Last week saw the creation of two new habitats on Snipe Meadow using a specialist piece of equipment hired by FHT (Freshwater Habitats Trust). Witney Town Council is working in partnership with Nature England and Freshwater Habitats Trust to deliver the project which is part of the Oxfordshire–Buckinghamshire Freshwater Network.
A 400 hp tractor and Rotary Ditch Digger (the only one of its kind in the UK) carved a series of trenches and furrows that vary from 0.5 metres in depth to a centimetre or so below surface level. The specialist equipment made short work of the task, sculpting the surface and achieving the complex layout in just a few hours, something that would have taken a traditional earth mover a couple of days.
The digger ejects the spoil out to one side adding to the speed of the digging process.
The work has resulted in new habitats that will populate over time with new species as the habitats settle and mature.
The new landscape serves more than one purpose. Funded by Natural England’s; Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change at the Landscape Scale, it is also designed to tackle climate change by promoting carbon capture while supporting biodiversity and providing benefits to people, such as natural flood management and opportunities for recreation.
