Dredging, navigation and revetment construction • Sediment extraction • Turf cutting • Hay making • Reed cutting • Samphire gathering • Spartina

Hay making

Hay making is another activity that has a very restricted areal extent on saltmarshes; although it is not known to what extent it has influenced the value of the marsh for wildlife in the past. Hay making was practised extensively and may have had a similar impact to grazing; that is, favouring the development of a grassy vegetation and thus reducing invertebrate diversity, breeding bird density and plant diversity. There are few if any current examples of this activity in Great Britain, although mowing of cord grass vegetation is a possible form of its control