Half of my land is bordered by a running ditch. All lovingly fenced with posts wonderfully rotting in the ground so needing replacing often! (The entire place slants! Its a running joke, even the house is crooked. One of the joys of living on an older property. Veg garden slants several directions!)
What I call the cows field, starts at a reasonable height, then goes gently down hill, dips, then comes up slightly. No amount of drains (we've had several experts come out and give their advice) is going to stop the dip from flooding (especially when the neighbour has his slurry pit the other side of the fence and hedge and ditch that separates us). Bad winters/summers ditch fills, and our field dip fills. Ducks are happy! Mild springs and we get lots of frogspawn but then it dries and if they are lucky, me and a bucket go rescue frogspawn!
Dip has had reeds for years. To be honest, (I'm 45) and I've never known no reeds! BUT!! Due to "climate change" reeds are starting to come creeping up the field. I can top these little blighters (topper doesn't appreciate it!) but they grow back. Cattle and sheep, when dry, take great pleasure in lying what once was wet ground (not often) on comfy reeds due to them flattening them, right in the middle of the dip!
To go in the field and see no livestock makes your heart pound! Until I call Juniper and heads all pop up!!
Next to this field is another half hectare fenced. This field, though handy, is Flystrike Central! Basically, DONT put sheep down there unless protected at certain times. It is bounded on 2 sides by the same ditch! Now, when they flood, this does flood. Waders would be necessary to get to the fence as due to being the lowest part on the property, water would go over the top of wellies. This I know due to experience!!
With all the rain lately, i put the cattle and sheep all together yesterday and then traipsed down there to shut this field off. Sheep playing so beat me to it! Lovely to see fat pregnant (I hope) lumps springing like lambs! The field is currently spongey and wet patches and Hollow followed me to the boundary fence, still up due to good wire, but half the posts leaning one way, the other half leaning the other. The neighbours field, his fence has just completely given way. Its how the ground is here. So, sheep skip and jump back and I shut gate.
When we had a big willow tree given a hair cut several years ago, the chap looked and said "This is perfect down here for wildlife." And I do agree with him. Spent a day planting lots of trees, digging them in, staking them etc. Once established, let the sheep in to eat the grass. They did indeed eat the grass, AFTER they had decimated my trees!!
The bottom right is a nuisance field actually. Its also prone to thistles, short squatty ones and the ones that grow to about 4ft tall without flopping over and then give a beautiful purple head. Topping (spraying in the past) doesn't seem to do anything!!
I have suggested to mum that we find some good, water loving trees and plant them, but have done that before and no luck. Its completely different temperature down there, very muggy and humid. But it comes in handy if the other fields are needed. It can be shut off and the gates used as access way (to bypass an ajoining field, which is how we had the place divided).
Anyone got any suggestions?
Fast growing, not nibbley for rabbits so to speak.
The dip in the cows field, any ideas also. Whatever is planted, safe if nibbled by cattle and sheep and not spiky!! Though would prefer NO nibbling interests and non spiky!!