By Ewan Pate, farming editor

CREATING A wetland out of a low-lying field doesn’t sound difficult.

It could be just a matter of blocking the outfalls of the drainage pipes and letting rainfall do the rest.

That, however, wasn’t an approach that appealed to Hugh Grierson, of Newmiln, Tibbermore.

Some 24 hectares of his 300-hectare farm was permanent grassland next to the man-made Pow Water, which drains a large area of the moss and fen below Methven.

Drawing up a rural stewardship scheme in 2003, he felt this area could be made a much better habitat for wading birds and still provide useful grazing for his cattle.

Mr Grierson manages most of his farm on an organic system and produces beef cattle, sheep, chickens and arable crops.

“There were waders on the site, including lapwing, curlew and redshank, but not in large numbers,” according to Richard Lockett, from the Perth office of the Farm and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG).

“There was a lot of scope to make it better.

“Hugh didn’t want to block the drains as it would have been difficult to reverse the procedure as they would soon become blocked. Also he wanted to be able to control the water table quite precisely.

A good wetland should be squelchy underfoot with some areas under water but only with around six inches to a foot of cover.

“Higher areas should be dry for nesting sites.

“Simply flooding the area is no use.

“Rushes should also be limited to no more than 25% of the area and probably less.”

Mr Grierson came up with an ingenious solution, which involved five cylindrical steel chambers set vertically into the ground over the drainage outlets.

The water can be allowed to flow straight through the chambers to the outlet and into the Pow Water during a very wet spell.

However, for most of the time the inflowing water is diverted up a vertical nine-inch pipe within the chamber.

This can be adjusted in height. By creating back pressure this has the effect of backing the water up through the drainage system, thereby raising the water table in a controlled fashion.

Once the scheme was designed, the work was then handed over to a Methven-based drainage contractor.

The result is an effective system which still keeps the drains in working order.

“However, just controlling the water table is not enough,” said Mr Lockett.

“It is important to manage the grazing.

“Stock should be taken off from mid April until the end of June during the nesting period but the key period is late summer when the grass should be grazed right down to keep it from becoming rank and matted.”

Some hoof prints are no bad thing, allowing insect life to thrive in them and there is now more botanical diversity than before on the site.

There are now two pairs of redshank, six pairs of lapwing and two pairs of curlew across the field.

Snipe, oystercatcher and wildfowl are now more common and barn owls have been seen on the wing.

“The increase in birdlife is really an indicator of an increase in all sorts of wildlife,” said Mr Grierson.

“Lowering the water table in summer is important and I try to raise it gradually during the autumn.

“This seems to force insects to the surface around the water edge where the waders feed.”

Mr Lockett added, “It is important to recognise that there is a payment for all this management. The site is still providing grazing but has also attracted an annual RSS payment of £250 per hectare.

“However, I am worried about the future position of this project and thousands of others across Scotland.

“Mr Grierson is four years into a five-year programme but we can’t have programmes like this running for only five years.

“It needs a long-term commitment from government in the new Rural Development Programme.

“It has been a rocky road for many who have tried to enter schemes such as the rural stewardship scheme and at the moment things seem to be going backwards.

“At FWAG we will be looking for decisions from the new Scottish Executive.”

Mr Grierson agreed, saying, “It would be a terrible waste of time and effort to see areas such as this go back to conventional grassland when we are beginning to see such good progress in creating wildlife habitat.”