It was a drizzly, cold, foggy day in November 2021 the first time I clamped eyes on the 50 acres of land recently purchased by Cheshire Wildlife Trust. Just outside of Holmes Chapel, perched next to the River Dane meant Saltersford was slap bang in the middle of our Lower Dane Living Landscape Area and only a mile downstream from our Swettenham Valley Nature Reserve. The position was perfect! They say location is everything, well, I really hoped so because I hadn’t quite prepared myself for the harsh reality of what lay out in front of me.  

“Welcome to Saltersford Nature Reserve” my enthusiastic Line Manager uttered as we pulled up for the first time. Nature reserve wouldn’t be the first words that came to mind. There was no nature for starters. Saltersford is not a land of mystery and intrigue. She is, or should I say, was, a, big slab of agricultural land, which lays itself out before you as you enter through the gate. What you see is what you get! And what we got was a big L-shaped chunk of ex-maize ground, which surrounded a rectangle of bright green silage field on two sides, interspliced with some small patches of existing woodland. I looked at the site in trepidation. First, I noticed the stagnant pools of water sitting on the compacted ground, followed by the two-foot deep ankle breaking tractor ruts in the exposed soil and an old barrel of unidentified chemical. It was a stark reminder of the land’s previous use. I could feel my eyebrows raise, “Oh dear, this is going to be a challenge!”. 

Thanks to our amazing supporters raising almost £74,000 through our Saltersford Farm Appeal, we were able to purchase and begin to rewild the land. After the purchase went through, our first priority was to carry out baseline surveys to establish our starting point: what did we already have? Our ecology team set to work and carried out botanical appraisals of the grassland, maize stubble, woodlands and perimeter hedge. We also took soil samples to assess the pH and nutrient levels as well as breeding bird surveys. The reading was bleak! Aside from the existing woodland the site was pretty devoid of wildlife.  

Undoubtably a challenge, however this meant we had the potential to make an impactful difference to nature in this ecological ‘desert’. 

All these surveys helped us create a design for the new reserve which would include a mosaic of different habitats offering the greatest benefit for wildlife. We would link up the remaining fragments of woodland with new trees and restore the silage grassland back to a traditional wildflower meadow. Ponds would be dug in the lower lying areas bringing water on to the site as well as creating large patches of scrub.  

Once we had a plan in place, we were ready to begin the practical work. Our first job was to dig the ponds. Large excavators were used to dig six ponds on the wetter areas of the site, operated by drivers with the dexterity of ballet dancers. They delicately lined the ponds with clay, creating gentle sloping sides perfect for wildlife. Although the finished look resulted in something that resembled a bomb crater, after a few months and some heavy rain the ponds filled up.  

According to locals, maize had been grown and harvested on the same piece of land every winter for the past 10 years. Maize is notoriously damaging as it requires big applications of fertiliser to replace the nutrients last year’s demanding crop stripped from the soil. It is also harvested later in the year leaving the soil exposed to the elements over winter. This leads to soil and sediment running off into the river, taking all the fertiliser remnants with it.  

Due to the very high levels of nutrients found in the soil it was decided that the maize area would be best suited to woodland and scrub creation rather than meadow. Meadow wildflowers are delicate plants that have developed their own niche in nutrient-poor soil. This is because they can easily be pushed out by grass and nettles that bully their way through enriched soils. But before we could even think about planting trees, we would need to help repair and bind the soil. 

We needed to alleviate the compaction and ruts from all the heavy machinery. We sub soiled, then ploughed and harrowed. All quite drastic work but it was reassuring to know it would be the last time this field would be ploughed up. A mixture of low growing grass species with some robust wildflowers such as ox-eye daisy and knapweed were sown to bound the soil. This allowed it to begin to heal before we began planting trees. 

Once summer of 2022 came round, we were able to begin the work to restore the silage field back to a wildflower meadow. Wildflower meadows are amazing for wildlife, they are a summertime supermarket for pollinating insects offering an amazing nectar source. The boom of insects around meadows supports a whole host of other species further up the food chain including birds, reptiles, amphibians and small mammals. Sadly 99% of meadows have been lost in Cheshire in only the last 60 years. This is largely due to the change in agricultural practice in our county from making hay to silage and the application of fertilisers.  

We wanted to restore the hay meadow with native, local provenance seed. We used the amazing resource which is Swettenham Valley Nature Reserve’s meadow which is a mere 10 minutes away. We used some green hay from the meadow and transported it down the road to Saltersford where we began to spread it onto the prepared ground. Green hay involves cutting and collecting the grass just as the flowers have gone to seed. It’s a great way of restoring meadows. The green hay was rolled in, pressing the seed into the soil and then left until the following year when it will be cut in late summer.  

Summer 2022 came and went and as winter approached, tree planting season began. By now, the scarred maize stubble was a distant memory as the newly sown grass had greened up and was ready to be planted into. The woodland was designed to allow for wide open rides to allow wildlife to move through. Scrubby species were planted along the edges to soften the transition from meadow to woodland, offering important transitional habitat. Patches of scrub would be planted into the mix of deciduous native trees which had been chosen to compliment the geographical location, as well as soil type and altitude. Woodland planting began in late January 2023 and, with the help of hordes of volunteers, we planted 7,000 trees. Each were protected by tall guards to deter the small, local deer population.   

It has now been 18 months since my first introduction to the site. Whist Saltersford may not quite look like a nature reserve just yet, with a bit of imagination, you can start to see the bones of a reserve begin to flesh out as vegetation starts to establish and wildlife begins to move in.   

The bomb craters of a year ago are now filled with water; oxygenating water plants are starting to colonise around the edges; water boatman dance about on the surface and there was even a small blob of frogspawn in one of the ponds offering positive signs of things to come. The scarred maize field is now populated with a baby woodland. It still has many years to grow before it will be fully established, but in the meantime the knapweed and ox-eye daisies offer an extra nectar source. Whilst the tree roots bind the soil, cycling nutrients and restoring the mycelial communities underground. Leaves are already beginning to poke out the tops of the tall tubes like the trees are in a race.  

The old silage field which once supported three grass species is now teaming with catsear, lesser trefoil, plantain, red clover and yellow rattle to name a few. It will take a few years to fully diversify to the level of its donor field, but we will help it along with some home-grown plug plants. In late summer 2023 a local farmer will take a hay cut which will feed his livestock and the field will be grazed with cattle, still contributing to the farming system but in a more sympathetic way. 

Small mammals and local barn owls have already been seen exploring their new hunting grounds. 

Saltersford is still very much in its infancy and creating a nature reserve doesn’t happen overnight, but thanks to our supporters we are well on our way of turning what was once a baren landscape into a wildlife haven. Something I have taken away from this process, which I think is both amazing and reassuring, is that it’s possible to restore life back into land and life comes back surprisingly quickly. It has been remarkable to watch the transformation of the site in a relatively short space of time and I look forward to seeing it flourish going forward.  

Thank you to every one of our members, donors, funders and supporters who have made this possible.