Pre-Retirement Age Migration to Remote Rural Areas

Recent literature suggests that the increasingly blurred relationship between paid employment and retirement facilitates a retirement transition period, a life course stage, which may involve a change of residence. The role of such pre-retirement age mobility in the repopulation of rural areas has, however, received relatively little academic scrutiny. This paper draws upon findings from a two-year study conducted in three UK case study areas. It examines the extent of pre-retirement age (aged 50–64) migration into remote rural communities and the impacts this type of movement has upon economic activity, social and community engagement and service provision. It is argued that while this under-researched cohort offers opportunities to support the social and economic sustainability of rural communities (at least in the short and medium term), there are notable challenges which are likely to emerge as it ages in situ. The findings are particularly relevant given national trends on population ageing.

Dynamics of critical source areas: does connectivity explain chemistry?

Abstract: Critical source area approaches to catchment management are increasingly being recognised as effective tools to mitigate sediment and nutrient transfers. These approaches often assume hydrological connectivity as a driver for environmental risk, however this assumption has rarely been tested. Using high resolution monitoring, 14 rainfall events of contrasting intensity were examined in detail for spatial and temporal dynamics of overland flow generation at a hydrologically isolated grassland hillslope in Co. Down, Northern Ireland. Interactions between overland flow connectivity and nutrient transfers were studied to test the critical source area hypothesis. While total and soluble phosphorus loads were found to be representative of the size of the overland flow contributing area (P=

Clara Bog: An ombotrophic groundwater dependant terrestrial ecosystem (Submitted)

Comparison of flow duration curves for a weir draining an undrained raised peat with those generated 20 years previously reveal that more recent curves reflect to be flatter with a lower Q95/Q5 ratio. Comparison of the bog topography for the same period revealed that although marginal drainage/peat reclamation had resulted in desiccation of peat around the bog margin and more frequent intense runoff, the central part of the bog had subsided to form an enclosed basin ,resulting in the creation of newly formed lakes that gave the central part of the bog an improved capacity to store, and more slowly discharge, water. Interrogation of groundwater monitoring data revealed a net decline in groundwater levels of up to three metres in the glacial tills underlying the bog associated with deepening and expansion of a marginal drain network which penetrated the base of the peat. Comparing organic carbon levels in peat the central part of the bog over a ten year period revealed an overall increase, with changes being most marked in deeper fen peat layers. These findings suggest that the decline in groundwater levels in the peat substrate resulted in an increase in effective stress in the peat causing greater subsidence in the central part of the bog due to greater overall thickness. Study results highlight how the hydrology of apparently isolated obotrophic raised bog ecosystems may be influenced by groundwater pressures in deeper deposits, and how marginal drains may have the capacity to impact areas at significant distances.