The River Were runs through Smallbrook Meadows Nature Reserve and is about to begin undergoing some necessary maintenance, carried out by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust in order to improve the habitat and ecological quality of the meadow. The river has been designated as ‘heavily modified’ owing to its straight layout, so work has been planned to remeander the river and bring a more natural curvature to its course. The work is due to start next week.
The work will be undertaken in two phases. The first will be to create a new meandering channel to join the upstream current. When left over summer this will encourage growth of the wetland and provide the necessary habitat for any animals who may become displaced from the straight channel. Phase two will see the existing straight channel filled in with soil and the water directed down the corrected meander. Water voles will be encouraged towards the new habitat.
The benefit this project will have to the local ecosystem and wetland will be notable and the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust have the goal of improving the local habitat quality as the most important priority in this restructuring of the landscape. For more information about remeandering and the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, please see their website: https://www.wiltshirewildlife.org/
Last modified: 14 July 2023
