In July 2025 Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, in partnership with the Wye Valley National Landscape, were awarded a grant of £82,000 as part of the Environment Agency’s Water and Environment Improvement Fund (WEIF). The fund aims to improve water quality through practical interventions and £45,000 of the grant was allocated to carrying out Nature Based Solutions in the Wellington Brook catchment. 

Holly Thompson, Wye Adapt to Climate Change? Project officer has been working in the Wellington catchment for the past 18 months, getting to know the catchment, what the challenges the catchment faces are and identifying potential solutions.  

We worked directly with eight landowners to implement nature-based interventions, including: 

• 4 scrapes to increase capacity and capture overland flows, planted with wet grassland mixes 
• 6 seepage barriers and leaky dams to capture sediment and hold water during high flows 
• 1 bund to help slow overland flows 
• 2 meadow restorations to increase diversity and soil health helping to increase water infiltration and reduce loss of soil 
• 245m of hedgerow restoration to help reduce soil loss, capture nutrients and reduce overland flows 
• Trees planted across overland flows, steep slopes and bankside to help improve soil health, reduce overland flows and reduce soil and bankside erosion 
• 784m of cattle fencing along the watercourse to reduce bank erosion and sediment load in the brook 
• 6 cross-track drains to reduce surface run-off and sediment 

Further interventions recommended through WEIF visits were funded through the Severn Treescapes project and through capital grants which supported further tree planting and an additional 597m of restored hedgerow. Sites for future hedgerow restoration and creation have been identified and shared with CPRE as part of their hedgerow project 

Across the catchment, these interventions impact 8km of the watercourse, from Kings Pyon to the A49. Overall 2.1km of riparian habitat has been directly improved through changed management, fencing of watercourse and additional tree planting. 

To find out more about Nature Based solutions and their valuable role in tackling the impacts of climate change read Holly Williams’ blog here: What are Nature-Based Solutions and how can we use them to help tackle the climate and nature crises? | Herefordshire Wildlife Trust 

Our work in the Wellington catchment also considered how to monitor the impacts of these interventions and we were fortunate enough to work with a group of local wildlife enthusiasts. The Wellington Wildlife Group were keen to set up riverfly monitoring points as part of the nationwide riverfly partnership scheme. Holly Thompson stepped up to become the local hub coordinator and the group were trained to carry out surveys. Over 2024-25 they completed six surveys and plan to continue their work, as well as running dipping sessions for the local community to get involved. The group are also supporting bird surveys on sites where interventions were completed to monitor the impacts of habitat change. 

To hear more about the projects success take a look at our case studies: 

• Trees and scrapes: Wye Adapt to Climate Change: case study | Herefordshire Wildlife Trust 

Thank you to the Environment Agency for their support through the WEIF grant, to the Severn Treescapes project for the additional support on tree planting and to the National Lottery and players of the National Lottery for their support through the Climate Action Funded project the Wye Adapt to Climate Change? Project.