Restoring Wetlands in the Lower Aire Valley

The project involves the creation of a new area of floodplain grazing marsh at the RSPB’s Fairburn Ings Nature Reserve in the Lower Aire Valley.

Floodplain grazing marsh is seasonally flooded pasture which is particularly important for breeding populations of waders, wintering wildfowl and small mammals. This BAP priority habitat has become increasingly rare, resulting in a decline in the bird populations that rely on these areas.

The project aims to provide new habitat which will be carefully managed to increase the number of waders – in particular snipe, lapwing and redshank – visiting the reserve and help to stop their decline.