Nature-Based Solutions Case Studies

NEIRF was set up by the UK government to accelerate the mobilisation of private finance into nature recovery and climate change action, aligning to the goals of the 25-year Environment Improvement Plan. The Environment Agency administers this funding on behalf of DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). Two previous rounds of NEIRF funding have been completed (NEIRF 1 and NEIRF 2) with SWT being project participants in both.

In NEIRF 2, we worked with six landowners (two farms, two golf courses and two large estates) to help them create Natural Capital Investment Plans for their landholdings. These plans will enable each landowner to seek private investment to fund nature-friendly interventions that also address a variety of issues such as climate change, flood resilience and poor habitat connectivity. With support from our project partners  Finance Earth  and  SWT Ecology Services , we were able to help each landowner develop a greater understanding of new nature finance markets and the range of opportunities available to them.

We are currently delivering two NEIRF 3 projects within Surrey: 'The Wey to Investment Readiness', which will focus on Natural Flood Management (NFM) interventions that can be delivered at scale across river catchments, and 'a Resilient and Scalable Farm Cluster Natural Capital Financing Model', which will support eight landowners in the Lingfield area to develop a scalable farm cluster governance model. The projects started in August 2024 and are due to end in September 2025. You can read more about these projects here:  https://www.surreywildlifetrust.org/what-we-do/projects/neirf 

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The Tillingbourne stream supports some of the finest river habitat in Surrey; however much of the channel was modified in past centuries to power a series of mills across the length of the stream. The channel in many areas is now very straight and overwide and does not support the natural processes required to maintain the habitats that plants, invertebrates and fish need. Surrey Wildlife Trust has been working on a project with the Tillingbourne fly-fishing community to restore natural processes to the river just upstream of Shalford.

Phase 1 of the project was completed in October 2019. Surrey Wildlife Trust staff along with several volunteers from the fishing club and beyond, installed three berms (low-level shelves created using brushwood and backfilled with woody material) along the channel margins to help create a more natural river course, allowing marginal plants to take hold and creating cover for fish. Log deflectors were also pinned into the river to re-meander the channel, and bankside trees were coppiced to allow more light to penetrate.

Phase 2 was completed in October 2022 and funded by the Hamamelis Trust. SWT staff and volunteers installed one berm, four twin log deflectors and two brushwood deflectors. Vegetation management also took place, including the coppicing of five bankside trees. A kingfisher nesting burrow was also constructed. This burrow will continue to be monitored, with plans to install a camera trap in Spring 2023.

To learn more about the project, you can watch  this video 

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The continuation or reintroduction of grazing animals is vital for the survival of rare habitats such as heathlands and chalk grassland. Many of the flora and fauna that exist within these landscapes now rely on this type of management to survive.

Pirbright Ranges is a 750-hectare live firing range owned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Large areas are also leased by the National Rifle Association (NRA). It is also a wildlife-rich lowland heathland habitat designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Special Protection Area (SPA) as well as being a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). There is no public access into the ranges for safety reasons, which makes it impossible to manage the habitat using conventional land management techniques. The solution is to use Red Deer, a native British species that is ideally suited to the heathland, woodland and wetland habitats found on the Ranges. Although once widespread throughout Surrey, Red Deer are now mostly restricted to deer parks and a few small, wild herds.

This pilot project was the first of its kind, looking at Nature-Based Solutions to address the long-term management requirements for the site, as well as providing a sustainable and more natural approach to managing this type of habitat. The Red Deer Project on Pirbright has now been running for more than 10 years and is so far proving extremely successful, it is also formally listed as a Rewilding Britain case study. The herd is currently managed at a population of around 160 deer, and they graze and browse in areas enclosed by specialist internal deer fencing. The deer help to manage the dominance of Scots Pine, Silver Birch and Common Gorse scrub on the heath as well as creating a diverse structure in the regenerating and maturing heather. As a result, rare European Protected Species such as the European Nightjar, Woodlark and Dartford Warbler populations are on the increase and rely on this large expanse of heathland to breed, rear young or overwinter every year.

You can find out more about the project  here 

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Papercourt Meadows is part of the larger Papercourt Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) complex that lies on a floodplain between the village of Send and the River Wey. Most of the reserve is covered by a floodplain grazing marsh, with areas of open water and trees. The site is bordered by watercourses on three sides - the River Wey, the Wey Navigation and Broadmead Cut. Part of the reserve between the Wey and the Broadmead Cut is managed by Surrey Wildlife Trust, with the rest owned and managed by multiple other landowners.

The presence of these three watercourses results in the grassland frequently being flooded, but this also means that the site is extremely effective in reducing the flood risk to the nearby urban areas. The meadow lies just east of Old Woking, and there are roads and properties that border the floodplain, seemingly precariously close to the watercourses. However, the flood risk to these properties is remarkably low due to the capacity of the meadow for storing water during times of higher flow. There are also several walking routes accessible to the public, providing recreational and mental health benefits to local residents.

Conservation grazing is currently carried out on the Surrey Wildlife Trust-managed land. This helps to reduce the height of dominant vegetation such as rushes and grasses, manages the height of scrub areas, and allows for a greater diversity of ground flora.

Papercourt Meadows perfectly demonstrates the benefits of floodplain meadows as a Nature-Based Solution in areas at high risk of flooding.

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Manor Farm is a restored farmland site by the River Wey which attracts an abundance of wildlife, currently used as lay-back grazing land for our herd of Belted Galloway cows.

In early 2023, we completed our first Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) units sale to Shepperton Studios, for a deal value of c. £1 million. The studios plan to expand, and Spelthorne Borough required Shepperton to provide biodiversity net gain, both on and off site, to compensate for lost habitat. Whilst 10% gain was advised, we are insisting on 20% net gain when our land is used for offsetting, which Shepperton agreed to. Funding was also provided for educational outreach work. The site is only six miles from Shepperton Studios and has further BNG capacity of over 100 units through converting it to species rich meadow.

In order to restore the grassland habitat, the land at Manor Farm will initially undergo carefully-timed hay cutting as well as targeted grazing with Belted Galloway cattle. This will benefit wildflower species that require low-nutrient soils, which could include Wild-Thyme, Bird’s-Foot-Trefoil and Greater Knapweed. The restored habitat will also support a variety of insects, birds and other species such as Voles and Slow Worms.

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Barossa is a stunning lowland heath with areas of conifer and native deciduous woodland.

It is also an active military training estate, managed by the Trust on behalf of the Ministry of Defence. This valley mire restoration project aims to investigate the feasibility of restoring the Wishmoor Bottom valley mire habitat along the Wishmoor Stream on Barossa, and will run from early 2022 to early 2024. A series of surveys including ecological surveys, LiDAR and soil core sampling have been carried out on site with the aim of establishing a hydrological baseline with soil characteristics of the valley mire system and surrounding habitat.

The results of the surveys will help us to look at strategic areas for Natural Flood Management interventions and will also help us gather important ecological data looking at the potential benefits and impacts of such interventions. Recommendations following the invertebrate surveys include further re-wetting of the valley mire, scrub and individual tree management as well as adaptations to existing grazing regimes. All management and potential valley mire/hydrological restoration will be considered in more detail by the end of the project.

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