Flooding minister hails reserve as 'win-win'

A nature reserve has been described as a "win-win" in protecting homes from flooding and improving habitats for wildlife by the Water and Floods Minister, Emma Hardy.

On a visit to the the North Cave wetlands in East Yorkshire Hardy, MP for Hull West and Haltemprice, said the area was an important natural flood defence and beneficial for a variety of wildlife.

The wetlands were bought by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust in 2000 and operates as a nature reserve alongside a working sand and gravel quarry.

The reserve is run by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust in partnership with Humberside Aggregates.

"These are a win-win", Hardy said.

"When it comes to flood alleviation, the answer can't always be concrete and engineering. Sometimes we need a manufactured answer, but sometimes we can actually let nature do the work for us, creating a beautiful habitat, protecting people's homes and delivering for nature."

The reserve, which is still expanding, was once part of a huge marsh called Wallingfen.

The land was then turned over to agriculture and then quarrying.

It is now slowly being returned to wetlands and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust said nature was responding in both numbers and diversity.

North Cave has a large breeding population of avocets, one of Yorkshire's biggest sand martin colonies and up to 2,000 pairs of black-headed gulls, a nationally significant number, the Trust said.

Steve Martin, who worked with the Yorkshire Wildlife trust on the creation and development of the wetlands, said: "There's always variety, something unusual to see".

Mr Martin explained that they have had significant numbers of avocets on the lake: "When it's drained a bit more, it is going to be a particularly nice habitat," he said.

David Craven from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust said the partnership between industry and nature at the site was an "incredible success" and had benefits for flood alleviation and for visitors to the wetlands.

"It's got health benefits, it's got industrial benefits, and it's got fabulous nature benefits," he added.

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