The project - Wyescapes; Food, Nature, Water – is a partnership between Herefordshire Rural Hub, the Wye Valley AONB Partnership, Herefordshire Wildlife Trust and the Wye and Usk Foundation and will involve an initial groups of 36 farmers.

The project’s aim is to restore the Wye catchment to a healthy condition, so its rivers and their tributaries can support the unique wildlife that depends on them, provide clean and plentiful water, be resilient to climate change, mitigate flood risk, enable sustainable farming and provide places for people to enjoy. 

The River Wye and surrounding landscape together create an iconic landscape, hugely important for nature due to its wide range of rare river wildlife, loved by people and important for farming. In 2010 the River Wye was voted the nation’s favourite river, described as "magical and timeless" but by 2023, TV programmes, celebrities and communities were decrying the polluted and degraded state of the river. Earlier this year, both the River Wye and River Lugg had their status downgraded by Natural England ‘unfavourable – declining’ due to declines in declines in Atlantic salmon, white-clawed crayfish and aquatic plants.

The project is happening on a huge scale, initially focusing on a core area of 7,694 hectares of floodplain, managed by 36 farmers, but with scope to widen to an even larger area. Farmers will be supported by the partners to take actions to restore the rivers’ health such as reducing the intensity of production, reverting some fields from arable growing to pasture or meadow and to create new wetlands, floodplain meadows and woodlands. These measures will see a reduction in nutrients such as phosphates entering the rivers as well as reducing run-off of soils which silt up river beds.

As well as improving the state of the rivers themselves, these actions will increase and improve wildlife habitats on farms and the project particularly hopes to see an increase in lowland breeding wading birds such as curlew, lapwing, snipe and redshank.

About the Partners

• Herefordshire Rural Hub - supports farming businesses in Herefordshire and leads this proposal. The Rural Hub has deep relationships with farmers across the county and has built farmer engagement for this proposal for over a year.
• The Wye Valley AONB Partnership - collaborates with farmers, businesses and communities to conserve and enhance the Wye Valley AONB.
• Herefordshire Wildlife Trust – the largest nature conservation charity in the county managing 60 nature reserves. Its vision is to restore nature in the rural and urban landscapes across Herefordshire.
• Wye and Usk Foundation - aims to conserve and improve these rivers and provide education regarding rivers and their wildlife.

Wyescape’s Specific Outcomes:

• Restore SSSI/SAC management units to at least favourable recovering condition by 2035 (10-year objective) and favourable condition by 2045 (20-year objective)
• Recover priority habitats to increase extent and distribution (from 2023 baseline of 9.5%) to at least 30% by 2045, reconnecting the river channel with its floodplain
• Deliver a potential minimum 289,766 BNG Units, with an aspiration for 3,231,764 BNG Units
• Recover species - e.g. key species features of the SSSI/SAC plus lowland breeding waders (e.g. curlew, lapwing, snipe, redshank) and black poplar
• Deliver a minimum potential net zero carbon reduction of 3,981 T CO2e, with an aspiration for 42,371 T CO2e sequestered
• Reduce nutrient inputs and draw down P loading to at least agronomic minimum or below Olsen P1 by 2035.