Greening the Grey Leaflet Jan 2025 AF

Lay(ing)itonthick!

Work to lay foreshore material over the new rock revetment has begun.Theaim of this istopromotesaltmarshgrowthandtoprovidehabitatforwildlife.LaterintheprojectCoastalPartnerswillbeplanting saltmarshplantsontherevetmentasatrialtoencouragefurthercolonisation.Thelongtermaimisto allowsaltmarshplantstoadapttosea-levelriseandprovideavaluableseedbankforthelocalarea.This projectwill bemonitoredandwillalsoprovidevaluableinformationforotherhabitatcreationprojects elsewhereintheregion.

WhatadifferencetheGtGProjectismaking

TheGtG Projecthasprimedanumberofinitiativeshighlightedwithinthisupdatewithmorein development It hasbroughtinmatchfundingallowing ustobemuchmoreambitiousindelivery,this additionalfundinghasandisbeingsecuredforimplementationatscale. However, CoastalPartnerswouldimploretheSRFCCtoincreasethefundingtothelevelrequestedatthe outsetoftheprojectto£100Kperyear(£500Kover5years)sothattheuniqueandvaluableprojectisnot curtailedjustasithasgainedmomentumandisreallymakingademonstrabledifferenceontheground

PortsCreekandHilseaLinesUpdate

Ithastakenacoupleofyearstoget permissions, developandre inethedesigns. Nowweare approximatelyhalfwaythroughtheGreeningtheGreyproject, weareseeingactiononthegroundatPorts CreekandHilseaLines.

Togettothisstage with implementationontheground, wehave undertaken many surveysand investigationstodeveloptheproposaltoensurethattheall licenses andconsentsareinplaceandthe matchfunding hasbeensecured.Thefollowingsiteinvestigations,studieshavetakenplacetodevelopa suiteofenvironmentalimprovementmeasuresthatcannowbeimplementedonsite.

Sediment & Contamination Testingof the Moat

These tests wereundertaken todetermineifandhowwe canreusethesedimenton site as well as tocalibratethe hydrologicalmodelinthe creek.

Hydrologicalmodel

Thishydrologicalmodel hasbeendevelopedto modelthehydrological regimewithinthecreek aftertheFCERMworks arecompleted.Thiscan theninferfuture environmental parameterswhichhas beenusedtoinformand re inethesaltmarshand seagrasscreationtrials.

DropDownVideoSurvey

Adropdownvideo surveywascarriedout in thecreek's subtidal habitat, alongwiththe hydrologicalmodel detailedaboveare informingtheseagrass feasibilitytrial.

SonarandDigitalTerrainModel

Asonarsurveywascarriedouttodeterminethedepthofsedimentwithinthemoatstoaid the determinationofthecostofmovingthesedimentandalsotoinformandre inepossiblein-moat ecologicalimprovements. Adigital terrainmodelwasalsorequiredto undertakea loodriskassessment toensurethattheproposedworksdoesnotincreasethe loodriskThis informationwill hopefullyprovideinsighttoHistoricEnglandastohowthemoats werecon-structed thisinformationwillalsofeedintoandinformfutureinterpretationonsite.

Marginalhabitatandimprovementsofwaterquality

Theprojectwillutilisethesedimentalongthebanktocreatevaluablemarginalhabitatim-provements forbiodiversity.The detaileddesignofthisisbeing inalised

Example output of both the land and sonar surveys

SUDStoimprovewaterquality

Theseinvestigationsincludedhistoricalinvestigationsandsurveyingexistingnetworks,toin-formthe SUDsdesign.Wehavesomeinitialdesignsbutthesearebeingre inedtoincreaseandimprovethewater qualitywithinthemoatsystem.Thewaterqualityisvitalfortheeelsthatmi-grateintothemoatsfrom thecreek.

European eels have experienced a 90% decline across the UK over the past 25 years

EelpassageImprovements

Eels have suffered dramatic declines over a number of years and are now listed as 'Critically Endangered' on the global IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. One sub-project is to alter a culvert which is known to trap eels, this will therefore help ell passage between the moats and the creek this then links to the other aspects of improving the biodiversity and water quality within the moats.

King isherImprovements

King ishersareknowtouse theareaaroundPortsCreekandHilseaLines Onehasrecentlybeen spottedusingourmarkerposts.Wewillshortlybeinstallingking ishernestingtunnelsandperchesinto anewwallonsitetocreatenestinghabitatforthem.

Updates from other areas

LangstoneVillageHabitatRestorationinChichesterHarbour

TheLocalLevyhelpedfundthebenthic surveythatisrequiredtodevelopthis schemeinthemajorhabitatrestoration scheme,linkedtotheLangstonevillage FCERMscheme.

Therearestillalotofhurdlestoovercome be-forethisbecomesaformaliseproject butthis surveyisacriticalstepin progressingthisexcit-ingscheme.

CoastalPartnersareindiscussionswith regula-torstogetanin-principledecisionto progresswiththemarinelicence. Future workwillalsoincludeworking withlocal stakeholdersandma-rinastoretain sedimentwithinthesystemtorec-reate saltmarsh. Oneaspectwillbetodevelopa citizenscienceat asacoretheme 5

Hovercra used to undertake survey work

SouthseaSuccess

SouthseaTidepoolsMonitoringsuccessofthe GtGinterven ons

Duringthesummerof2024,anindependentsurveywas carriedouttomonitorhowtheGTGinterventionsare progressingatSouthsea.

The report concluded that the combination of enhancement techniques has resulted in a diverse community, and we highly recommend these techniques for use on future schemes. The provision of water retaining features and increased surface heterogeneity in both the concrete and granite rockpools have allowed a diverse range of rockpool species to colonise the revetment.

What’sinsidetheTidePools?

Below aresomeofthespeciesthathave been spotted and surveyed withinthe tide pools

THANKYOU-SouthernRegionFloodandCoastalCommittee

Our Thanks

Thanks to the Local Levy for the con nued support that has allowed Coastal Partners to develop groundbreaking projects such as these.

The Greening the Grey ini a ve is now in its nearly half way through a five year programme and we hope you agree that the project is now in full flow. Large scale implementa on will be taking place over the next year along with development of future ini a ves for future FCERM schemes.

For more informa on, please contact Lucy.sheffield@havant.gov.uk