Working with drainage boards to enhance biodiversity
This Spring, Ely IDB (Internal Drainage Board) contracted Waterbeach/Old West IDB to install just under 1 km of pre-planted coir rolls along the eastern bank of the Engine Drain in Willow Grange Farm, Chittering.
This work was funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development via the Environment Agency and Cambridgeshire ACRE. The plants in the coir rolls will help to prevent soil runoff, improve water quality, increase bank stability and improve biodiversity. The rolls were ordered Autumn 20, planted up February 21, and the first delivery was late March 21 with installation taking place on April 21.
Sharing the lessons learned:
- The pre-planted coir rolls need to be ordered the summer before installation to give the plants a chance to grow and for their roots to bed into the coir. We were unable to do this and lost a lot of plants in transit as they were not well established enough to be moved. The suppliers (WLMS Solutions) came and replaced the missing plants in situ.
- Stakes: need to be strong and at least half-width to withstand the force and volume of the water in the drain and be able to take the force needed to hammer them into ballast/gravel. It was decided to use 4 stakes/roll rather than the usual 3 stakes for added safety. This also meant using more wire to secure them. The wire was fastened to the stakes using staples.
- It is important to get the installation equipment delivered before the rolls so that everything is in place and there will be no delays to installation due to a lack of supplies.
- The rolls need to be taken out of their nursery beds at the supplier’s about 4 days before transporting so they can dry out and be light enough to transport, sudden changes to delivery dates are not possible.
- Well established plants in rolls can wait happily for a few days before being installed, smaller plants needed watering ( a scoop of water from the drain using a digger bucket)
- Once installed into the drain the plants started growing rapidly – this was helped by warm sunny mid-April.
This experience will be used again, next Spring when we will plant more rolls in another drain and there will be a landowner/farmers event on September 21 to look at the roll once they have grown and talked to the IDB, suppliers, and farmer.
A big thanks to Fiona Dunne – farmer Willow Grange Farm and Jeremy Saddler, Waterbeach/Old West IDB.
