Grazing • Access and amenity • Pollution • Coastal defence maintenance • Alternative uses

Grazing (cont)

Light grazing • Moderate grazing • Heavy grazing • Abandoned grazing

Moderate grazing

Historically ungrazed marshes are the exception in Northwest Europe. Most marshes have been used for grazing domestic stock at least at moderate levels. These are usually given as being equivalent to 5 to 6 sheep or 1.0 to 1.5 young cattle per ha (April to October). Beeftink (1977) recommends 2 sheep or 0.3 cattle per ha (year round) as being the most appropriate to attain the maximum nature conservation interest. These figures lie somewhere between those given by Dijkema & Wolff (1983) for light and moderate levels respectively and suggest that, even at these moderate levels, overall nature conservation value is reduced. Whilst there may be some reduction in the standing crop of plants at the lower end of the grazing regime defined here, plant diversity and bird breeding densities may still be high.