in turn provide food for fish.

The wetland above the house is the largest feature created on this site. With approximately 9,000m³ of water storage, plus some permanent pools, this wetland will store a large amount of water during high rainfall and then release most of that water slowly in drier periods, leaving just a few deeper pools. This mix of permanent and seasonal wet areas ensures that there is habitat consistently throughout the year as well as a huge amount of available storage space during wet periods.

This area has been seeded with wetland wildflower seeds (including meadow foxtail, marsh marigold, purple loosestrife, water avens and wild angelica, as well as a mix of native grasses.

Willow, rowan, aspen, alders, oak and bird cherry trees have all been planted here too to provide more Natural Flood Management benefits and create even more habitat.

Across the farm are a range of other, smaller scrapes and ponds and some ditch blocking, all of which is aimed at storing water and providing wildlife habitat.

Combined with the other measures that the owners, Mike and Ruth are taking across the farm to improve habitats and increase biodiversity (such as no till seeding, hedgerow creation, reduced stock density and farm diversification), the site is becoming a haven for wildlife and a benefit to the local community.

This project is still maturing and monitoring is ongoing. If you notice any changes to the site or see any interesting wildlife, please take a photo and send it to us at [email protected] or tag us on social media @EdenRiversTrust.

The main partner is the Environment Agency, who not only provide most of the funding for this project, but also a wealth of advice and assistance.
The remainder of the funding has been secured thanks to the Westmorland Dales Landscape Partnership Scheme which is supported by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. This means that this project will also form part of a much larger, landscape-scale approach that will unlock and reveal the hidden heritage of the Westmorland Dales, enabling more people to connect with, enjoy and benefit from this inspirational landscape.

Other partners and stakeholders include Natural England (advice and assistance), Dynamic Rivers Ltd. (feasibility and design work), Michael Morley and Nicola Chappelhow (principal contractor), Cumbria County Council (permitting and advice), Yorkshire Dales National Park (archaeological advice and assistance