edenman Posted June 17, 2013 Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 Hi all, on my local estuary on the east of scotland there has been virtually no zostera for the past 6 or so years. However for the last 2 years zostera noltii and marina have been springing up all over the mudflats with some rather large beds in some places. Have any other fowlers been noticing a zostera comeback on there marshes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shakin stevens Posted June 18, 2013 Report Share Posted June 18, 2013 Only place place i have seen it is on the east coast as well up round inverness, wildfowl seem to like eating the stuff at low tide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudpatten Posted June 18, 2013 Report Share Posted June 18, 2013 (edited) Both types have returned with a vengeance in the south coast harbours with a comeback that started about 15 years ago. The result is that we get some good early season wigeon shooting before the brent arrive in numbers. Widgeon clip the eel grass whilst brent dig it up to eat the succulent root. By the end of November the beds are totally depleted until next year. As one of the first places in the country colonised by the tetraploid hybrid Spartina back in the 1870`s following it`s accidental introduction to nearby Southampton Water, this plant is now reaching the end of its genetic viability and is dying back at a spectacular rate. The down side to this is that the teal have moved away, there no longer being enough flowering spartina to produce enough seed to qualify as a regular food source. The upside of this dieback is that the mud previously held in the accreted root platforms of the spartina are now re-entering the water column and being redistributed througout the harbours in a way that the zostera seems to like. So it`s swings and roundabouts down here. As a young fowler I can remember speaking to old chaps who shot during the 1920`s, before the eel grass was ravaged by a wasting disease that swept the whole world, who can recall these harbours being a solid mass of zostera from one end to another. Be nice if it returned to that. Hows the spartina doing up north? Edited June 18, 2013 by mudpatten Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edenman Posted June 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2013 Thats very interesting to read mudpatten. Do you know if anybody has successfully replanted zostera? The spartina up here is certainly showing no signs of die back as of yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudpatten Posted June 18, 2013 Report Share Posted June 18, 2013 Historically, from the 1950`s through to the 1970`s, there have been a number of transplants of zostera on the south coast, from Poole Harbour to Langstone and Langstone to Chichester Harbour etc,etc. Almost all on a modest scale and it is difficult to assess whether they were successful or not. There might be legal issues today with transplanting the stuff but you`d need to confirm that with BASC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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