What’s new?
10 March 2005
The Great Fen Project obtains more land to create wetland reserve
Purchase is made possible from a £500,000 cash boost
One of the most ambitious habitat restoration projects has taken a significant step forward with the recent purchase of an additional 32 hectares of land, equivalent to 45 football pitches. This is being made possible by grants totalling £500,000 from a range of sources, including: Biffaward, a multi-million pound environment fund managed by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT), which utilises landfill tax credits donated by Biffa Waste Services; the Tubney Charitable Trust; the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and English Nature. In addition to this, the Environment Agency has secured £120,000 to support the purchase and long-term management.
Managed jointly by the local Wildlife Trust, English Nature, Environment Agency and Huntingdonshire District Council, the Great Fen Project is an exciting 50-year plan designed to safeguard important wildlife habitats and species by restoring more than 2,900 hectares around two important nature reserves in the fenland landscape of Cambridgeshire.
The Fens was once England’s most extensive wetland, a vast mosaic of habitats that provided a wealth of natural resources for its inhabitants. From the 1600s it was gradually drained to create the high quality farmland we see today. Only tiny fragments of the original landscape survive. The Great Fen Project will see the land between two of these remaining sites, Woodwalton Fen and Holme Fen, restored back to fenland to recreate some of the lost landscape.
The grant has enabled the purchase of 32 hectares of land adjacent to Holme Fen National Nature Reserve. The land will be restored to wet grassland, benefiting species such as lapwing and snipe. Crucially, it will also help improve conditions within Holme Fen itself by enabling higher water levels in the reserve.
To manage the new wet grassland, a new machine - the fen harvester - is being developed to cut material, significantly improving reserve management efficiency. The Trust will undertake hydrological and biological monitoring, vital to inform the restoration process further.
The grant has been awarded through Biffaward’s Flagship scheme – set up to assist regionally or nationally significant voluntary sector led regeneration or biodiversity projects to make a significant impact on the quality of life in a region.