General guidance: "Traditionally heavily grazed marshes, particularly where high sheep stocking rates are employed, favour short swards and benefit winter grazing ducks and geese. A reduction in grazing levels will move the saltmarsh from State 1 to State 2 and increase the potential value of the marsh for other interests (such as breeding waders)." (Doody 2001).

Care must be taken in areas, which provide palatable herbage for grazing ducks and geese, as reducing grazing pressure may affect the carrying capacity of the marsh. In this context it is important to recognise that a change in conservation status can take place very rapidly. A marsh seemingly supporting a varied flora and fauna can show a loss of interest in a matter of only a few years. A common saltmarsh grass Puccinellia maritima dominated sward, for example, which had persisted for at least 50 years reverted to a dense sea couch Elytrigia atherica / red fescue Festuca rubra sward (State 4 abandoned) in only 10 years following cessation of grazing (Ranwell 1964).