Tidal Barrage proposed for The Wash - another short-sighted Grand Greenwashing Scheme

Another Tidal Barrier proposal rears its irresponsible head - this time proposed for The Wash between Lincolnshire and Norfolk. 

The Wash is a 620 km² (240 sq. mi.) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, a National Nature Reserve, an Internationally important Ramsar site, a Special Area of Conservation, and a Special Protection Area. It's in the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and part of it is the Snettisham RSPB nature reserve. But somebody wants to build a barrage and huge waterside developments on it. Sound familiar? 

The Wash is a stunning and ecologically important stretch of coastline between Lincolnshire and Norfolk. Photograph: Nature Picture Library/Alamy : The Guardian. 

Readers of this blog will remember that The Wash and The Ribble Estuary are two of the most important habitats in the UK and beyond for migrating and breeding birds and other wildlife - indeed, important not even "just" in geographical Europe but to the entire Northern Hemisphere. The Wash is a huge area which encompasses a variety of coastal habitats including lagoons, tidal mudflats, shingle beach, and saltmarsh, providing refuge, and breeding and feeding sites, for vast numbers of wildfowl and migratory wading birds, fish nurseries, and seal colonies.  As well as the small matter of offering a natural flood defence to numerous populated areas and huge swathes of farmland. 

Tidal mudflats alone support more wildlife per square metre than tropical rainforest. Therefore, permanently flooding an intertidal ecosystem really is just like burning a rainforest to the ground. 

The Norfolk Wildlife Trust believe this plan would be "catastrophic" for nature, they and a broad group of environmental experts, local businesses, and the £3.5m-per-year local fishing industry are:

"deeply concerned by the proposed new barrage development which threatens to cause catastrophic damage to one of Europe’s most important wetland habitats, turning it into a ‘green, fetid lake’. 

A tidal barrier on The Wash would release vast quantities of carbon into the atmosphere, exacerbating the impacts of climate change, which directly contradicts the claims of the developer, and could endanger lives by creating increased flood risk."

Readers of this blog will also remember that tidal barrages have huge economic as well as environmental consequences: Barrages and wetland ecosystems: the Environmental and Economic Impacts, and it is disappointing to once again see such an important habitat on a global scale under threat from such a seriously short-sighted and irresponsible scheme. A tidal barrage really isn't as "Green" as it might sound on the face of it! 

Yes, we DO want to move away from fossil fuels but NOT at the expense of one of the most important and diverse habitats in the world. Amongst their many and extensive benefits to the global ecosystem, wetlands are also extremely important carbon storage systems. 

One can't help but be cynical when you see that this proposed "renewable energy" scheme is yet another case of Greenwashing. The man behind the plan, Entrepreneur James Sutcliffe, who has managed and advised port companies in Sierra Leone and Bangladesh, actually wants the proposed project to be: 

'a [container] port, powered by tidal energy, which Sutcliffe says would create electricity for 600,000 homes and businesses in the region [... and] create the potential for cruise-ship tourism and a new road that links Lincolnshire to Norfolk in 20 minutes. [Plus...] the calm waters created by the tidal barrier would provide opportunities for “marinas and construction of desirable waterside developments” as well as “safe sailing”, and [claims] that the construction would protect the local environment from flooding.'

Ah, so it's actually just a massive development scheme with a bit of greenwashing thrown in. Same old, same old. And no, it wouldn't protect the local environment from flooding. The saltmarsh and mudflats of The Wash itself already does just that. 

You can read more below:

Tidal barrier proposal for Lincolnshire and Norfolk sets off wave of opposition | Environment | The Guardian ; 

The Wash: £2bn tidal barrage plan including road and port unveiled - BBC News

Controversial Wash barrage plans resurface as developers urged to rethink (rspb.org.uk)

Controversial Wash barrage plan - Norfolk Wildlife Trust

Plans revealed for £2bn tidal barrage featuring container terminal, flood defence and rail and road links | New Civil Engineer

The Wash (washbarrier.org)

How the Ribble Works

As part of the various events at RSPB Marshside, Dr. Alan Bedford from Edge Hill University and Graham Clarkson of the RSPB gave a fascinating talk about how the Ribble Estuary works. You can find out more about walks, talks, and other wildlife events at RSPB Marshside.

