Groundwork has begun to create a huge new area of wetland habitat at the Great Fen in Cambridgeshire. The work starts as the Great Fen partners celebrate 25 years since the ambitious project first began.
Diggers have moved on to the site at New Decoy Farm near Ramsey to begin creating channels which will eventually fill with water and help turn former arable fields into reedbeds, grassland and ponds.
It’s all part of the latest phase of the Great Fen vision - Peatland Progress, which has been funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and our generous supporters. It is a five year plan to link the two remaining fragments of ancient fen Woodwalton Fen and Holme Fen and engage communities with the nature on their doorsteps. Funding for the New Decoy work has also come from the Fens East Peat Partnership through the Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme administered by Natural England.
The work will see 25 hectares – or 60 football pitches - of new wetland created along with a large winter water storage pool, ditches and water control structures. This will hold water in the landscape boosting biodiversity, helping to store carbon and reducing flood risk to farmland nearby. When complete people will be able to visit the site, explore paths and enjoy the wetland wildlife.
Lorna Parker, Great Fen project manager, said: “A lot of planning and preparation work has led up to this moment so it is fantastic to see the diggers breaking ground at New Decoy for the first time.
“It’s amazing to think that in a few months’ time the water will begin to fill the channels and wildlife will start to move in. As dragonflies and other insects begin making a home on the muddy edges, wading birds like redshank and lapwings will follow to feed on them. Otters and water voles will make their way in alongside frogs and toads which in turn will attract predators like marsh harriers.
“It will look a bit messy in the short term as we move earth about, but the vegetation will quickly grow back and there will be a newly transformed landscape where people can enjoy nature for generations to come.
“It’s great timing as this spring marks 25 years since we first started out on the Great Fen journey. Looking back it’s amazing to see what the partners have achieved together and these latest plans show we are still as busy as ever and there is lots more to do!”
The Great Fen Vision began in 2000 as the Wildlife Trust came together with Natural England, the Environment Agency, Fenland District Council and the Middle Level Commissioners to create a 14 square mile wetland landscape with Woodwalton Fen and Holme Fen National Nature Reserves at its heart.
Work has never let up with a quarter of a century which has included hydrology challenges, habitat restoration, appeals, community engagement, school visits, wildlife monitoring and even the excavation of a buried World War II spitfire in 2015.
Nearly 2,000 hectares of land is now under restoration management and the team are able to raise water levels over 650 hectares. Trials into paludiculture, or wet farming, are a key part of the latest phase as the team aims to demonstrate how crops can be grown in the carbon rich wet peat.
Once the wetland landscaping at New Decoy is complete, the work will move to the recently acquired Speechly’s Farm nearby so that in just a few years time there will be one continuous wetland habitat between the two National Nature Reserves.
About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
Our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. That’s why as the largest funder for the UK’s heritage we are dedicated to supporting projects that connect people and communities to heritage, as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.
Over the next 10 years, we aim to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to make a decisive difference for people, places and communities. www.heritagefund.org.uk
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About the Fens East Peat Partnership
The Fens East Peat Partnership is funded by a Restoration Grant from the Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme administered by Natural England. The Steering Group Partners are Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, Wildlife Trust BCN, Norfolk Wildlife Trust, RSPB, National Trust and Natural England. Nattergal Ltd and Albanwise Ltd are delivery partners.
