Back in 2010, Norman Holton – who was then the RSPB Reserves Manager – took me out onto the saltmarsh at RSPB Campfield near Bowness, and showed me its structure and its plants. Thanks to Norman I grew to love merses and marshes and I will always be grateful to him for his insights and great humour. He died in 2018 and is greatly missed.
Norman Holton in 2010: “If I was a cow, I’d be happy on the marsh!”
Norman showed me the three tiers of growth, the types of salt-tolerant vegetation, the creeks – and over the years I built on this knowledge and have even tried to pass on my love of the saltmarshes by running day-courses for writers. Scientists of all sorts love saltmarshes too, and research their carbon-storage, their stability and growth, and the protective effect of their fractal ‘ragged edges’. Mudflats and saltmarshes interact along the Upper Solway shores (see Chapter 7).
My friend and collaborator on the Crossing the Moss project, photographer James Smith, made an excellent video of Bowness Common which is worth watching for its aerial views of the mudflats and saltmarsh on the Upper Solway
Sheep graze the stints overlooking Moricambe Bay
Sheep graze the stints overlooking Moricambe Bay
Kirkconnell Merse, west bank of the R Nith; tiers of accretion, tiers of vegetation
Kirkconnell Merse, west bank of the R Nith; tiers of accretion, tiers of vegetation
Saltmarsh structure: layers of accretion
Saltmarsh structure: layers of accretion
Countrystride podcasting on Campfield saltmarsh with Dave Felton
Countrystride podcasting on Campfield saltmarsh with Dave Felton
Saltmarsh creek, a hunting-ground for waders
Saltmarsh creek, a hunting-ground for waders
Saltmarsh scurvy grass
Saltmarsh scurvy grass
Saltmarsh pioneers: samphire, Salicornia, and Spartina grass
Saltmarsh pioneers: samphire, Salicornia, and Spartina grass
The march of the samphire
The march of the samphire
The frayed edge of the saltmarsh beside the R Nith
The frayed edge of the saltmarsh beside the R Nith
The fractal edges of a saltmarsh dissipate the force of the waves. Campfield
The fractal edges of a saltmarsh dissipate the force of the waves. Campfield
Writers learning to love saltmarshes (the weather helped)
Writers learning to love saltmarshes (the weather helped)
Rockcliffe Marsh at the head of the Solway is vast, constantly accreting and riddled with deep creeks, and like most saltmarshes is also growing upwards – Bart Donato of Natural England made me playdough models to show me why (you can find out more about our modelling session here). I have found out more about the marsh by flying over it, walking over it, and bumping over it on a quadbike.
The Upper Solway’s marshes and merses support tens of thousands of migrant geese over winter and are specially protected. On some of the marshes wildfowling is permitted (see chapter 9).
And many of the marshes on the Cumbrian side are used for grazing – divided into stints, the letting of which is an amusing story.
Rockcliffe Marsh from the air; part of the embankment is bottom right
Rockcliffe Marsh from the air; part of the embankment is bottom right
The creeks of Rockcliffe Marsh (with thanks to Giles Mounsey-Heysham)
The creeks of Rockcliffe Marsh (with thanks to Giles Mounsey-Heysham)
The stock-fenced Gullery at Rockcliffe Marsh
The stock-fenced Gullery at Rockcliffe Marsh
The saltmarsh grows upwards: owner Giles Mounsey-Heysham shows the original height of the posts above the ground
The saltmarsh grows upwards: owner Giles Mounsey-Heysham shows the original height of the posts above the ground
A breached levee around a saltmarsh creek (thanks to Bart Donato): overspilling water will flow back into the creek
A breached levee around a saltmarsh creek (thanks to Bart Donato): overspilling water will flow back into the creek
An intact levee around a creek: overspilling water remains on the marsh (thanks to Bart Donato)
An intact levee around a creek: overspilling water remains on the marsh (thanks to Bart Donato)
High tide on a saltmarsh stint
High tide on a saltmarsh stint
Auctioning the stints 2017
Auctioning the stints 2017
Graziers' rules for the stints (Hopes catalogue 2017)
Graziers' rules for the stints (Hopes catalogue 2017)
Kirkconnell Merse to the West of the R Nith has grown and stabilised enormously during the past 150 or more years, ever since the ‘training wall’ was constructed to limit (‘train’) the wandering Nith. Visiting the wall required a long, scrambly and sweaty walk across the merse on what was the hottest day of 2019.
The wandering Nith
The wandering Nith
The 'training wall' on the west bank of the R Nith
The 'training wall' on the west bank of the R Nith
Training wall along the R Nith
Training wall along the R Nith
Rails on the Nith's training-wall
Rails on the Nith's training-wall
Kirkconnell Merse, west bank of the R Nith; tiers of accretion, tiers of vegetation
Kirkconnell Merse, west bank of the R Nith; tiers of accretion, tiers of vegetation
