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Grazing marsh

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Grazing marsh is a British Isles term for flat, marshy grassland in polders. It consists of large grass fields separated by fresh or brackish ditches, and is often important for its wildlife.

History

Grazing marshes were created from medieval times by building sea walls (earth banks) across tidal mudflats and salt marsh to make polders (though the term "polder" is little used in Britain). Polders in Britain are mostly drained by gravity, rather than active pumping. The original tidal drainage channels were augmented by new ditches, and flap valves in the sea walls let water drain out at low tide and prevent the sea or tidal river from entering at high tide. Constructing polders in this way is called inning or reclaiming from the sea.

Grazing marshes have been made in most lowland estuaries in Britain, often leaving only the river channel and the lowest part of the estuary tidal. In a few cases (such as Newtown Harbour on the Isle of Wight, and Pagham Harbour in West Sussex) the sea walls have been breached, and the estuaries have returned to a tidal state. Grazing marshes have also been made on low-lying open coasts.

Many grazing marshes were inned in stages, and the old sea walls (called counter walls) may be found marooned far from the current sea wall. Land levels on either side of a counter wall often differ by several metres. Paradoxically, the lower side is the land inned earlier, because sediment continued to build up on the side that remained tidal.

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Mudflat

Mudflat

Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal flat ecosystems are as extensive globally as mangroves, covering at least 127,921 km2 (49,391 sq mi) of the Earth's surface. They are found in sheltered areas such as bays, bayous, lagoons, and estuaries; they are also seen in freshwater lakes and salty lakes alike, wherein many rivers and creeks end. Mudflats may be viewed geologically as exposed layers of bay mud, resulting from deposition of estuarine silts, clays and aquatic animal detritus. Most of the sediment within a mudflat is within the intertidal zone, and thus the flat is submerged and exposed approximately twice daily.

Salt marsh

Salt marsh

A salt marsh, saltmarsh or salting, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated by dense stands of salt-tolerant plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh in trapping and binding sediments. Salt marshes play a large role in the aquatic food web and the delivery of nutrients to coastal waters. They also support terrestrial animals and provide coastal protection.

Tide

Tide

Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another.

Estuary

Estuary

An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environments and are an example of an ecotone. Estuaries are subject both to marine influences such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water, and to fluvial influences such as flows of freshwater and sediment. The mixing of seawater and freshwater provides high levels of nutrients both in the water column and in sediment, making estuaries among the most productive natural habitats in the world.

Newtown, Isle of Wight

Newtown, Isle of Wight

Newtown is a small village in the civil parish of Calbourne, Newtown and Porchfield, on the Isle of Wight, England. In medieval times it was a thriving borough.

Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is an island in the English Channel, two to five miles off the coast of Hampshire, across the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island in England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of Wight has resorts that have been popular holiday destinations since Victorian times. It is known for its mild climate, coastal scenery, and verdant landscape of fields, downland, and chines. The island is historically part of Hampshire and is designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Pagham Harbour

Pagham Harbour

Pagham Harbour is a 629-hectare (1,550-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the western outskirts of Bognor Regis in West Sussex. It is a Geological Conservation Review site, a Nature Conservation Review site, a Ramsar site, a Special Protection Area and a Marine Conservation Zone. An area of 599.1 hectares is a Local Nature Reserve.

West Sussex

West Sussex

West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an area of 1,991 square kilometres, West Sussex borders Hampshire to the west, Surrey to the north, and East Sussex to the east. The county town and only city in West Sussex is Chichester, located in the south-west of the county. In the 2011 census, West Sussex recorded a population of 806,900.

Wildlife

Wintering wildfowl are characteristic of grazing marshes, often including large flocks of Eurasian wigeon, brent goose, white-fronted goose and Bewick's swan. Many of these birds are hunted by predators such as peregrine and marsh harrier.

In summer, waders such as common redshank, Eurasian curlew and northern lapwing breed.

The ditches often have a range of salinity, depending on how close to the sea wall they are. The more saline ditches host specialist brackish-water plants and animals. These include, for example, the rare brackish amphipod Gammarus insensibilis and sea club-rush (Bolboschoenus maritimus). Fresher ditches may support rare animals, such as the great silver water beetle (Hydrophilus piceus) and the great raft spider (Dolomedes plantarius), and a wide range of pondweeds (Potamogeton and relatives).

