page_title: River Brue
section_title: Ecology
hierarchical_section_title: River Brue / Ecology
caption_attribution_description: English: The River Brue, Westhay. Standing on Westhay Bridge looking South-East along the River Brue. Glastonbury Tor ST5138 with the 14th Century St. Michael's Tower can be seen in the far background.
context_page_description: The River Brue originates in the parish of Brewham in Somerset, England, and reaches the sea some 50 kilometres west at Burnham-on-Sea. It originally took a different route from Glastonbury to the sea, but this was changed by Glastonbury Abbey in the twelfth century. The river provides an important drainage route for water from a low-lying area which is prone to flooding which man has tried to manage through rhynes, canals, artificial rivers and sluices for centuries.
  The Brue Valley Living Landscape is an ecological conservation project based on the Somerset Levels and Moors and managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust. The valley includes several Sites of Special Scientific Interest including Westhay Moor, Shapwick Heath and Shapwick Moor. Much of the area has been at the centre of peat extraction on the Somerset Levels. The Brue Valley Living Landscape project commenced in January 2009 to restore and reconnect habitat that will support wildlife. The aim is to be able to sustain itself in the face of climate change while guaranteeing farmers and other landowners can continue to use their land profitably.
context_section_description: The Brue Valley Living Landscape is a UK conservation project managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust. The project commenced in January 2009 and aims to restore habitat. It aims to help wildlife sustain itself in the face of climate change while guaranteeing farmers and other landowners can continue to use their land profitably. It is one of an increasing number of landscape scale conservation projects in the UK.
  The project covers an area of approximately 12,500 hectares (31,000 acres) encompassing the floodplain of the River Brue from a little east of Glastonbury to beyond the Catcott, Edington and Chilton Moors SSSI in the west. Almost a quarter of the project area is designated as Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar site. The project area accounts for almost half of the Somerset Levels and Moors Special Protection Area. The area includes land already managed for conservation by organisations including Somerset Wildlife Trust, Natural England, the Hawk and Owl Trust and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. These include Shapwick Heath national nature reserve, Westhay Moor, Catcott Lows National Nature Reserve, Ham Wall and Shapwick Moor. There are 25 scheduled monuments and 746 Historic Environment Records in the project area including internationally important sites such at the Glastonbury Lake Village and Sweet Track. Research on the Somerset Levels and Moors has been crucial to the understanding of the natural and human history of wetlands. The project is based solely on the peat-based soils of the Somerset Moors. It does not extend on to the marine clay soils of the more westerly Levels.
  The project has set out their major objectives. These include mapping and research on the Brue Valley, engagement with local government, farmers, the conservation sector and other interest community members, to produce a shared local vision. It is hoped to create larger and better connected patches of important habitats, in a way which also benefits the local economy and rural society. The project has received funding from the European Regional Development Fund (via the WAVE project), Natural England's Wetland Vision and the Viridor Credits scheme.
  One of the project's goals is to protect, restore and create areas of reedbed, grazing marsh, fen, raised bog, lowland meadow, purple moor grass and rush pastures and wet woodland. Species of conservation concern (UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority species) that are likely to benefit from this project include plants such as: divided sedge (Carex divisa), English sticky eyebright (Euphrasia anglica), greater water parsnip (Sium latifolium), lesser butterfly orchid (Platanthera bifolia), marsh stitchwort (Stellaria palustris) and tubular water dropwort (Oenanthe fistulosa). The flora provides a habitat for several species of invertebrates. These include moths such as the argent and sable moth (Rheumaptera hastata) and narrow bordered bee hawk-moth (Hemaris tityus). While butterfly species include the small heath (Coenonympha pamphilus), pearl-bordered fritillary (Boloria euphrosyne) and small pearl-bordered fritillary (Boloria selene). Beetles found in the valley include the lesser silver water beetle (Hydrochara caraboides) and one-grooved diving beetle (Bidessus unistriatus). There are also shining ram's-horn snails (Segmentina nitida) and shrill carder bees (Bombus sylvarum).
  The River Brue and its tributaries support a population of European eels (Anguilla anguilla). Reptiles found include the European adder (Vipera berus) and grass snake (Natrix natrix). Multiple bird species include Bewick's swan (Cygnus columbianus bewickii), Eurasian bittern (Botaurus stellaris), Eurasian bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula), *Eurasian wigeon (Anas penelope), European starling (Sturnus vulgaris), gadwall (Anas strepera), grasshopper warbler (Locustella naevia), hen harrier (Circus cyaneus), house sparrow (Passer domesticus), linnet (Carduelis cannabina), marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus), marsh tit (Poecile palustris), merlin (Falco columbarius
caption: The River Brue crossing Westhay Moor
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