Case study:Restoring the River Mease Catchment

Location: 52° 42' 11.95" N, 1° 31' 31.73" W

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Catchment and subcatchment

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(affects all case studies in this subcatchment)

Catchment

River basin district	Humber
River basin	Tame Anker and Mease

Subcatchment

River name	River Mease from Gilwiskaw Bk to Hooborough Brook
Area category	10 - 100 km²
Area (km2)	170km217,000 ha <br />
Maximum altitude category	100 - 200 m
Maximum altitude (m)	185185 m <br />0.185 km <br />18,500 cm <br />
Dominant geology	Calcareous
Ecoregion	Great Britain
Dominant land cover	Arable and Horticulture
Waterbody ID

Other case studies in this subcatchment: Cotom in the Elms, Edingale, Gilly Mease Confluence, Grange Farm, Yew Tree Farm

Project overview

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Status	In progress
Project web site	http://rivermease.co.uk
Themes	Environmental flows and water resources, Fisheries, Flood risk management, Habitat and biodiversity, Hydromorphology, Land use management - agriculture, Monitoring, Urban, Water quality
Country	England
Main contact forename	Ruth
Main contact surname	Needham
Main contact user ID	User:Ruth_Needham
Contact organisation	Trent Rivers Trust
Contact organisation web site	http://www.trentriverstrust.org/
Partner organisations	Catchment Sensitive Farming, Derbyshire County Council, Environment Agency, Leicestershire County Council, Lichfield District Council, Natural England, North West Leciestershire District Council, South Derbyshire District Council, Staffordshire County Council
Parent multi-site project
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects	No

File:Mease Meadows

Restored reach of River Mease, showing re-profiled riverbank, vegetated buffer and in-channel vegetation.

Project summary

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The Mease catchment project demonstrates how coordinated, collaborative action can improve river health, support nature recovery, and sustain food production.

The catchment is dominated by high quality agricultural land and supports an active, productive farming community. Ashby and Measham are the main urban centres. In 1998, the river was designated as an SSSI for its small but nationally important, populations of Spined Loach Cobitis taenia and Bullhead Cottus gobio.

Like many lowland UK rivers, the Mease had long suffered from habitat loss, flooding, and pollution, particularly phosphate, at a time when food production was the priority. Few people, including the farmers, were aware of the Mease, its fish, or the pressures on its wildlife.

The SSSI/SAC designation in 2005 opened up funding that supported land use change and management practices that value nature. From the early 2000s, work began to bring farmers and stakeholders together. The early years were challenging; the protected status was unpopular with many farmers. The partnership strengthened significantly after TRT, and the EA came on board in 2013.

Since then, landowners have been closely engaged to identify solutions that balance food production with habitat creation and water retention on farmland.

The partnership has delivered substantial capital works and extensive engagement. Together we are working towards a genuinely restored catchment where food production is balanced with space for nature. We have demonstrated that rivers can be restored and connected to their floodplain within a productive farmed landscape.

Objectives of the Partnership 1. Restore the catchment by balancing land use for food production, nature recovery and making space for water. 2. Deliver nature based capital works across the River Mease and its tributaries. 3. Promote good practice and interventions that trap and store pollution and slow flood flows. 4. Restore the River Mease SSSI to good ecological health.

Monitoring surveys and results

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Monitoring and evaluation is fundamental to all the activities, to help evaluate impact as well as inform future work. The evidence collected includes fixed point photography, invertebrate and species surveys, water quality monitoring, recording of landowner engagement and volunteer activity.

A programme of fixed point photography has been carried out across key restoration sites, capturing seasonal changes and fluctuations in water levels. These images clearly show how restored river habitats establish and evolve over time, and they provide valuable material to share with farmers and other stakeholders.

Surveys for freshwater aquatic invertebrates at key sites have been able to show how the river is starting to recover, once river restoration has been completed.

Phosphate monitoring at interventions sites and on all the major tributaries has helped to evaluate schemes, as well as inform the future targeting of work, including the nutrient neutrality framework.

Engagement has been a key focus. We maintain an engagement tracker which helps to strengthen our understanding of landowner and communities’ interests in the methods used.

Specific species surveys have been undertaken including White clawed-crayfish, fish and INNS.

The evidence is assessed on a regular basis to report the impact, influence future work and raise awareness of achievements.

Lessons learnt

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Engagement and collaboration is key. We are restoring and rivers, and finding places to protect nature within a farmed landscape. The concept is unfamiliar to many landowners and stakeholders. Naturally functioning rivers that are connected to their floodplain create habitats, store water and trap pollution. Yet they take up space, especially when in flood. Farmers and landowners in the Mease historically would farm right up to the bank top, and are reluctant to lose productive land. It can take several years for a farmer to agree to a scheme. It need to blend into their wider farmer management, utilising buffers, margins and field corners. It might include areas that lie wet. Schemes are best secured with a grant such as a Countryside Stewardship Scheme or Sustainable Farm Incentive.

Allow time to talk to the farmer / landowner. Look at the site from the landowners eyes, understand where they are able to amend their management, and what grant revenue might off set any production losses. Survey for ecology, archaeology and services, they all can have a big influence on how a scheme can take shape. Present plans to the farmer at an early stage. Look for wider benefits in addition to river restoration, such as trapping pollution or flood storage. Engage with the regulatory bodies early, such as the Lead Local Flood Authority or the Environment Agency. It can take time to get the permissions in place. The best time for capital works is June to September, outside of bird breeding season, the fish spawning season and when river levels and flood risk is low. Talk to a contractor early, get in indication of price. Make sure your funder is aware of the constraints and time line. Allow some extra budget for contingency. Usually something doesn't go quite to plan!

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Image gallery

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Site Edit site Name WFD water body codes WFD (national) typology WFD water body name Pre-project morphology Reference morphology Desired post project morphology Heavily modified water body National/international site designation Local/regional site designations Protected species present Invasive species present Species of interest Dominant hydrology Dominant substrate River corridor land use Average bankfull channel width category Average bankfull channel width (m) Average bankfull channel depth category Average bankfull channel depth (m) Mean discharge category Mean annual discharge (m3/s) Average channel gradient category Average channel gradient Average unit stream power (W/m2) Project background Edit project background Reach length directly affected (m) Project started Works started Works completed Project completed Total cost category Total cost (k€) Benefit to cost ratio Funding sources Cost for project phases Phase cost category cost exact (k€) Lead organisation Contact forename Contact surname Investigation and design Stakeholder engagement and communication Works and works supervision Post-project management and maintenance Monitoring Reasons for river restoration Edit reasons for restoration Mitigation of a pressure Hydromorphology Biology Physico-chemical Other reasons for the project Measures Edit Measures Structural measures Bank/bed modifications Floodplain / River corridor Planform / Channel pattern Other Non-structural measures Management interventions Social measures (incl. engagement) Other Monitoring Hydromorphological quality elements Edit Hydromorphological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Biological quality elements Edit biological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Physico-chemical quality elements Edit Physico-chemical quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Any other monitoring, e.g. social, economic Edit Other responses Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Monitoring documents Upload monitoring documents Additional documents and videos Upload additional documents Additional links and references Edit links and references Link Description Supplementary Information Edit Supplementary Information