Demonstration Mini-Wetland – Ideas you can make at home
WWT Steart Marshes are delighted to announce that our demonstration mini-wetland at the Mendip Hide is now planted up and in full working order.
Demonstration Mini-Wetland – Ideas you can make at home
WWT Steart Marshes are delighted to announce that our demonstration mini-wetland at the Mendip Hide is now planted up and in full working order. Although we already have green living roofs (sedum) growing on all of our hides, we are keen to showcase creative ways of slowing the flow of run-off water in heavy rain. As well as slowing the water, this trough creates a new habitat for wildlife and hopefully acts as inspiration for visitors to try similar projects at home.
We chose the Mendip hide due to its prominent position, so that plenty of visitors will see the new mini-wetland.
Our volunteer Joe helped to design the layout and drainage for the trough. He also hand made the cladding to match the existing hide and screening. The groundworks and installation were completed with help from volunteers Ray and Olly in December 2018.
Sunday volunteers Anna and Debby helped to finish the guttering. Excess rain water from the roof which is not used by the planted sedum will now be diverted via the new down-pipes from the gutter into the trough… and we were surprised how quickly this happened - after a few wet days in January 2019 the trough was full! A ‘stilling’ pipe was added around the feed-in gutter to prevent in-coming water from stirring up the contents of the trough.
Next was the addition of substrate – gravel and a little soil. Two breeze blocks were placed in the centre as a barrier and more gravel added to the left hand side to make it higher, allowing for different plants favouring different depths of water. A thin layer of soil was added to both sides. The trough was planted up with purple loosestrife, yellow flag iris, marsh marigold, water mint and water lily, all in planting baskets dug into the gravel for stability.
Here’s the newly planted trough in April 2019 and in August, showing how quickly these aquatic plants have established themselves.
Thank you to everyone who gave time, help and ideas to make this project happen. If you feel inspired, why not try making a mini-wetland at home? It can be as simple as sinking a small bowl into the ground and planting it up.
Take a look at www.wwt.org.uk/discover-wetlands/gardening-for-wetlands/
