wetlands

Wetland includes fens, reedbeds and marshes. Other wetland habitats are covered by other sections, but would include wet woodland, wet grassland mires and bogs. Typically wetlands are a mixture of these habitats, all wetlands require some degree of management to prevent them naturally drying out and developing as scrub.

In the Trusts region there is a wide range of wetland habitats stretching from the Mersey corridor to land adjacent to Morecambe Bay in the north. The area includes some important areas such as the RSPB reserve at Leighton Moss, the Marton Mere Complex and the Wigan Flashes. The history of wetlands can be very complex and includes subsidence after mining, abandonment of drainage or the result of mineral extraction as well as naturally in drainage basins.

Wetlands are important areas for wildlife as they hold many specialist animals and plants including the internationally scare bittern. A wide range of other wildlife uses the wetlands in our area and many support assemblages of breeding birds and other wildlife.

The management of wetlands concentrates on keeping them wet or in extreme cases re-wetting them. Bed lowering or raising the water level are the basic techniques, but ditching and creating other areas of open water are also important. The removal of encroaching scrub and mowing to maintain the wetlands are also important tasks. The cutting of fen and reedbed is important to stop the build up of litter that will cause the habitat to dry out; it also maintains a more open structure within the reedbed. Grazing by livestock at a very low headage can be beneficial in maintaining habitat structure.