Two Fens

 "The Fens" refers to a large area of low-lying land in Eastern England. Most of it is around sea level and it used to flood every winter, making it a magnet for migrating and wintering wildfowl. I use the past tense because most of this area of 1,500 square miles (3,900 square kilometers) has been drained so it can be used for farmland, but there are still small pockets of land that give some idea of what's been lost.

Lakenheath Fen

Alongside many of the rivers entering the Fens the floodbanks are placed well back away from the riversides, so that these areas can still flood in times of high rainfall. The River Little Ouse is in the foreground of the above photo and in the background is flooded land. These floodplains are known locally as "washes" (not to be confused with The Wash which is a shallow coastal bay just north of here).

The traditional way of farming these seasonally flooded areas (both fens and washes) was to put cattle out on them during the summer months, and that's still done in the remaining areas. Even those places managed as nature reserves have seen the necessity of putting some kind of livestock on the drier areas to maintain the landscape; you might see Highland cattle, semi-wild ponies or even water buffalo keeping the land in shape.

While some birds make use of the river, far more settle on the washlands. Swans, being large and white, are easiest to see, but there are many ducks, as well as waders inhabiting the water's edge. 

 

Just a little further from the river the RSPB have their Lakenheath Fen site. Don't be fooled by the name; there's no "lake" at Lakenheath, just a very large man-made reed bed. When the bird charity bought the land, in the mid-90s, it was just a rather poor carrot field. Much of the fertile peat, that was there when the land was first drained, had blown away and it was becoming marginal for agriculture. So the opportunity was taken to try to restore the area to something like fenland. The scheme has proved more successful  that anyone dared hope as birds like Bitterns and Cranes have returned along with many other species. 

It's also a great habitat for many insects like the Large White butterfly and the female Southern Hawker dragonfly that I managed to photograph. And if you get an abundance of dragonflies you often attract Hobbies, which are small falcons which feed on dragonflies, catching them on the wing - a spectacular show if you have the good fortune to see it (though the dragonflies don't enjoy it much!).

Chippenham Fen

Lets make our way to the little village of Chippenham, near Newmarket.

This is what the SatNav refers to as the "city centre"! The little building in the foreground contains the village pump where householders in the past would have obtained their water supply. And behind it stands The Tharp Arms, the village pub; no chance of dying of thirst in Chippenham then.

The town of Newmarket is the centre of Britain's horse-racing industry and you may see superb thoroughbred horses in any of the surrounding villages (though the real stars of the racecourse are rather hidden away behind tight security much of the time).

Around the edge of the main Fens there are several small areas of poorly drained land which are also called "fens" and are used in the same way and are ecologically similar. Chippenham Fen is just one such area which also serves as a nature reserve, but one which is only accessible by the footpath which runs through it.

Wildlife was not making itself obvious so I had to content myself with photographing the berries of the Guelder Rose which is also known as dogberry, water elder, cramp bark, snowball tree or European cranberry bush (Viburnum opulus).

Even without seeing lots of birds it was still a lovely area to walk through; very old-fashioned and traditional, almost like strolling through one of John Constable's paintings.

Take care.