The River Ribble: an intricate and dynamic Wetland Ecosystem.
We know that the Ribble’s inter-tidal ecosystem is a combination of fresh and salt waters, silts and nutrients, which give rise to the unique mudflats and saltmarshes in the Lower Ribble and particularly in the Estuary, and that the Ribble Estuary is such an incredibly rich habitat that the Ribble’s importance to wildlife is on an International scale.

Yet this ecosystem is a dynamic habitat, changing not just with the tides and the Seasons, but even in the space of a few hours.

The salinity of the Ribble’s Estuary is one of those elements which varies enormously, even in the course of a single day. Not only do the tides themselves vary - the height of the tides can vary hugely even over the course of a few days! - so does the flow of fresh water which washes down through the Ribble corridor to mix with the incoming tides. The amount and nature of this fresh water depends on the amount of rainfall higher up the Ribble valley, flowing down to the Estuary down the Ribble river, as well as down its many tributaries which all flow into the Ribble’s waters.

There are many tributary rivers which flow into the Ribble to swell her waters and provide numerous spawning grounds for migratory fish - including Atlantic Salmon and Sea Trout, these amazing fish make their arduous journey from the open seas back to their own birth places high upriver to spawn their own young.

These tributaries are not only the larger Rivers Darwen, Douglas (Asland), Calder, Hodder, and Crossens, but also the Rivers Lostock and Yarrow, Rivers Whitendale, Loud, and Brennand, the Rivers Brun and Tawd, and a huge number of smaller rivers and brooks, including Stock Beck, Pendle Water, Colne Water, Eaves Brook and Savick Brook, amongst many, many others - and ALL of these tributaries would be affected by a tidal barrage on the Ribble, not least because they would all be UPRIVER of the impounded waters.


The River Douglas and the Ribble.

This is yet another reason why the Ribble is so important: she is effectively nature’s water supply and the rainwater drain for a huge area of the North West, from Ribblehead in North Yorkshire to Lytham, St.Anne’s, Blackpool, and Southport; from Gisburne Forest and the Forest of Bowland to Settle, Clitheroe, and Ribchester; from Colne, Burnley, Accrington, Blackburn, Darwen, Wigan and Skelmersdale to Preston, Freckleton, Kirkham, Chorley, Leyland, Walton le Dale, Penwortham, Hutton, Longton, and Hesketh Bank… and many of these places also supply much of the Ribble’s essential silts and nutrients, washed downriver to the Lower Ribble and the Estuary by rainwaters.


The Ribble's silt-laden rainwaters washing under Penwortham Old Bridge to the Estuary

The Ribble’s intricate ecosystem, then, extends far beyond seeing the central river, or the estuary, in isolation: the Ribble is a living, breathing, ecosystem, a vital ecological organism.


Ribble Intertidal zone - an energy-rich and delicately-balanced ecosystem:
The Ribble is renowned for its high sedimentation – all that lovely mud! – which is carried downstream with the fresh water flows, and in from the Irish sea, and mixed up and distributed on those vital mudflats and saltmarshes by the swirling waters of the tides and the freshwater currents, every day, twice a day, as it has done for many thousands of years.

Mudflats in Penwortham

It is the Ribble’s mud which provides the strong mineral base of dead organic material which is the primary food source for the mind-blowing multitude of invertebrates which live in the Ribble’s mudflats, a multitude upon which the Ribble’s enormous bird population subsequently feeds. All that mud provides a food-rich habitat for over ¼ million birds every Winter alone – and approximately 1 million birds throughout the year, including those who stay for just a short time to refuel during their long global migrations - as this rich ooze supports so many millions of invertebrates it’s impossible to count them!

Ribble mudflats have more energy per square metre than Rainforest!

As the high levels of salt ensure the mudflats and saltmarsh don’t freeze in the winter months, this environment is a safe haven all year round for numerous migratory as well as native bird species who feed, breed, and roost here throughout the year.