The grassland vegetation usually has a fairly small number of species, but those present are often scarce elsewhere, such as sea arrowgrass (Triglochin maritimum), divided sedge (Carex divisa) and strawberry clover Trifolium fragiferum.

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Eurasian wigeon

Eurasian wigeon

The Eurasian wigeon or European wigeon, also known as the widgeon or the wigeon, is one of three species of wigeon in the dabbling duck genus Mareca. It is common and widespread within its Palearctic range.

Peregrine falcon

Peregrine falcon

The peregrine falcon, also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-grey back, barred white underparts, and a black head. The peregrine is renowned for its speed, reaching over 320 km/h (200 mph) during its characteristic hunting stoop, making it the fastest bird in the world, as well as the fastest member of the animal kingdom. According to a National Geographic TV program, the highest measured speed of a peregrine falcon is 389 km/h (242 mph). As is typical for bird-eating raptors, peregrine falcons are sexually dimorphic, with females being considerably larger than males.

Marsh harrier

Marsh harrier

The marsh harriers are birds of prey of the harrier subfamily. They are medium-sized raptors and the largest and broadest-winged harriers. Most of them are associated with marshland and dense reedbeds. They are found almost worldwide, excluding only the Americas.

Wader

Wader

Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wading along shorelines and mudflats in order to forage for food crawling or burrowing in the mud and sand, usually small arthropods such as aquatic insects or crustaceans. The term "wader" is used in Europe, while "shorebird" is used in North America, where "wader" may be used instead to refer to long-legged wading birds such as storks and herons.

Common redshank

Common redshank

The common redshank or simply redshank is a Eurasian wader in the large family Scolopacidae.

Eurasian curlew

Eurasian curlew

The Eurasian curlew or common curlew is a very large wader in the family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across temperate Europe and Asia. In Europe, this species is often referred to just as the "curlew", and in Scotland known as the "whaup" in Scots.

Northern lapwing

Northern lapwing

The northern lapwing, also known as the peewit or pewit, tuit or tew-it, green plover, or pyewipe or just lapwing, is a bird in the lapwing subfamily. It is common through temperate Eurosiberia.

Gammarus

Gammarus

Gammarus is an amphipod crustacean genus in the family Gammaridae. It contains more than 200 described species, making it one of the most species-rich genera of crustaceans. Different species have different optimal conditions, particularly in terms of salinity, and different tolerances; Gammarus pulex, for instance, is a purely freshwater species, while Gammarus locusta is estuarine, only living where the salinity is greater than 25‰.

Great raft spider

Great raft spider

The great raft spider or fen raft spider is a European species of spider in the family Pisauridae. Like other Dolomedes spiders, it is semiaquatic, hunting its prey on the surface of water. It occurs mainly in neutral to alkaline, unpolluted water of fens and grazing marsh.

Potamogeton

Potamogeton

Potamogeton is a genus of aquatic, mostly freshwater, plants of the family Potamogetonaceae. Most are known by the common name pondweed, although many unrelated plants may be called pondweed, such as Canadian pondweed. The genus name means "river neighbor", originating from the Greek potamos (river) and geiton (neighbor).

Conservation

Many grazing marshes have been converted into arable land, often using pumped drainage to lower the water levels enough to grow crops. The low ditch levels and agricultural runoff combine to remove much of the aquatic wildlife, although the arable fields may still be used by some wintering wildfowl.

Some areas of grazing marsh and other polder land have been used to recreate tidal habitats by a process of managed retreat.

Many of the larger areas of grazing marsh bear nature conservation designations, including Site of Special Scientific Interest, Special Protection Area, Special Area of Conservation and Ramsar Site.

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Arable land

Arable land

Arable land is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops. Alternatively, for the purposes of agricultural statistics, the term often has a more precise definition:Arable land is the land under temporary agricultural crops, temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen gardens and land temporarily fallow. The abandoned land resulting from shifting cultivation is not included in this category. Data for 'Arable land' are not meant to indicate the amount of land that is potentially cultivable.

Managed retreat

Managed retreat

Managed retreat involves the purposeful, coordinated movement of people and buildings away from risks. This may involve the movement of a person, infrastructure, or community. It can occur in response to a variety of hazards such as flood, wildfire, or drought.

