Monitoring Plant Changes Over Time
In 2015, as part of a monitoring programme funded by the Environment Agency, areas of the reserve within the 3 main wetland habitats, freshwater, brackish and saltwater were surveyed for the plants that were present. Known as the National Vegetation Classification (NVC), these surveys were undertaken by WWT Consulting (www.wwtconsulting.co.uk) with the help of our site wardens and volunteers. In June of this year (2018), we repeated this survey in the same areas to allow us to compare with those of the previous survey to see how Steart Marshes is developing.
The management has changed dramatically since becoming a WWT reserve in 2014, with less intense farming and large areas now being kept purposely wet to create valuable wetland habitat. Providing not only fantastic habitat for wildlife but also a benefit to people by storing large volumes of potential flood water away from their homes and septic storage tanks.
These NVC surveys are a great way of telling what plant species we have on site and what communities these are part of. The results will provide us with a glimpse of some of the habitats it may contain in the future, as we continue to monitor the changes.