Ribble Tidal Flats – neither “barren” nor useless!
The tidal flats form three basic areas: sand flats (at the geographical bottom of this intertidal ecosystem), the salt marsh at the top, and the mudflats in between, and are collectively known as tidal flats. The combined system is very rich indeed in terms of nutrients – and Dr. Bedford pointed out the nonsensical perception in the Riverworks documents that these vital wildlife habitats are “barren”, “unsightly”, and useless!


Rich Ribble mud - more energy per square metre than Rainforest.

Their vital importance to wildlife is why mudflats and saltmarsh are protected under UK, European, and International Law, and why they are currently a particularly high priority for both creation and restoration as part of the UK’s Biodiversity Action Plan Habitats, and as part of Defra and the Environment Agency’s biodiversity enhancement aims.
Defra and the EA also wish to invest in tidal flat maintenance and restoration as these also act as effective and sustainable flood defences to coastal and riverside communities.


Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud!
Whilst the Ribble’s harsh environment means that the mudflats are low in biodiversity in terms of the number of species per square metre, the enormous numbers of the relatively few species of invertebrates (worms and snails) that live there means the Ribble’s mudflats are so rich that they support more life per square metre than tropical Rainforest! The Ribble's mudflats also act as Nurseries to sea fish fry (babies) such as Plaice until they are mature enough to cope with the open seas.

It’s a Bug’s Life
Sand Hoppers, for instance, burrow in the mud and feed on the rich supply of micro-particles in there – and their digging is itself very important to stabilise the mud – and there are between 50,000 and 400,000 of these little diggers per square metre!!!
Those water snails we see at low tide leaving little trails wandering all over the mud and sand flats exist in the Ribble’s mud at the rate of 35,000 per square metre…
Cockles siphon for food very close to the surface; lug worms leave their little tell-tale squirls of sand on the surface… and there are loads of other worms, snails and shellfish, all co-existing in the Ribble’s rich mud at the rate of many hundreds of thousands per square metre! No wonder that the Ribble is such a vital feeding ground for so many hundreds of thousands of birds all year round!!!
To read more about the importance of invertebrates to the inter-tidal ecosystem, see Buglife.

The Birds and the … Invertebrates:
The rate of heat loss in birds is huge, and high tides mean even less feeding time. Different wading birds have evolved different feeding styles and bills because, in such a tight feeding time-frame, they need to get feeding as quickly and efficiently as possible, each evolving unique methods to catch their favourite fast-food Bug-burger.

Each bird will look out for the tell-tale signs of their prey and catch them with their own unique method, some by touch and some by sight. Strong winds can create problems for visual feeders:

Shelduck for example, “scythe” the mud, squeezing muddy water out and leaving them with the creatures in their bills…
Knot feed by touch, feeling for the invertebrates in the mud – possibly even by the tiny vibrations of the creatures as they move. Their feeding is often referred to as “stitching”, the birds feeding in groups with quick movements of their heads…
Redshank are visual feeders, also using a “stitching” technique, and feed through the night too. They hunt alone, however, to avoid their prey being disturbed by other birds, and they consume 40,000 corophium (sand hoppers) per day – 2 per second of available feeding time…

Because of the high levels of energy these birds need to consume to stay alive, they have to use every opportunity to feed on the mudflats exposed by the receding tide.
Oystercatcher and Curlew, for example, have to feed for between 40% and 60% of the time during the summer months, 75% in the Winter, while Knot have to feed for 60% of the time in the summer months, and between 90% and 98% of the time between January and March – that’s pretty much constantly, just to stay alive.
In February 1991 for example, the cold killed 850 out of every 4,000 Redshank.
The Ribble’s incredibly rich mudflats are VITAL to a significant number of the Earth’s bird population.

Birds which feed on the saltmarsh plants (such as samphire) include Wigeon, Barnacle Geese, and Pink Footed Geese – and Skylarks - and need to feed prolifically to extract enough nutrients from plants, which are much lower in energy than invertebrates. Wigeon for example feed for 14 hours per day…
Skylarks feed on saltmarsh seeds and breed during the solstice tides as there is a much lower tidal range in mid-summer. Saltmarsh is an endangered habitat - it is rarer than Rainforest.


Ribble saltmarsh at Marshside - the best place in the North West to see and hear Skylarks.


