A Pledge to Wonderful Wetlands

Steady land, living water, and a future worth shaping.

Across the folds and flushes of the Edw Valley, water moves with quiet purpose. It rises in corners, slips beneath sedge, collects in hollows, and in doing so, it holds together something far greater than we often notice.

At Fforest Fields, this relationship with water isn’t new. The land has always been walked, watched, worked. Fields shaped by use, not theory. Decisions made in rhythm with weather and season. What’s changing now is not the way the land is held, it’s how we speak about it.

By signing the David Bellamy Blooming Marvellous Pledge for Wonderful Wetlands, Fforest Fields and The Fforwm are making a more obvious public commitment to the wet places, to the creatures that depend on them, and to the future of a landscape that still functions.

The Edw Waterscape

We’re naming this ongoing work the Edw Waterscape, not as a project or programme, but as a way of seeing the land as a whole, living system. Built on springs, seeps, rough edges, woodland shadows, and ground that stays soft underfoot long after the rest has dried.

Over the coming years, we will be;

• Mapping the waterscape, firstly on the farm and neighbouring land, then onto the valley

• Building a picture through survey work and bioblitz

• Managing scrapes, margins, and channels as needed

• Collaborating with other local landowners and the community to build a greater picture of this landscape and what it holds.

  
  

Our Focus Areas

1. Key Species

We’re focusing on a small group of species that reflect the health of the whole landscape, including curlew, otter, water vole, frog, toad, dragonfly, and indicators of the health or needs of the watersystem.

2. Predation

We’re taking a closer look at the role of predators, native and introduced, and how they affect nesting birds, amphibians, and small mammals. This includes open conversations about balance and responsibility. e recognise the role of active management, and the importance of upholding countryside knowledge where it serves the long-term health of the landscape.

3. Shared Knowledge

We willl host talks, walks, and workshops to bring together experience from farmers, ecologists, and land workers. The aim is to listen, learn, and make better decisions together. If you'd like to explore hosting something here please get in touch.

4. Upland Aquatic Life

We’re protecting the wet edges, the springs, flushes, and ffrith, where water insects, amphibians, and wetland plants depend on good ground and clean flow.

5. Understanding the Land

We work with the shape, soil, and slope of the land, guided by its geology and geography, to make thoughtful decisions that last.

Shared Knowledge, Common Ground

Because a landscape like this isn’t kept alive through ambition. It holds together through judgement, habit, and the willingness to stay with it. That’s what this pledge represents.

A steady hand. A living valley. And the chance to leave it sound.