Moyola Floodplain Landscape

Key Characteristics

Flat, extensive floodplain, with numerous winding rivers and tributary streams.Pastures with extensive patches of poorly drained soils and marsh.Straight, open drainage ditches.Large blocks of scrubby fen woodland.Few settlements, farmsteads are on slightly elevated terrain.Straight roads raised on embankments form sparse network with many dead ends.Hedgerows enclose most fields; hedgerow oak trees are characteristic features in many areas.Groups of deciduous trees near farmsteads.

Landscape Description

Moyola Floodplain is dominated by the low-lying floodplain landscape of the Moyola River to the south of Maghera. The landform is almost flat beside the river, and the very shallow slopes are generally the flattened remnants of drumlins. There are numerous meandering rivers and branching tributary streams.

The land rises to the east, where drumlins predominate and the landscape is more settled, with clustered villages and belts of woodland. The Moyola River is enclosed by grassy embankments or, in places, has steep, scrubby banks. Much of the floodplain consists of fairly small, rectangular fields drained by straight drainage ditches. Most are enclosed by hawthorn or willow hedges. Low-lying areas are uncultivated and are dominated by a dense scrubby fen woodland of willow, alder, birch and hawthorn. Some of the pastures, usually those on the margins of the fen, are poorly drained and infested with rushes. Hedgerow trees (oak and ash). Most are isolated, but there are often larger groups of specimen trees near farms.

Settlements are concentrated around the margins of the principal floodplain. There are few buildings in this low-lying area; only some large, long-established farms on the slopes of remnant drumlins. Roads are dead straight, with sharp angular bends, and are built on embankments. Only a few cross the floodplain. Narrow lanes and tracks lead off at right angles to the road, finishing at dead-ends where they meet tributary streams. Stone hump-backed bridges are local features of the floodplain landscape.

Landscape Condition and Sensitivity to Change

There are strong contrasts in landscape condition. On much of the floodplain, pastures drained by a network of drainage ditches are in good condition but these are often adjacent to fields which have been left to go partially derelict, with tussocky grasses, rushes and areas of marsh. Drainage ditches are well-maintained in fields which are actively farmed, but elsewhere many are overgrown and ineffective.

Hedgerows also vary in condition. The majority are rather overgrown and gappy, always with wire fencing to ensure that they are stockproof. Isolated hedgerow trees are a feature of the area but many are showing signs of die-back and are readily replaced by rowan or elder rather than trees of stature. The remote character of the floodplain landscape is vulnerable to the impact of inappropriate development, particularly if it forms a continuous ribbon along the edge of the floodplain. The wet woodlands and areas of lowland moss are of ecological value and are sensitive to changing patterns of drainage or pollution from chemical fertilisers or other water-borne toxins.

Principles for Landscape Management

• Replanting of hedgerow oak trees will ensure that this important characteristic feature is conserved as the existing specimens decline.
• Management of the existing woodlands within the floodplain and their associated wet pastures, will conserve the diversity of species within these valuable habitats.
• Monitoring and maintenance of water tables within the floodplain, and the control of levels of grazing will help to conserve important wetland communities.

Principles for Accommodating New Development

• Piecemeal development along local roads is intrusive and inappropriate in the unstructured and wild landscape of the floodplain.
• New development may be integrated into the landscape with extensive native woodland planting, using species such as alder and willow to relate to the existing wet woodlands on the floodplain and linking new planting to field patterns on higher land.
• Woodland planting on the edges of the floodplain may be used to reduce the impact of ribbon development and reinforce the contrast between the floodplain and drumlin landscape types.