Click here to see how to run to tool.
Overview
Wetlandscapes is a powerful tool designed to suggest to farmers actions related to wetland and water storage opportunities. This guidance will help you understand the data sources, layers, and attributes available in the Wetlandscapes workflow, and how to effectively use them to make informed land management decisions.
Partners
The Wetlandscapes workflow was made possible through collaboration with various partners, including Northumberland County Council, Natural England, Groundwork North East & Cumbria.
Glossary of terms
Glossary of terms
Natural Ponding: areas of land that naturally lie wet during wet seasons or more permanently, usually found in natural depressions or bowls in the landscape (see gallery photos 1 and 2).
Rougher Vegetation Area: a series of longer grasses, scrub, hedgerow or margins that lie in water flow pathways, that slow surface runoff, and increase the amount of water infiltrating through the soils (see gallery photo 3).
Straight channels: Areas of ditch or watercourse that exist as straight lines longer than 100 meters, usually indicating artificial modification of the watercourse (see gallery photo 4).
Waterway re-profiling: physical management of a watercourse to change its banks or route to increase habitat, reduce flood, or minimise the soil erosion.
Wetland Creation: is the construction of a wetland on a site that never was a wetland. This can be done only on a site where conditions exist that suit - both ecologically and by soil (see gallery photos 5 and 6).
Leaky Dams: flooding prevention measures (made either of wood or stone), moderating the flow of water downstream. Barriers are added to a stream or flow pathway to prevent soil and silt escaping and allowing water to escape at a slower rate (see gallery photos 7, 8 and 9)
How to get funded for creating Wetlandscapes?
How to get funded for creating Wetlandscapes?
There are several Countryside Stewardship Options that help deliver the ambitions of Wetlandscapes (please note; some of these actions are only available in Higher-Tier. Check guidance).
For example:
Make Room for the River: New and changing areas of river and wet floodplain habitats are restored and created, with water allowed to flood seasonally from and drain back into the river. (20-year agreement, £1,489 per ha per year)
CSW22 Connect River and Floodplain Habitats: River and floodplain habitats are restored to create a mosaic of wetland habitats. (10 year agreement, £1,242 per ha per year)
CSW23 Manage features on arable land for flood and drought resilience and water quality £1,241 per ha
CSW24 Manage grassland for flood and drought resilience and water quality £938 per ha
CSW25 Manage Riparian and Water Edge Habitat: 12 - 24m wide area of water-dependent habitat between the land and the water’s edge of rivers and streams (riparian habitats) and lakes and ponds. (10 year agreement, £1,186 per ha per year)
CSW26 Enhanced floodplain storage supplement £366 per ha
CSW16 Flood mitigation on permanent grassland: There is a dense grass sward to store water from streams and rivers during flood events, and allow flood water to spread across a floodplain and naturally subside (5 year agreement, £330 per ha per year)
CSW15 Flood mitigation on arable reversion to grassland: There is a dense grass sward connected to a watercourse to store water from streams and rivers during flood events, and allow flood water to spread across a floodplain and naturally subside (5 year agreement, £740 per ha per year)
CWT1 Buffer in-field ponds and ditches on improved grassland £311 per ha
CWT2 Buffer in-field ponds and ditches on arable land £681 per ha
Data Used
Data Used
To perform a comprehensive analysis of wetland opportunities, Wetlandscapes uses a variety of data sources, including:
Land Covers from RPA: field parcel information from the Rural Payments Agency land cover types, show areas of land registered, including arable land, grassland, ponds and woodlands.
BGS Soil Parent Model: (1km resolution) Soil information that relates to wetland areas, indicating drainage: "light", "medium" or "heavy" soils (a derived dataset).
Contains British Geological Survey materials © UKRI 2024.
OS Open Rivers: Water-related features from Ordnance Survey.
DTM from EA: Digital Terrain Model data from the Environment Agency.
