Sea buckthorn is a new crop at Devereux farm, but it only takes up 5 hectares of the 300 hectares of all our farmland. Being winter it is time for maintenance and that currently that means hedge, wildlife and sea wall work. Some farms have removed their hedges, but back in the 1980s and 90s we replanted many of ours. These have been allowed to become both wide and tall as wildlife refuge and wind breaks across our windswept coastal site. Our linkage with the Hamford water National Nature reserve is interwoven throughout our landuse with almost half the farm into High level (HLS)Tier agri-environmental schemes. Freshwater wet grassland to encourage wader bird breeding; managed realignment with salt water to develop new salt marsh; secure sites with planting of hogs fennel that has attracted the very rare Fischers estuarine moth. All these embrace the value that we recognise in our local environment.
Embracing the environment when it comes to living with the sea as a neighbour is not such a good decription. Respect for its power is more accurate. In 1953, the surge tide that killed 300 people in the UK and 1800 in Northern Europe, also flattened our farm sea walls. As climate change becomes more real we are looking to how this is impacting on the nature of our relationship with the sea. Neighbouring an embayment with sea walls to protect us means that we are more aware of the number of higher tides; increasing impact of more regular surge tides and the impact they have. Increasing cuts to government budgets has had an impact on the way the Environment agency can and does manage our sea walls. This all starting as far back as 2004, with the release of a government discussion paper on the ” Withdrawal of maintenance from uneconomic sea walls”.
Growing sea buckthorn has been a response to this issue. The potential to have a higher yielding, high value crop on a smaller area of land reflects the fact that the 1953 flood flooded 50% of our land.
No one can tell the future nor the impact of climate change. Inland flooding throughout the UK over the past 15 years tells us that something is happening. The sea is said to be more aggressive in winter, but our sea walls are higher than in 1953. The 2013 surge tide that breached 62 walls along the East Anglian coast left us dry but thoughtful of how to manage our future – not for now but for the next 50 years.
Meeting unknown challenges is about risk management and trying to maintain stability. The sea buckthorn has annually presented a new issue – disease, pest, birds. Each are met with a solution. Deciding how to manage our relationship with the sea is not an annual issue – it is one of knowledge of what it can do; the potential outcomes and how best to assess the real risk.
It is a similar situation that the UK faces with the forthcoming referendum on whether to stay in the European Union. I defy anyone to know with accuracy how it will be if the UK left the Union and to define tangible real benefits in a world that has become unstable politically and economically. In such times making decisions should be risk averse – seeking to maintain stability and build on strength.
Over this year we will be making decisions as to how to improve our sea defence to make it secure for the next 50 years. We will also have to be taking a decision over Europe. As for the sea buckthorn – the Siberian berries have become a favourite of local wildlife. This is one problem that has an easy solution – netting. Having sourced the structure, except for the fact that erecting a netting structure over thousands of plants is daunting – at least one of our issues has a simple solution.
It’s a challenging place to work but it’s worth it!