WADING birds will benefit from extra wetlands if controversial plans to turn off drainage pumps in the Lyth Valley are realised – but only if farmers help them.

An RSPB manager said there would be potential for species such as curlews and lapwings to enjoy new habitats in the area if the switches were turned off, but that farmers would still need to maintain land so that new birds could live there.

However, one farmer believes that potential standing water from flooding would harm wildlife habitats in hedges which divide farms in the area.

Officials with the Environ-ment Agency have said that drainage pumps which protect the valley from floods will be turned off in two years if no landowners come forward to take them over.

The change could create around 21 hectares of extra wetlands, according to the Environment Agency’s Lyth Valley Maintenance Strategic Study.

“I think there will be benefits that come if the pumps go off and the Lyth Valley gets wetter in parts,” said Bill Kenmir, RSPB area manager for Cumbria.

“If there was a little bit more water then breeding waders like the curlew, lapwing, redshank and snipe would like it, but I would emphasise that they are all dependent on the ground being actively managed. If you don’t have that as well as the wetland then we won’t see those birds increasing.

“The birds need to be incorporated into positive management and the farmers are the people who can deliver that.”

Farmers could help breed-ing waders by using their livestock to maintain lengthy grass for the birds to live in, re-profiling ditches to make it easier for the likes of curlews and lapwings to eat their food and controlling water levels, added Mr Kenmir.

But farmer David Willison, of Cinderbarrow Farm, says other bird species may be adversely affected by the creation of wetlands.

“The fields are divided by hedges, and if they get wet they will not survive. A lot of little birds nest in hedgerows, so we could be harming some while trying to save others.”

David Harpley, conservation manager at Cumbria Wildlife Trust, said: “I think any benefits to wildlife will depend on whether farmers take up the Higher Level Stewardship. Turning the pumps off won’t make a great deal of difference to wildlife by itself in my opinion.”

Peter Cartmell, who founded the Westmorland Damson Association, said that damson production in the area would not be affected because the fruit trees tended to grow on higher ground. He said only around two or three per cent of the trees in the valley would be affected.

“There are very few damsons in the area that would be flooded,” he said. “But they don’t like standing in stagnant water and we’d hate anything to happen to the trees because there are so few of them left.”