Birds and the Ribble Estuary:
The Ribble Estuary supports more bird species in internationally significant numbers that any other wetland site in Britain – apart from Morecambe Bay sometimes! Despite the enormous difference in size of these two Lancashire wetlands, the Ribble and Morecambe Bay are almost indistinguishable from one another in terms of the bird species they support, and frequently change places between first and second position in the Wetlands Premier League. Only the Wash, on the East coast of Britain, comes close to these Lancashire giants in terms of the numbers of bird species supported.

The majority of wading birds tend to feed most intensively at incoming tide rather than outgoing tide as the incoming waters often encourage the invertebrates to the surface. The saltmarsh, a rare and protected habitat dominated by grasses, is often more useful for roosting and breeding than feeding for many bird species, providing a good site for spotting predators, safe for moulting and nesting and roosting at high tide. Yet, significant bird species also feed on the saltmarsh plants themselves, including Pink Footed Geese, Wigeon, and Skylarks.


Wind, Rain, and Tides…
The variable tides, moods and seasons of the Ribble are an intrinsic part of our love for this glorious River, and occasionally some of our local communities have close encounters with the Ribble when inclement weather conditions and tidal movements coincide!


Submerged bench in Penwortham, looking towards Broadgate.

This river flooding is due to high rainfall, and often occurs when in conjunction with high river levels, such as at high tide, and at certain phases of the moon - a situation which can be exacerbated when there are strong onshore winds, and is a particular risk during the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes.


Ribble in spate through Penwortham and Preston.

Defra and the Environment Agency keep a close eye on our flood defences and rainfall patterns as part of the Ribble Shoreline Management Plan, which is equally concerned with the long-term protection of the Ribble’s inter-tidal habitats, and plans for the next 50 to 100 years of Ribble coastal and the tidal sections of the river basin up to Penwortham Old Bridge.

The assessment of the flood risk and the Ribble’s ecosystem for wildlife and human communities further upriver is covered by the Integrated Ribble Catchment Management Plan - implemented as part of the EU Water Framework Directive as the Ribble is Britain's Pilot WFU River - which caters for the entire Ribble river system. This includes the whole catchment area and the numerous large and smaller rivers which feed into the Ribble itself, and covers everything from Fisheries issues to flooding to extraction and pollution issues to protecting and enhancing the Ribble's biodiversity and wetland ecosystem.

Both Plans aim to ensure the protection and enhancement of flood defences AND wetland wildlife habitat as part of their broader remit of river basin management, and it is the well-being and integrity of both which compliment each other in actively providing one of the richest wetland habitats in Europe at the same time as effectively providing Ribbleside communities with flood protection!

It is a fact that the intertidal wetland system of mudflats and saltmarsh acts as the most sustainable, effective, and cost-effective forms of flood defence provision from both sea level rises and higher rainfall. This is why the Ribble Shoreline Management Plan actively pursues the protection and (re)creation of more intertidal zones to protect both human and wildlife communities from the threat of climate change.
This is also why barrages and building on the river's floodplain will increase floodrisk to local communities.

The Ribble SMP has targeted Hesketh Out Marsh as the first major area of land to be returned to its original saltmarsh condition, and work has begun on this project, which will incidentally create one of the largest Wetland Nature Reserves in Europe whilst actively helping to protect Ribbleside communities from the sea, including Hundred End, Rufford, Much Hoole, and broader areas of South Ribble in particular, but the diffusion and absorption of the sea’s tidal energy it will effect also help to protect communities such as Preston, Penwortham, Freckleton, and Warton.
Hesketh New Marsh and Hesketh Old Marsh may be also be returned to the Ribble in future years, to add greater protection against flooding further upstream. This Plan also identifies other Ribble floodplain areas which could be returned to the intertidal zone in the long term – such as Banks, Hutton and Penwortham – to allow even greater scope for creating further wetland flood defences in decades to come, should the need arise as a consequence of climate change…
This is why the Environment Agency believe building on the floodplain is not a good idea!


The Tide is High but I’m Holding On!
But back to the tides… The highest tides mean less feeding time for the Ribble’s bird population who have less space and time in which to feed, and then only once the tide recedes again!

