Sandown Meadows – Habitat Improvement Works

The project will restore the Sandown Meadows Nature Reserve for the benefit of wildlife including BAP species such as lapwing and watervole. The project will rewet the floodplain grazing marsh and reedbeds for the benefit of wading birds through the clearance of trees and scrub and the installation of new water control structures. Restoration works will also be undertaken further up the Eastern Yar Valley on fens and ditches near Godshill and Alverstone. The work will improve habitat for watervole culminating in greater number watervole in the Eastern Yar catchment (assessed through surveys conducted during the lifetime of the project and included as a cost below).