Leven Carrs Nature Reserve - A Landscape Recovery Project

Sarah Aitken, Environment Manager for Yorkshire at Albanwise Environment

Our vision for Leven Carrs

On a warm spring morning the immediately recognisable call ‘pee-wit… pee-wit’ and floppy, flappy flight of the lapwing is just one of the sounds and sights at Leven Carrs Nature Reserve. Cuckoos can be heard in the distance as the elusive and rare bittern booms for a partner. Water voles scurry across the myriad of watercourses as they build new homes and raise young.

A vast expanse of habitats (an area the size of 902 football pitches!) including reedbed, pools, grasslands, woodland, heathland and more, provides space for wildlife, and conservation grazing helps to keep it all in tip-top condition. And through the middle of it all is Leven Canal, a site of special scientific interest protected for its plant life.

Locals and visitors celebrate this wildlife spectacle valuing the peace and wellbeing benefits of nature, the reserve’s inclusive access, events and activities, and children’s educational trips. There are also those who volunteer – a community of people who safeguard the precious wildlife and the place they affectionately term as ‘their reserve’. It’s a place for wildlife and a place for people. It’s for anyone who wants to connect with nature, who cares about the environment and places value in our natural world.

Ok, so we’re not there yet, but this is what Leven Carrs Nature Reserve could look like, and we’re determined to get there.

In fact, the current 644 ha site, with its existing 135ha wetland and Leven Canal SSSI providing uplift to the farmed areas, already boasts rare and important flora and fauna, providing the perfect starting point to branch out and do more. With over 90 birds recorded on site, Leven Carrs is already home to a respectable number of species, including schedule 1 birds such as the barn owl, Cetti's warbler, hobby, marsh harrier, avocet, and bittern.

But it’s not all about the birds. Habitat degradation and fragmentation have caused the endangered water vole to decline by 94% since the 1960s. There are still some isolated populations, and we’re fortunate enough to have some of these secretive animals at Leven Carrs. The wetland provides soft rushes and meandering watercourses favoured by this little vole, and we plan to do more of this with the new reserve plans.

Why Leven Carrs?

Firstly, sitting in the River Hull floodplain, Leven Carrs was once a vast expanse of wet grassland, marsh, and open water. You only need to look at aerial imagery of the area after rain events to see it wants to be that landscape still.

Secondly, as time goes on, it has become more difficult to farm the land. The once deep peat soils have been eroded by centuries of farming, and the increase in wet weather means flooding of fields is a common occurrence. Farming is no longer sustainable in this environment.

And thirdly, as the Humber Estuary becomes more developed and wild spaces across the Holderness valley further fragmented, sites like this one become more important than ever. With the protected sites of Pulfin Bog and Tophill Low to the north and south-west, and the River Hull abutting the reserve to the west; Leven Carrs Nature Reserve will connect these areas in one huge joined up wild space – an invaluable refuge for wildlife displaced from the surrounding areas. And if these weren’t reasons enough, we’ll also be creating jobs for people and work for local business.

How we will achieve our vision

Landscape Recovery is all about taking a large-scale, long-term approach to land management which allows ecological restoration alongside the production of environmental and climate goods. We’ll enter into a long-term agreement (30 years) with Defra to deliver our project, which will also provide valuable social outcomes, as well as making an important contribution to national environmental targets.

Defra’s Landscape Recovery Scheme has allowed us to investigate what we could do and how, as part of a feasibility phase (2023/2024) – we’ve really gotten to know the site, understand its hydrology, existing ecological interest, potential and possibilities. From 2025 we hope to move into the implementation phase – this is where we get to put spades into the ground and start building our vision.

An important part of the project is securing finance to fund the plans. Blended finance (the intentional mixing of private and public funds) is an innovative concept, which utilises new and emerging markets in ecosystem services and goods such as biodiversity net gain and carbon credits, as well as environmental, social and governance opportunities.

Securing private finance is crucial to the success of the project so we’re working hard to do just that. Conversations with a range of organisations are in the early stages and we are always keen to hear from people interested in supporting the restoration of this special landscape.

To find out more about the project please get in touch with me at s.aitken@albanwise-environment.co.uk