As the birds need to feed for between 60% and 98% of their time in order to mitigate the huge rate of heat-loss birds experience in the winter months, high tides can be a real problem for them. In February 1991 for instance, the cold killed approximately 850 out of every 4,000 Redshank.

When the mudflats are only exposed for a short time, due to high rainfall and high tides – such as we saw in Penwortham and Broadgate over this last Winter - whilst it has meant we have been able to see the Redshank, Oystercatchers, Dunlin, Sanderling, Teal, Shelduck, and other birds feeding higher up the mudflats much closer to us so we can get a good look at them (as long as we are careful they don’t see us and take flight!), it has also meant there is less exposed mud and for much shorter periods, putting real pressure on the ability of these beautiful birds to survive the Winter months. Luckily, the Winter has also been mild, so hopefully the high rainfall this Winter won’t have had a dramatic impact on the birds’ survival rates…

Even now, the wading birds such as Redshank, are still feeding on the mudflats as high upriver as Penwortham and Preston, their soulful cries echoing over the river, before they finally set off to their breeding grounds, many actually stay to breed on the Ribble’s saltmarshes, but the rest migrate back to Iceland, Southern Europe, and North Africa. The Redshank on the Penwortham and Preston mudflats are flocking together as they prepare to leave us until Autumn when the Ribble’s Winter bird population returns once again…


This flock of Redshank in Penwortham and Broadgate were chased off the Moorhens’ “patch” of mudflats every time they landed there!


The Ribble’s wetland ecosystem then, isn’t just a word, it’s a vibrant and vital interrelated ecological environment, each part dependent upon other parts, each micro-climate dependent on the whole.
This is why barrages, which interfere with the natural movements and behaviour of salt and fresh waters, silts and nutrients, cause so much damage to wetland ecosystems, and consequently, the Earth’s ecological and environmental sustainability.
This is why the Ribble's designation as a Regional Park recognises the vital importance of the Ribble Coast & Wetlands - to wildlife and human communities, now and in the long term.



Long Live the Ribble Wild!

You can contact us at savetheribble@tiscali.co.uk

Rare Birds Spotted On Ribble

The Birdwatching community is very excited at the news that rare birds have been sighted in the Ribble.

Green Winged Teal in the Ribble (image by Colin Bushell)

These include The Green Winged Teal Colin Bushell reports on his blog:

Despite "negative news" on the Green-winged Teal this morning, I decided to take the short drive out to the Ribble Estuary to check RSPB Marshside because of the delightful weather. Female Scaup still present on the pool along with a couple of Pochard and Avocets - not much change since my last visit a couple of days previously. On arrival at the Sandgrounders Hide I immediately spotted the drake Green-winged Teal swimming towards me in the channel. Easy! Relaxed, I spent some time in the hide watching the teal, Black-tailed Godwits and Avocets before strolling out in the afternoon sunshine to Polly's Creek.

Black Tailed Godwit (picture from http://www.stevenround-birdphotography.com/ )


While Bob's Birding Blog reports:

A round-the-clock nest protection operation is ready to swing into action this spring when one of the UK’s rarest birds returns to nest on the Ribble estuary.

Each spring for at least the last ten years black-tailed godwits have nested on marshland on the Ribble estuary, near Preston. Less than 60 pairs of the long-legged wading birds breed in the whole of the UK and the two pairs on the Ribble are the only ones to nest in north west England. When the birds return next month, the RSPB and Fylde Bird Club will mount a 24-hr guard on the nest to deter egg thieves.


The two organisations today (14 March 2007) launched an appeal for more volunteers to come forward to help protect the Ribble’s special birds, and are inviting local people to a meeting in St Annes next month (5th April) to recruit more godwit guardians.


Anybody who would like to find out more about volunteering is invited to come along to the Ribble Discovery Centre, Fairhaven Lake, St Annes at 7pm on Thursday 5th April, or contact Carol Coupe on 01995 642251 or e-mail carol.coupe@rspb.org.uk


For additional information see: http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/godwits_tcm5-153427.pdf

These rare birds come to the Ribble to feed on the worms and other invertabrates that live in the rich muds of the Estuary. The rich muds are washed down the Ribble as silts.

