River-friendly farming at Fordhall - it's udderly refreshing!
We are taking a fresh approach to managing our water at Fordhall and we need your help.
Our River-Friendly Farming Appeal is hoping to raise £15,000 to help us slow the flow, store more water onsite, clean more of our water and provide places for wildlife, livestock and people to all enjoy the benefits of a healthy water ecosystem.
What will we do and why?
Surveys in 2024 have highlighted that our river boundary, The Tern, is not happy! High nutrient levels from run-off upstream are harming our native wildlife, and whilst the streams and ponds onsite fared much better, we know we can be doing more. Our river-friendly approach will inspire others and make it crystal clear that everyone can help tackle the national concern of our rivers and inland waterways.
So, what will we do? Well, the list is long, and we are still working on it if we are honest, but we know enough to know there is a lot we can do. Here are some of the actions we will take:
Restore our oldest farm pond
‘Castle Hill Pond’, will be deepened so it holds more water for longer, slowing the flow and providing a better wildlife habitat. We'll pollard some of the shadowing trees and complete careful transplanting of marsh plants.
Install ram pumps or similar
A traditional technique of gravity fed water pumps into troughs reducing the frequency livestock need to access a watercourse to drink.
Plant apple trees along our water courses
Whose fruit will encourage the native water vole and whose roots will encourage water to soak into the ground, creating a water store and reducing the volume of water that flows into the river.
Create cow bathing pools
Create scape's in our water meadows away from the River Tern. Creating a new wildlife habitat and a safe place for our livestock to enjoy bathing during the summer.
What is a cow bathing pool?
A spa day for our cows! Well, sort of. We want our cows to be able to self-care, just as they do from the medicinal and nutritious trees and hedges we recently planted for our silvopasture. Keeping themselves cool in the summer by bathing is something enjoyed by nearly all animals. Unlimited access to our watercourse can be very damaging, however, the cows just can't help themselves, when they see water on a hot summers day, they just want to jump in and have some fun! Due to the great work of our tenant farmer, Ben, the River Tern now only has small areas of managed drinking access for our livestock. Their days of bathing have been taken away. With your help we will create special areas for our cattle to once again bathe and have fun.
The present thought is to create a fenced-in scrape (shallow pond of less than 1m depth) within our spring-fed water meadows, line the base with reclaimed concrete railway sleepers to reduce poaching (damage to the underlying soil), and surround it with water-cleaning rushes and reeds. This plant life and the surrounding wet woodland should thrive and indeed be grateful for the nutrients coming from the livestock. In turn, for the gift of nutrients, they will add oxygen to the now-cleaned water before it enters our river. Regular water sampling by our volunteers and controlling access to the scrape will be crucial to its management.
Why is it important?
Fordhall is surrounded by water. The majority of our boundary is formed by the river Tern; our water meadows are full of natural springs which regularly flood (storing the water before it enters the Severn and Shrewsbury further downstream), we have three long, open ditches across the farm and five spring-fed pools. Fordhall is the home of snipe, lapwing, otters, kingfishers, newts, demoiselles, dragonflies and herons, all of which depend on healthy water courses for survival. Our farm depends on water. Our livestock depend on water. We depend on water. This project will see these relationships flourish, together.
We are all acutely aware of the poor state of our rivers. Pollution from industry, from farming and our homes is harming everything that relies on clean water, including humans.
Fordhall is a model for farming that is being replicated nationwide and we hope that local action we take will provide simple solutions that can be repeated elsewhere. Our river-friendly approach will show that everyone can help tackle the national concern of our rivers and inland waterways.
What about people?
We haven't forgotten about our community in this either. The renovation of Castle Hill Pond (left) will bring in more light. This will encourage more plant life to thrive. With more plant life comes more pond life.
The deepening of Castle Hill Pond, will allow it to hold more water for more of the year. So, we thought it was about time to repair the pond dipping platform we installed in 2016, but which has been out of use for some time due to a number of rotten boards. We will bring this platform back into use, so we can once again encourage children to understand the importance of a healthy water ecosystem through fun and memorable experiences. After all, these are the children who will be working for water companies, managing our farms and working in business in the future.
When they care, good actions start to follow.
And if we raise enough funds, we hope to install a bird hide here too!
How you can help
Our target, to make our clean water dream a reality, is £15,000. We need all the help we can get! Your donations can be made at the link below.
Monetary donations aren't the be all and end all though! Donating your time as a volunteer for this project, and simply spreading the word, are both very valuable actions.