AN ambitious plan to create saltwater lagoons on marshes near Flookburgh have been drawn up, with the aim of improving the area for breeding waders and waterfowl.

Proposals for the saline lagoons have been submitted to South Lakeland District Council by representatives from Holker Estates.

The proposed site for the lagoons would be on West Plain Marsh, a coastal salt marsh to the south of Flookburgh.

The system is intended to be self-managing, with the lagoons becoming inundated by high tides and the water being slowly released through inlet/outfall pipes.

The lagoons will have interconnecting deeper channels and small islands. The self-managing system of water level control will maintain water levels in the lagoons and, through this, habitats will develop over time into more favourable and diverse saltmarsh habitat.

The Holker Estates statement said: “The proposed scheme will provide improved breeding and wintering bird habitat by creating a high quality foraging habitat and providing secure nesting and roosting areas.

“The created islands in particular will potentially provide attractive nesting sites and the conversion of the saltmarsh will provide further nesting and foraging opportunities.”

The ambition of the project is also to create a site that provides brackish vegetation communities and transitions currently absent and a range of plant communities associated with saline lagoons and saltmarsh.

In upgrading the habitats in the area, it is hoped that the spread of birds across the estuary would be more even, rather than the current concentration in specific quality areas.

The Duddon Estuary, in which the salt marshes sit, has been labelled a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).