Land use and aquatic ecosystem protection within an English lowland catchment: The Eye brook.

Abstract

The Eye Brook is a 6750 ha sub-catchment of the River Welland (UK) with land use comprising mainly grazed pasture and arable cropping. Transport of soil and nutrients from arable land to water is an increasing concern for the quality of water, stream substrates, and associated ecology. The Allerton Project addresses this issue through its research and demonstration farm in the centre of the catchment, through catchment scale research and through building social capital at the catchment scale. A stakeholder workshop applied a social learning approach to understanding local catchment issues, values and concerns of local people, identifying an implicit identity with the Eye Brook as natural capital, but limited understanding of the ecological or physical processes. A subsequent survey of Brown Trout, a species valued by some local stakeholders, revealed low recruitment because of sedimentation of spawning substrate. Research projects in the Eye Brook catchment investigate the influence of cultivation methods on soil erosion, and the impact of this on the aquatic ecosystem. Further research, combining ecological science with a Participatory Learning Research approach with farmers, investigates the potential of newly created 'Paired Ponds' associated with arable ditches to mitigate transport of soil and nutrients to water. This catchment-based project therefore combines practical farming with sound science and local knowledge to provide a focus for better understanding of catchment issues more widely.