The South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre is incredibly proud to be part of the Species Stacking the Shire Brook Valley’ project. The project is led by Sheffield City Council. It has funding of over £1M from the Species Survival Fund from DEFRA and National Lottery Heritage Fund. A range of local partners including SYSC have provided additional funding.
The Species Stacking project has been officially launched at an event held at the Shire Brook Valley Nature Reserve, which showcased the range of restoration work that will be undertaken. The funding will enable habitat creation including the planting of 1500 metres of hedgerows, and wetland areas will be improved. A new herd of Highland and Dexter cows has already arrived at Shire Brook. They have been brought in to graze and help manage the land naturally, to create open spaces for wildflowers to grow and flourish.
There will also be restorative and enhancement works to support species abundance as well as the conservation and interpretation of Shire Brook Valley’s heritage.
Shire Brook Nature Reserve soil and invertebrate biodiversity baseline
SYSC is excited to be a part of the Shire Brook project. We will conduct a variety of surveys and analyses on the site’s grazing land to create a baseline understanding of current soil health within Shire Brook. Research will include analysis of soil total and organic carbon stocks as well as exploring soil mycorrhizal fungi and invertebrate surveys. The soil can then be monitored over time to see how its condition changes in response to restorative grazing regimes.
Building a better understanding of soil health over time at Shire Brook will inform future land management at the site by the council and may provide useful insights that informsland management across the region.
The Shire Brook valley project builds on work that we are already doing to understand how agricultural practices affect soil health. These projects have been made possible by investment in SYSC's soil analysis facility. This new facility will support soil science projects across the region and allow us to better support nature recovery in the region. We hope that the insights generated by this and future projects can be leveraged to support the delivery of South Yorkshire’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy, a key legislative commitment under the Environment Act 2021.
The SYSC will report on the project’s data, findings and recommendations to the Species Survival Project next year when all the surveys and analysis have been completed. Healthy soils are fundamental to ensure that our landscapes thrive. As a living system, soils sustain plant and animal life, maintain and enhance water and air quality and provide a habitat for organisms.
The work being carried out at the Shire Brook Valley Nature Reserve is a positive step towards understanding how we better look after our natural environment long into the future.