RoFSW from EA: Data on Risk of Flooding from Surface Water from the Environment Agency.
30-year, 100-year and 300-year events.
Data Delivered / Outputs
Data Delivered / Outputs
In the Wetlandscapes data download, you will have access to various layers for your analysis. Insight Layers include:
Leaky Dams:
Suggestion(s) for strategically placing woody /stone dams to slow down water flow - or places to focus for more detailed fieldwork. Location is indicative.
Identify the best places for enhancing flood risk reduction, water quality improvement, and wildlife habitat creation.
Straight channels:
Identifies areas of existing waterways where the channel is unnaturally straight (for >100m, likely due to modification for drainage). These areas have high-potential locations to consider re-profiling or re-m (see below).
Waterway Re-profiling:
Suggestions for areas where river and stream re-profiling could be beneficial.
Opportunities for reprofiling (and altering the bank angles) to enhance habitat diversity, reduce erosion, and improve flood risk management.
Please contact your Local Flood Authority for additional information and advice on measures to support. Statutory consent may be required.
Natural Ponding:
Suggestions for recognising areas where natural ponding occurs for water storage.
Opportunities to increase water storage areas, such as ponds, for biodiversity enhancements and flood storage.
Types of natural pondings:
Temporary waterbodies (scapes and seasonal ponds)
Permanent ponds
Wetland Creation:
Suggestion for pinpointing areas with potential for creating new wetland habitats, more extensive areas than “Natural Ponding”, with interventions looking at greater areas.
Identify zones for wetland restoration and establishment to boost ecological diversity and flood resilience.
Rougher Vegetation Area:
Suggestion for identifying sites suitable for Rougher Vegetation Areas, such as a series of longer grasses, scrub, hedgerow or margins that lie in water-flow pathways, that slow surface runoff, and increase the amount of water infiltrating through the soils.
The best places to manage surface water runoff, reduce flash flooding, and enhance water quality.
Attributes of Insight Layers:
Soil Type: Categorised as Light, Medium, or Heavy.
Slope: Categorised as Flat, Shallow, Moderate, Steep, or Extremely Steep.
Aspect: Directions North, East, South, or West.
Optimal Place Description: Descriptions related to the optimal location for different interventions.
(more detail on the logic of how these attributes combine to create suggestions coming soon)
Reference Layers include:
Water Channel Straights over 100m: Information on water channels over 100 meters straight which informs where to do re-profiling.
Flood Pathways from RoFSW: Data related to flood pathways.
Other Suggested Reference Data:
Vegetation Data Download: Information on the vegetation that currently exists in the area (coming soon).
ALERT Overland Flows Data Layer (coming soon).
ALERT Ponds Data Layer (coming soon).
Photo Gallery
Photo Gallery
Photo 1: a "target" field for the Wetlandscapes tool - Identify some features to stop all this soil loss
Photo 3: Rougher Vegetation Area
Photo 4: Straight Channels (Ref: Ditches - Freshwater Habitats Trust)
Photo 5: Wetland Creation
Photo 6: Wetland Creation
Photo 7: Leaky Dam creation using wood
Photo 8: Leaky Dam creation using stones
Photo 9: Multiple Leaky Dams
Photo credits: Abi Mansley
Guidance: How to run the Wetlandscapes Data download
Select New - Download Data
Form the list of downloads select Wetlandscapes
Either select an existing plan or create a frame area to define your area
Add a plan name and your SBI and click on Download Now.
You will receive an email from us to confirm the process is running and another to confirm the status
Once you have confirmation of a successful download new plans will load in the left-hand panel. Please note you may need to refresh your browser for these to load.
Partners
The Wetlandscapes data download is made possible through collaboration with various partners, including Northumberland County Council, Natural England, Groundwork North East & Cumbria.
Feedback
This guidance is designed to help you make the most of the Wetlandscapes data download. Should you have any questions or feedback, please do not hesitate to contact ben@thelandapp.com - feedback is more than welcome.