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Statement of Objectives

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THE NATIONAL TRUST

WICKEN FEN

Management Plan

1992 - 1997

PART C

PROPERTY DESCRIPTION

Wicken Fen Local Management Committee

1992

SUMMARY

Wicken Fen, comprising about 245 ha (605 acres), is one of the oldest nature reserves in Britain. It consists of:

  • The Sedge Fen (133 ha), the largest remaining and least drained fragment of the original fenland;
  • St Edmund's Fen (22 ha), a smaller but similar area;
  • Adventurers' Fen (including the Charles Raven Reserve, 89 ha), which was completely, but not entirely successfully, drained and much dug for peat ('turf') until the last century.

    The various management practices that have been carried on at Wicken over a long period have produced a wide range of habitat types within a comparatively small area:
  • sedge and litter fields and droves (mown);
  • reed-beds (some cropped)
  • fen scrub (carr) and incipient woodland (where cutting has lapsed);
  • open water (ditches, dykes, meres and ponds, including old brickpits);
  • peat diggings (old and new).
    Peripheral land includes arable (outside the reserve); hay meadow; wet rough grassland; native broadleaf planted woodland.

    The National Trust also owns a number of buildings on the reserve, close to the entrance, and in Lode Lane.

    The reserve is open to the public; facilities include a car park, public conveniences (owned and managed by the District Council), a boarded walkway and interpretive displays. There is an active education programme.

    The main features of the Fen and their implications for management
    1. The water table and its control

    All stages of the succession from open water to woodland can be seen at Wicken Fen:
    open water - reedswamp - sedge/herbaceous fen - carr - woodland
    The stage in this hydrosere which is found in any one place on the Fen depends largely on the height of the water table; this depends on the distance of the plot from the nearest open water; the season; the height of water in the adjoining lode/ditch system, which depends in turn on the height of the retaining banks (see Section C3.6). The banks surrounding the Fen have recently been waterproofed to prevent water seeping out onto the lower-lying adjacent farmland (see below).

    2. Water quality

    The water that supports the fen communities at Wicken is derived from rainfall and from drainage from the chalk uplands to the south. It is base-rich and therefore slightly alkaline.
    Wicken Fen receives water from agricultural surroundings, which is potentially enriched with nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus, and contaminated with pesticides, via three routes: Monk's Lode; Drainers' Dyke; Spinney Abbey (via ditch 78g).
    Water from these sources is likely to have a detrimental effect on freshwater life and, if flooding occurs, on the fen vegetation. Some of the internal ditches and ponds are protected from this danger, being cut-off from outside waters and receiving input only from rainfall or from water percolating through peat.

    3. Management practices, especially cutting regimes

    The different terrestrial plant communities, and to a large extent, the landscape, owe their existence to different types and frequency of management, some of which have been carried on for centuries. Some of these practices had lapsed and have only recently been revived as part of the management of the reserve. Habitat types delimited by cutting patterns are, in descending order of frequency: path centres, path margins, litter, sedge fields and carr. Different ditch communities are associated with the time which has elapsed since the ditch was last cleared out. Turf cuttings and other types of disturbance also produce distinctive habitats that should be conserved.

    4. Peat

    The peat substratum is predominantly sedge peat of slightly alkaline pH and rich in bases (see above). It is maintained by being kept waterlogged, which prevents the decomposition of the organic matter. If the Fen became drier, the surface peat would begin to waste away by oxidation, as it has in the surrounding drained farmland. The shrinkage of the surrounding land has created severe problems of maintaining high water-levels on the Fen (but see above). As the peat wastes, nutrients are released and the pH of subsequent drainage water is lowered. This effect is seen in places on the Fen where raised topography has produced local acidification, which is reflected in the flora.

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