WWT Martin Mere- Wet Grassland and Marsh Grazing Management for Biodiversity

With the pending changes in farming practices and the flexibility required to carry out good conservation it is getting increasingly difficult to secure annual grazing lets at WWT Martin Mere. It has therefore been decided to make the reserve self sufficient so that the flexibility requirement is not an issue, whilst also promoting and conserving rare breeds of cattle. This project is to support the initial capital costs of purchasing a small herd of rare cattle breeds and the infrastructure required for their husbandary, together with the necessary machinery to enable the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust to carry out grassland and sward management. This is primarily to achieve biodiversity targets relaing to the floristic diversity, numbers of grazing wintering wildfowl and density of ground nesting birds.