If Preston City Council and the Vision Board succeed in building a barrage across the Ribble, as proposed in their 'Riverworks' documents, this flow of silts will be disrupted, and the habitats of these rare birds will be destroyed.

Time for Preston City Council to do the responsible thing, and renounce any plans to barrage the river and destroy this precious environment.

New Ribble RSPB Reserve takes a mighty leap forward!

Excellent news for Ribblesiders as the RSPB announce work can now begin in earnest on their new wetland nature reserve on the Ribble, at Hesketh Out Marsh on the western side of the River Douglas.


Pink-Footed Geese arriving on the Ribble at Marshside (photo RSPB).

Tony Baker, RSPB Ribble sites manager, announced that the RSPB have recently purchased the land, and now excavation work can begin to recreate the creeks and pools the saltmarsh and mudflat habitat will need before this area can be returned to the sea.

The RSPB are working closely with the Environment Agency, English Nature, and Lancashire County Council on this project, which will help counteract the loss of areas of this vital habitat to rising sea levels, as well as contributing a valuable new reserve to the Ribble and the aims towards the creation of the Ribble Estuary Regional Park.

Hesketh Out Marsh Reserve:
The Hesketh Out Marsh Reserve will return 170 hectares of wetland habitat to the Ribble’s ecosystem, saltmarsh which was drained in the 1980s for farmland purposes, and once the excavations and new inner walls are completed, 4 breaches will be made in the old sea defences to allow the tides to wash into the area.


Confluence of the River Douglas with the Ribble near Hesketh Out Marsh.


Dow Brook mudflat creeks on the opposite shore to Hesketh Out Marsh at Freckleton.

Work should start in March next year, when the old creeks will be re-dug, with the soil removed from them being used to construct a new embankment to Hesketh Out Marsh East, and strengthening existing sea defences around Hesketh Out Marsh West.
This recreated habitat will be an important part of the Ribble’s wetland ecosystem, homing numerous bird species, including black-tailed godwits, dunlins, avocets, redshanks and wigeons.


Redshank on the Ribble floodplain (RSPB).

"This new reserve will be a mix of wetland habitats, including saltmarsh, saline lagoons and muddy creeks and will make a major contribution towards national targets for coastal saltmarsh creation,” said Tony Baker of the RSPB.
It will also include viewing points for visitors, and improved footpaths which will contribute to a rationalisation of the Lancashire Coastal Way, the Ribble Way being a famous contribution to this fantastic resource for local people and visitors alike.


"The seagulls and the sun make friends" by 'I': Children and adults enjoy the wildlife the Ribble brings.

Habitat restoration:
It is because of the threat of sea level rises that salt marsh and mudflats are protected habitats, included in the UK Priority Biodiversity Action Plan Habitats. The onus is on the Environment Agency to create 2,000 hectares of new habitat every year, at the same time as ensuring that no habitats are lost through flood risk management projects, and they have established the Regional Habitat Creation Programme to implement this. You can read more about Biodiversity Action Plan Habitats here.

As well as contributing a significant new area of wetland habitat to the Ribble, this new reserve will help to protect the Ribble area from flooding, and also adds an important contribution to the developing Ribble Estuary Regional Park.

Flood Defences.
As you can read in our Mudflats and Salt Marsh article, mudflats and saltmarsh are also effective and cost-efficient flood defences, and this recreation of wetland habitats formerly claimed from the sea is the Environment Agency and Defra’s preferred flood risk management strategy (called “managed realignment”) as it is the most sustainable and beneficial means of protecting land from rising sea levels and river plain flooding.

Ribble Estuary Regional Park:
Work is underway to designate the Ribble Estuary a Regional Park, offering a massive 30 km2 wildlife haven and tourist destination on the Ribble Estuary.
The Ribble is the UK’s most important river estuary for birds, and a steering group led by key partners Lancashire County Council, Sefton Borough Council, RSPB, English Nature and the Environment Agency is taking forward the Regional Park idea.
The North West Development Agency (NWDA), who have assisted the RSPB and the Environment Agency with the creation of the new reserve at Hesketh Out Marsh, are the body who would make the final decision on the creation of the Ribble Estuary Regional Park.


