Woodwalton Fen
{{Short description|Fen in Cambridgeshire, England}}{{Infobox SSSI
|name= Woodwalton Fen
|image= Gordon's Mere, Woodwalton Fen NNR - geograph.org.uk - 163958.jpg
|image_caption= Gordon's Mere, Woodwalton Fen
|aos= Cambridgeshire
|interest= Biological
|gridref={{gbmappingsmall|TL 229 844 }}
|map=[http://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=sssiIndex&query=HYPERLINK%3D%271001698%27 Magic Map]
}}
{{Designation list
| designation1 = Ramsar
| designation1_offname = Woodwalton Fen
| designation1_date = 12 September 1995
| designation1_number = 753{{Cite web|title=Woodwalton Fen|website=Ramsar Sites Information Service|url=https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/753|access-date=25 April 2018}}
}}
Woodwalton Fen is a 209-hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in the parish of Woodwalton, west of Ramsey in Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, England.{{cite web|url= https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/SiteDetail.aspx?SiteCode=S1001698&SiteName=woodwalton&countyCode=&responsiblePerson= |title=Designated Sites View: Woodwalton Fen | series= Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher=Natural England|access-date = 14 December 2016}}{{cite web|url= http://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=sssiIndex&query=HYPERLINK%3D%271001698%27|title=Map of Woodwalton Fen|series= Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher=Natural England|access-date= 14 December 2016}} It is a Ramsar wetland site of international importance,{{cite web|url=http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/pdf/RIS/UK11078.pdf |title= Information Sheet on Ramsar Wetlands (RIS): Woodwalton Fen |publisher=Joint Nature Conservation Committee|access-date= 14 December 2016}} a National Nature Reserve,{{cite web|url= https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cambridgeshires-national-nature-reserves/cambridgeshires-national-nature-reserves |title= Cambridgeshire's National Nature Reserves |publisher=Natural England|access-date= 14 December 2016}} a Special Area of Conservation{{cite web|url= http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/ProtectedSites/SACselection/sac.asp?EUCode=UK0014782 |title=Fenland SAC |publisher=Joint Nature Conservation Committee|access-date= 13 December 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://consult.peterborough.gov.uk/events/3178/full_images/205.pdf|title=Fenland SAC (Woodwalton Fen, Wicken Fen & Chippenham Fen)|publisher=Cambridgeshire County Council|access-date= 13 December 2016}} and a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I.{{cite book|editor-first=Derek |editor-last=Ratcliffe |title=A Nature Conservation Review|volume=2 |page= 211|publisher= Cambridge University Press|location =Cambridge, UK |year=1977|isbn= 0521-21403-3 }} The site is managed by Natural England{{cite web|url=http://www.greatfen.org.uk/visit/places/WoodwaltonFen|title=Visit Woodwalton Fen|publisher=Great Fen|access-date= 13 December 2016}} and owned by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.
History
File:The Bungalow, Woodwalton Fen - geograph.org.uk - 112571.jpg in 1911]]
One of the first nature reserves to be created in England, Woodwalton Fen was bought by the banker and entomologist Charles Rothschild in 1910.{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2015/dec/30/simon-barnes-prophet-and-loss-charles-rothschild-legacy-britains-wild-places | title=The best way to honour Charles Rothschild's legacy is to cherish Britain's wild places | work=The Guardian (theguardian.com) | date=December 2015 | access-date=16 January 2016 | author=Barnes, Simon}} Rothschild intended to present the site to the National Trust, but they declined it, and it was kept initially as a private nature reserve. In 1911 Rothschild built a bungalow on the fen for his own use. The bungalow was rethatched in 2011.{{Cite web |url=http://www.huntspost.co.uk/news/naturalist_s_bungalow_gets_a_face_lift_1_952786 |title=Naturalist's bungalow gets a face-lift |website=Hunts Post |access-date=7 February 2016}}
In 2022, the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire launched a crowdfunding campaign, aiming to raise £400,000 to purchase the Speechly’s Farm to connect the Woodwalton Fen and the Holme Fen National Nature Reserves.{{Cite web |title=Wildlife Trust launches landmark £400,000 appeal to help the Great Fen thrive |url=https://www.huntspost.co.uk/news/23044130.wildlife-trust-launches-landmark-400-000-appeal-help-great-fen-thrive/ |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=The Hunts Post |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2022-10-25 |title=Crowdfunder launched for Great Fen expansion |url=https://www.birdguides.com/news/crowdfunder-launched-for-great-fen-expansion/ |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=BirdGuides |language=en}}
Ecology
The site has one of the few remaining ranges of flora characteristic of the East Anglian Fens. There are rare fen plants such as fen wood-rush and fen violet, and ditches have uncommon aquatic plants including bladderwort and water violet.{{cite web|url=http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1001698.pdf|title=Woodwalton Fen citation|series=Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher=Natural England|access-date=14 December 2016|archive-date=24 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024202947/http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1001698.pdf|url-status=dead}}
Threats
Relationship with other East Anglian fens
It is part of a Special Area of Conservation, Fenland SAC, which includes two other fragments of wild fenland in Cambridgeshire: Wicken Fen (about 38 miles from Woodwalton) and Chippenham Fen.
As part of the Great Fen Project, Woodwalton Fen is being connected to Holme Fen via habitat restoration of land which has been under arable cultivation. The Great Fen Project started with the purchase of 82 hectares of land (Darlows Farm), to the north of Woodwalton Fen in 2002.{{cite web | url=http://www.greatfen.org.uk/restoration/progress/darlows-farm | title=Darlows Farm | access-date=17 January 2016}} The Cambridge Geological Society designed the Fen Edge Trail that follows the five-metre contour, which 3,000 years ago was near the maritime coast of England.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2018/apr/22/a-wild-walk-in-the-fens-marshland-fen-edge-trail|title='Weirder than any other landscape': a wild walk in the Fens|last=Barkham|first=Patrick|date=2018-04-22|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-02-06|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}
File:Woodwalton Fen NNR information point - geograph.org.uk - 163434.jpg
Access
There is access to the reserve from Chapel Road in Ramsey Heights village.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{commons category|Woodwalton Fen}}
- [http://www.greatfen.org.uk/visit/places/WoodwaltonFen greatfen.org.uk]
{{coord|52.445|-0.193|type:landmark_region:GB-BNE_dim:2000|display=title}}
{{SSSIs Cambridgeshire}}
Category:Nature reserves in Cambridgeshire
Category:Protected areas established in 1910
Category:Ramsar sites in England
Category:Rothschild family residences
Category:Bungalow architecture
Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cambridgeshire