Willow Pollarding at the Westfield Meander: Restoring Nature at Lark Rise Farm The Countryside Regeneration Trust has been busy carrying out vital habitat management work at Lark Rise Farm in Cambridgeshire, working alongside a specialist team of arborists to carefully cut back mature willows and create future willow pollards. Working with Greenwillows Associates, the project forms part of a long-term programme of habitat enhancement along the Bourn Brook, specifically at the Westfield Meander. Over two days, the team reduced selected mature willows to head height, creating a new cohort of pollards that will form the second generation of this important riverside habitat. This work supports CRT’s mission to restore landscapes, support wildlife, and demonstrate the value of long-term land stewardship. Greenwillows Arborists taking down mature willows to create future pollards. Habitat enhancement for the Bourn Brook meander. What has been happening at the Westfield Meander? Back in 2014, the CRT reinstated a 250 metre length of natural channel to the Bourn Brook, known as the Westfield Meander. Before CRT ownership, the brook had been straightened and deepened by the National Rivers Authority to reduce flooding and speed up field drainage. While effective in moving water quickly, this had unintended consequences: during normal flows the channel barely moved, allowing silt to build up and wildlife habitat to decline. Dr Vince Lea, Lark Rise conservation officer, said: “Fortunately for us, the old natural channel was cut off from the previous farmer’s access, so it had been left ‘high and dry.’ “With permission from the Environment Agency and consent from our neighbours, we dammed off the artificial channel, and opened up the natural channel, allowing the brook to flow through its natural course. This is still the only natural bit of watercourse on the Bourn Brook.” When the brook was restored, some 30 to 40 years after the artificial channel was created, it flowed once again through an area of established woodland. Large crack willows lined the banks, alongside an acre of ash and Italian alder. Conservation officer Dr Vince Lea Why pollard willows? During the first year of meander restoration, the CRT began pollarding some of the willows. Pollarding is a traditional technique where the tree is cut back at around head height, encouraging vigorous regrowth above the reach of grazing animals. Vince said: “In the past, willow pollards would have provided branches with leaves that could be dried for winter cattle forage, and the wood was a useful supply of fuel. By cutting at height, the trees resprouted above the reach of cattle grazing the meadows in summer and provided a continuous resource. “From a nature conservation perspective, old willow pollards are fabulous habitats as they develop numerous rot holes where fungi colonise the wood, followed by various beetles, flies and other invertebrates that feed on the rotting wood, and gradually these rot holes grow to create holes big enough for nesting birds and even sleeping spots for otters.” Because the willows had grown into large, mature trees, the initial work required professional arborists. Since then, however, the regrowth has been managed by CRT volunteers, who return roughly every four years to remove smaller branches using long-handled pruning saws. “After two rounds of this the pollarded trees are developing real veteran tree’ features, with lots of additional biodiversity compared with the majority of willows which remain un-pollarded ‘maidens’,” explains Vince. The impact of pollarding in 2025 By summer 2025, following the second round of pollarding, the benefits were clear. Increased light reaching the brook was transforming the river corridor. Only 60 metres of the 250-metre meander has been pollarded so far, meaning much of the brook remains heavily shaded. “The area where the pollarding has been carried out now gets good sunlight,” said Vince. “There is a huge difference in the vegetation between these two areas, with lush herbage growing along the banks and dense carpets of aquatic plants in the brook where the pollarding has taken place, compared with bare mud in the shaded sections. “My favourites are the submerged mats of starwort, growing in shallow water mid-stream and swaying in the currents. This vegetation naturally supports a host of aquatic life; invertebrates and small fish will seek food and shelter among it. It also acts as a flow deflector, forcing the current around the edges of the weed patch and scouring the river bed, creating ideal conditions for certain fish to spawn and sites where other invertebrates thrive. The vegetation also oxygenates the water. “On the banks, we have semi-aquatic vegetation like brooklime, water mint and water parsnip, all providing food for water voles, flowers for pollinators and helping to reduce erosion from the riverbanks.” Plans for the future Having seen the benefits of a short section of pollards, we have decided that the whole length of the meander should be brought into similar conditions. This will take place over a number of years; four blocks of pollards, created one year at a time, will be manageable with our volunteer capacity, as four-year growth is about the right size to be re-pollarded. “There are two more phases to do in the next two winters, then we will be back to volunteer power to manage group 1 pollards for their third time, with group 2 to come the year after that for their first re-pollard by volunteers,” explains Vince. “This slow approach, trialing a technique, seeing if it works, then phasing it into more of the area once we know that it does, is important in getting it right, but it also shows the importance of having the long view of stewardship of the land.” Most of the trunks will be left to rot in the wood, where they become an important habitat in their own right, but some of the wood will be stacked up to dry out for firewood, as we expect to host another DofE Gold Camp in the area in summer 2026. A few of the branches have been anchored in place in the brook itself to add additional habitat features, helping to speed up the flow in places, trap sediment and provide food and shelter for aquatic wildlife. Get involved: help us restore rivers and wildlife Projects like the Westfield Meander show how traditional land management techniques, combined with patience and care, can deliver remarkable benefits for wildlife, water quality and people. You can help us do more: Volunteer with the CRT and get hands-on with conservation work Donate to support habitat restoration across our farms Become a member and help secure the future of nature-friendly farming Join Events Volunteer News Published: January, 2026. Manage Cookie Preferences