The Ribble Estuary.

A positive decision from the NWDA would allow the focus of the Ribble Estuary Regional Park to be on sustainable leisure and environmental projects which would open the Ribble to better public access, allowing locals and visitors alike to experience its internationally important wildlife and habitats. This would boost the local economy at the same time as protecting this vital habitat for the future.
In case any readers might consider a Ribble barrage to be a positive contribution to the Ribble Estuary Regional Park, it is worth reiterating here that a barrage would interfere with the free-flow of water and the nutrient-rich silts and thereby put this delicately-balanced ecosystem at risk. You can read more on the damage barrages cause here.

Laurence Rose, North West Regional Director of the RSPB, said of the Ribble Estuary Regional Park project:
"It is vital that we conserve our natural heritage, not only for the wildlife dependent on these areas, but also to benefit local businesses and economies. Studies have shown that visitors to RSPB reserves spent an estimated £11 million in local economies. With an increasing number of people enjoying our natural heritage and wildlife, places like the Ribble Estuary will become even more important in the future."

County Councillor Brian Johnson, Lancashire County Council's cabinet member for Urban and Rural Regeneration, said:
"The Ribble Estuary is one of Lancashire and the North West's most valuable natural assets and at the moment its potential is untapped. We see the NWDA's decision on Regional Parks as a possible springboard that could draw in funding for a range of projects. Regeneration is not just about tidying up urban grot spots - it's also about using our expertise to create sustainable economies for rural areas. Projects like this often lead to improvements in the image and environmental quality of the area, which in turn help to attract new investment. That is why we have joined with the RSPB and other organisations in the area to give our support, should the NWDA go for the Regional Park idea."

To read more about the Ribble Estuary Regional Park, click here and here.

If you haven't been keeping in touch with some of our local wildlife through AutumnWatch, you can catch up here!

Phil Widdows recently noted the Hesketh Out Marsh scheme on his blog, believing this is a boost to Preston City Council's Riverworks barrage!!! He says:
"Save The Ribble are outraged by the [barrage] scheme, saying that the birdies which currently enjoy nothing more than a good root and a rummage on the mudflats exposed every low tide will all starve to death if the barrage effectively stops that stretch of the river from being tidal.Well, with a brand new 170 hectare nature reserve on their doorstep, courtesy of the RSPB, the birdies can jolly well move downstream a bit and have a root and rummage there, can't they?You know, if I was a cynical man, I might just suspect that someone in Preston Council is rubbing their hands with glee and laughing a Machiavellian guffaw right now. Save The Ribble's ecological objections to the barrage scheme have been holed below the waterline - and all thanks to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds."

Phil Widdows' article unfortunately misses the little matter that the barrage would not only drown the upriver mudflats under permanently raised water levels, but would also risk starving the vast majority of the Ribble's mudflats and salt marsh out on the Estuary - including the newly created Hesketh Out Marsh Reserve!!!
As pointed out above, because of the risk to these habitats from sea level rises, the Environment Agency have to create new habitats every year, just to maintain the status quo.

Unfortunately for Preston City Council, they can't say "it's ok to drown the upriver mudflats as there are new mudflats at Hesketh Out Marsh to make up for it", just like one person can't say it's ok to burn down another person's house because someone has built them another house somewhere else!
(But as Phil says, they may well try!)

Contact savetheribble@tiscali.co.uk

Ribble Link Trust Chairman Counts Some Birds - is this the best Environmental Impact Assessment of the proposed Ribble Barrage we can expect?

Mr Cliff Fazackerley, the Chairman of the Ribble Link Trust, supports the building of a barrage across the River Ribble. He believes that the issue of installing a barrage is ‘causing unnecessary concern’ (Lancashire Evening Post 28/4/06 Letters) and has completed an “assessment” of bird species on the River to prove it.

Mr Fazackerley, who has previously described mudflats on the Ribble as ‘horrid’, (LEP letters 28/2/06) wrote in his letter (28/4/06) that on a recent walk from the dock to Savick Brook he counted just 17 birds, apparently suggesting that they are too few to really matter. And of those that he did count, all but one were swimming to and fro in the middle of the River and so, by implication, have no need of the “horrid” mudflats here anyway!

