Work to attract more wildlife to Langford Lakes (From Salisbury Journal)

Work to attract more wildlife to Langford Lakes

1:35pm Friday 25th November 2011 in News By Morwenna Blake

LANGFORD Lakes nature reserve near Salisbury is undergoing a transformation to try to attract even more wildlife.

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust is turning a meadow next to the lakes into a rustling reed bed full of waterways and wet areas.

The 25-acre field is being dug to create two complex trench systems, a large pool with a bird hide and numerous scrapes (areas of shallow water and marshland).

The shores of the existing lakes will be re-contoured using the 30,000 cubic metres of earth that is being shifted out of the field.

This will vastly increase the variety of different habitats at the reserve so that a far wider range of wildlife will be able to use them, according to reserve warden Chris Riley.

“We aim to complete the work in three months so that we can start planting the reeds in spring,” he said.

“Fortunately for the heavy machines the ground water levels are low, but transporting the earth is still a pretty sticky business through all the mud.”

“We’ve now hit the gravel beds, which was bound to happen as the existing lakes were created out of former gravel pits. This does make it a bit tricky to get the profiling of the ditch sides right, but the upside is that it is easier to deposit around the site. The soft peaty soil we have dug up so far will later be used to top the gravel.”

Once grown as a resource for roof thatching, reed beds are dying out along with the industry that helped them flourish. As they disappear, so too does the wildlife that lives in them. Reed beds are now included in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (a blueprint for restoring wildlife) as a priority habitat, so it is vitally important to expand them wherever suitable.

The field was acquired by the trust in 2008 and has little wildlife value. Once the work is complete however, the changes will bring in many more wetland bird species “We’re already seeing lots more migrating waders coming in to take advantage of the bare ground – birds like dunlin, redshank and lapwing like to poke about in the mud for food,” said Mr Riley.