With it being World Wetlands Day today (2nd February) it seems an appropriate time to announce to you the addition of new land to the Lakenheath Fen reserve. Thanks to the support of the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, a charitable trust, and Morgan Sindall Group, a leading UK construction and regeneration group, we’ve been able to purchase 54 hectares of arable farmland adjacent to existing land which the RSPB owns north of the river Little Ouse.
The Esmee Fairbairn Foundation initially bought the land on behalf of the RSPB and Morgan Sindall Group have helped us to buy back the land and will help to convert it into a functioning wetland. This purchase also unlocks further arable farmland which the RSPB has owned for the last 15 years which we could not convert into wetland formerly since the fields were isolated from our existing wetland. We are constrained where our wetland adjoins neighbouring arable farmland because water levels suitable for farming are very different to the water levels we need for an effective wetland. By purchasing adjoining blocks of land we are therefore able to create functioning wet grassland and fen.
By raising water levels and wetting the peat-derived soils, we will be creating important wildlife habitats like wet grassland and fen. In addition, this will massively reduce the loss of carbon from the soil, helping with the climate emergency the planet is facing.
So, what will this mean for you visiting Lakenheath Fen? Well, the new land is visible from the public footpath on the river flood bank in the Joist Fen area. Look north across the river and you will see a block of Conifer trees. This is part of the newly purchased land. We plan to retain the Conifers for the moment as they are a regular roosting site for Great and Little Egrets. From the footpath, the green fields are land we have previously reverted from arable farmland into wet grassland and to the east, west and north are the adjacent bocks of the new land. On the eastern and northern areas we plan to create more grassland which will provide breeding areas for Lapwing, Redshank, Yellow Wagtail and Skylark. To the west, where the land is more low-lying, the plan is to create sedge fen and we may be lucky and get Spotted Crake nesting. The Cranes already use these fields and by raising water levels it will make these areas even more attractive to them. We will widen the existing steep-sided ditches which will greatly benefit plants, invertebrates, fish and ake and then provide better foraging areas for Otters and Marsh Harriers.
We hope to begin works on site in the autumn of 2023, installing sluices and dams to raise water levels, reprofiling the ditches to make them more wildlife friendly and creating some new ditches and pools. So if you see excavators working north of the river in the autumn, they are making a better home for wildlife.
Finally, a huge thank you to the Morgan Sindall Group for their support which has enabled this expansion to such a key reserve, and to the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, whose support enabled us to undertake the purchase of this key land at short notice. Written by Dave Rogers
Site Manager at RSPB Lakenheath Fen