Mud, mud, glorious mud. Pity we scared the birds away. But we are nowhere near as scary as a barrage.

Mr Fazackerley also states that the barrage (or weir as he prefers to call it) ‘will not affect the Ramsar site at the mouth of the river, and… will have very little effect, if any, on the wildlife that feeds on the banks’ (28/4/06).

Yet, the fact is that the River Ribble supports more bird species in internationally important numbers than any other site in the UK, and is one of the top 3 UK wetland sites, alongside the Wash and Morecambe Bay.

It is the tidal nature of the River which is crucial in maintaining the ecosystem of the Ribble corridor and estuary.

Mr Fazackerley appears to believe that if some of the incoming tide is allowed to ‘top the weir’ this sea water will ‘bring with it the new food supply for all the wading birds’ (28/4/06).

In fact, one effect of the barrage would be to stop the silt and therefore the essential nutrients being washed down the river and feeding the estuary upon which thousands (literally) of birds depend.
The mudflats also support birdlife in other, less obvious ways – for example we recently witnessed dozens of House Martins taking mud from the mudflats in Broadgate and near Avenham Park to build their nests.

And, just for the record we took a walk with the RSPB on the marshes adjacent to the Ribble at Freckleton (not far from Savick Brook, just upriver from the Douglas where Preston City Council would prefer to locate the barrage) and saw significantly more than 17 birds, hundreds in fact, including numerous wading birds such as Icelandic Godwit, Oyster Catcher, Red Shank, and Lapwing, as well as Shelduck, Wheatear, Sky Larks, Swallows, Swifts, Geese, Herons, Swans……….


The Save the Ribble Campaign will continue to campaign, not only for a full environmental impact assessment of the Riverworks proposals to be undertaken sooner rather than later, but also for that assessment to be taken seriously by Preston City Council and other organisations which promote the construction of a barrage on the Ribble.

WHOSE PUBLIC INTEREST IS IT ANYWAY?

The Save the Ribble Campaign has been arguing for some time that Preston City Council are pursuing their Riverworks plans without any public consultation and that they have already made a decision to go ahead with building their barrage and developing our green belt (see The Story So Far on this blog).
This view appears to be confirmed by comments made by Mr Fazackerley, Chairman of the Ribble Link Trust.

For Mr Fazackerley (Lancashire Evening Post letters 28/4/06) the issue is not whether but where the barrage will be built.
And he even seems to have some idea of how high the barrage (or weir as he prefers to call it) will be – 7.9 metres.

Mr Fazackerley believes the barrage will profit the general public (28/4/06).
Obviously, the Ribble Link Trust has an interest in promoting the barrage as they want the River Ribble kept at an artificially high level so that they can navigate their boats from the canal onto the River without having to wait for high tide.
But they should not assume that that a minority of boat owners, who can’t be bothered to wait for the tide to change, are representative of the general public interest.

Local residents value the Ribble and its adjoining green belt area as a community amenity, which include open countryside, a nature reserve, local league football fields, and allotments (all of which Preston City Council has proposals to develop on with houses and businesses as part of Riverworks) and our interests would be best served by abandoning the Riverworks plans.

Contact us at savetheribble@tiscali.co.uk


RSPB ON THE RIBBLE

The RSPB understand that the Ribble estuary ‘is the UK’s most important river estuary for wintering birds such as Whooper and Bewick’s Swans, Pink-footed Geese, Wigeons, Knots, Dunlins, Sanderlings, Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwits’.

According to the RSPB, ‘An incredible 250,000 birds make the estuary their winter home every year’.

The Ribble is also ‘home to the UK’s pilot project for delivery of the EU’s Water Framework Directive, the most significant piece of European water legislation for over 20 years, which aims to enhance the ecology of our lakes, rivers, groundwater, estuaries and coastal waters’.

The RSPB also claim ‘This is an important time for the Ribble. The RSPB is working with a range of partners and communities to protect and restore this wonderful area through the creation of a new reserve and innovative projects for people and wildlife’.

To find out more go to:
www.rspb.org.uk/england/northwest/conservation/ribble/index.asp