[littlemiss]

Hi Everyone,

How and who would I look to consult if I were thinking about buying a property which was largely woodland but has about 30 acres of 'rough grassland' that has been let go over about 10 years... On a map it is down as marshland and it does seem full of reeds and long grass.

I would like to get it back to grass for equestrian/camping use but I have no idea if this would be possible or roughly how much and how long I would be looking at.

I don't mind paying a consultant but I don't know where to start looking for one.

TIA

[Foobar]

Start by getting a spade and digging some holes.  You need to see what the soil is like.  Are you on clay?  And you need to understand why the ground is holding water, and also where that water is coming from.
Wait until the next downpour and then go out and see what you can see .


If you are willing to pay you can get a drainage consultant in.  Google agricultural land drainage.

[SallyintNorth]

On a map it is down as marshland and it does seem full of reeds and long grass.

May well be rushes rather than reeds.  Rushes hold the soggy ground together; if you remove the rushes without doing the drainage work it will get wetter not drier.

Look around the local area, are there any fields that look as though they started like yours and have been 'improved'?  Talk to the local farmers/landowners about the possibilities of effectively reclaiming the ground.  If you can find a local farmer has been there all his life, he'll (or she'll) know what's possible and what's Forth Bridge

Please check that it isn't ecologically important sphagnum moss land / peat bog.  (Called "mire" in the north of England.). Draining that is more ecologically harmful than burning a forest

[bj_cardiff]

Rushes on land is a real pain. I have fields that are wet but the rushes make their own habitat and make it ten times worse if left to their own devices.

My fields are quite hilly but on clay and some have underlying rock so the water doesn't drain away easily. The Rushes establish in clumps and make the surface of the field quite rutted around their bases which is great for holding water around their roots, the close way rushes grow also means plenty of shade from the sun and wind, so water sits around for a long time.

I have dug some ditches to divert away any surface water, which has some success and you really need to keep the rushes in check with regular cutting/mowing to stop them forming clumps. You can spray any regrowth with Agritox  if you can find someone to do it and over a few years the field will improve drastically.

Try to keep stock out of the field when its very wet as you want to avoid it getting to muddy in there as the seeds will already be in the soil and waiting for sunlight and broken ground to germinate.

[philcaegrug]

I agree with BJ our land is on clay and wet with a lot of rush.  I've opened a few ditches and top the rush monthly and the land has improved greatly.