Site of Special Scientific Interest

Site of Special Scientific Interest

A site of special scientific interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an area of special scientific interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man. SSSI/ASSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in the United Kingdom are based upon them, including national nature reserves, Ramsar sites, Special Protection Areas, and Special Areas of Conservation. The acronym "SSSI" is often pronounced "triple-S I".

Special Protection Area

Special Protection Area

A special protection area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certain particularly threatened birds. Together with special areas of conservation (SACs), the SPAs form a network of protected sites across the EU, called Natura 2000. Each SPA has an EU code – for example the North Norfolk Coast SPA has the code UK9009031.

Special Area of Conservation

Special Area of Conservation

A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora. They are to protect the 220 habitats and approximately 1,000 species listed in annex I and II of the directive which are considered to be of European interest following criteria given in the directive. They must be chosen from the sites of Community importance by the member states and designated SAC by an act assuring the conservation measures of the natural habitat.

Examples of grazing marsh

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Pevensey Levels

Pevensey Levels

Pevensey Levels is a 3,603.2-hectare (8,904-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Bexhill-on-Sea and Hailsham in East Sussex. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, a Ramsar site and a Special Area of Conservation. An area of 183.5 hectares is a national nature reserve and an area of 150 hectares is a nature reserve called Pevensey Marshes which is managed by the Sussex Wildlife Trust.

East Sussex

East Sussex

East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Sussex is the city of Brighton and Hove.

Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the northwest, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the southwest, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces the French department of Pas-de-Calais across the Strait of Dover. The county town is Maidstone. It is the fifth most populous county in England, the most populous non-metropolitan county and the most populous of the home counties.

Essex

Essex

Essex is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Greater London to the south and south-west. There are three cities in Essex: Southend, Colchester and Chelmsford, in order of population. For the purposes of government statistics, Essex is placed in the East of England region. There are four definitions of the extent of Essex, the widest being the ancient county. Next, the largest is the former postal county, followed by the ceremonial county, with the smallest being the administrative county—the area administered by the County Council, which excludes the two unitary authorities of Thurrock and Southend-on-Sea. The ceremonial county occupies the eastern part of what was, during the Early Middle Ages, the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Essex. As well as rural areas and urban areas, it forms part of the wider Home Counties of England.

Isle of Thanet

Isle of Thanet

The Isle of Thanet is a peninsula forming the easternmost part of Kent, England. While in the past it was separated from the mainland by the 600-metre-wide (2,000 ft) Wantsum Channel, it is no longer an island.

Agriculture in the United Kingdom

Agriculture in the United Kingdom

Agriculture in the United Kingdom uses 71% of the country's land area, employs 1% of its workforce and contributes 0.5% of its gross value added. The UK currently produces about 60% of its domestic food consumption.

Economy of the United Kingdom

Economy of the United Kingdom

The economy of the United Kingdom is a highly developed social market economy. It is the sixth-largest national economy in the world measured by nominal gross domestic product (GDP), ninth-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP), and twenty second-highest by GDP per capita, constituting 3.3% of nominal world GDP. By PPP terms, UK constitutes 2.34% of world GDP.

Agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in cities. While humans started gathering grains at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers only began planting them around 11,500 years ago. Sheep, goats, pigs and cattle were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world. In the twentieth century, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monocultures came to dominate agricultural output.

ADAS (company)

ADAS (company)

ADAS is a UK-based independent agricultural and environmental consultancy and provider of rural development and policy advice. ADAS provides independent science-based research, consultancy and contracting services to a wide range of organisations in both the private and public sectors, throughout the UK and internationally.

Arla Foods UK

Arla Foods UK

Arla Foods Ltd is a major dairy products company in the United Kingdom, based in Leeds, and a subsidiary of the Arla Foods Group, which is owned by its farmer owners in seven countries including the UK.

Bernard Matthews Ltd

Bernard Matthews Ltd

Bernard Matthews Foods Limited is a British farming and food products business with its headquarters in Great Witchingham, Norfolk, England, which specialises in turkey products.

Faccenda Foods

Faccenda Foods

Faccenda Foods Limited is a privately owned UK business established in 1962 by Robin Faccenda, which supplies fresh poultry products.

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