Agricultural land in Englefield Estate to be rewilded - as seven rare birds spotted

A 2km stretch of the River Pang is about to be rewilded.

The site, near Theale, is owned by the Englefield Estate, which has submitted plans to return the section of the river back to nature.

The estate has submitted an application to West Berkshire Council to “de-intensify” the agricultural land, “embracing and enhancing the character of the local valley and promoting a significant increase in habitats and biodiversity”.

Berkshire’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) emphasises the importance of preserving and enhancing habitats across the region.

The LNRS aims to create a connected network of wildlife-rich habitats, and rivers are essential components of this network.

The River Pang is a priority within the Berkshire LNRS.

The landowner and consulting team have had early discussions with West Berkshire Council, Natural England and the Environment Agency relating to the proposed application.

The proposals originate from the estate vision to deliver a catchment-scale river and wetlands flagship restoration project. In the past the area has been drained for arable farming.

The site itself has been historically modified and the river bed is detached from its floodplain with significant inputs from agricultural drains.

The application says the river, and the redundant water meadows next to it, provide an opportunity to both create new, and improve existing, habitats.

It also hopes to increase of natural flood storage capacity and slow the flow of water through the system.

One of the driving objectives of the scheme is to enhance biodiversity through the creation of the wetland.

This, says the application, will provide wide ranging opportunities for numerous species by increasing available foraging and sheltering habitat and improving connectivity both within the site and to the surrounding landscape.

The existing permissive footpath route will be temporarily fenced off during the construction works ensuring that no construction activity interferes with right of way, and also discouraging any unauthorised access to the site for safety purposes.

On project completion, the fence will be removed with no alterations to the existing path.

The measures include bank re-profiling, re-meandering/channel bypasses, impoundment removal and the introduction of large woody debris and sediment traps.

A total of six breeding bird surveys were undertaken in spring 2024 to determine if there were any likely constraints or opportunities presented by the proposals. Evidence of confirmed or potential breeding activity was recorded.

The route taken was swapped around on each visit to cover different areas at different times and ensure optimal coverage of all areas.

A data search from Thames Valley Environmental Record Centre (TVERC) returned numerous records of protected and notable bird species within 2km of the site.

A total of seven red list species were recorded during the surveys, albeit only three of which were likely breeding onsite, namely cuckoo (within the wet woodland), greenfinch and yellowhammer.