Top: 1. The William Thorpe Building
This unusual hexagonal building was opened in 1970 as a laboratory and lecture hall. It is now the visitor centre for the Reserve. It also houses the Property Manager's Office, the Education Office, and a comprehensive display illustrating the development, history and management of the Fen. The building's layout and display are soon to be updated.
Top: 2. The Ganges Hut
The large wooden hut nearby is named after a Naval Training Establishment whose members worked here voluntarily over the years. Now converted into dormitory-style accommodation, it is regularly used by schools and voluntary work parties. It is available to hire for visiting parties, volunteers and education groups.
Top: 3. Demonstration garden
A row of plots can be seen alongside the visitor centre, showing typical Fen plants. Reference to this and the other labelled specimens nearby in the dyke may help you identify some of the plants you can see on the Fen. The garden may look a little untidy at some times of the year, but this is intentional!Visit the Demonstration Garden.
Top: 4. The Boardwalk
The easiest way to visit the Fen, the Boardwalk provides a route for everyone at all times of the year. Originally intended primarily for wheelchair users, the walk is now very popular. It shows a selection of the different habitats found on the Fen, and lets the visitor experience the remoteness of the reserve, but never go too far from the visitor centre. The boardwalk, as well as providing easier access to parts of the Fen, also protects the surface from trampling; in the past this has led to colonisation of the paths by trample tolerant species uncharacteristic of the Fen and the breakdown of the peat surface.The Boardwalk is also an interesting habitat in itself. In summer, look out for lizards basking on the boards. In winter, footprints in the frost show where the boardwalk is used as a thoroughfare by many creatures other than humans!
Top: 5. Litter fields
The large field to the left is cut in summer. The middle is cut annually with the strips either side cut in alternate years and the strip nearest the windpump cut two years in three. In the middle can sometimes be seen hummocks of vegetation. These are old fire sites where the litter was once burnt.
Top: 6. The windpump
The windpump is a wooden building painted black, with four white wooden sails. It is about 10 metres high. This is the last working windpump of its type in the country. Windpumps such as this were once commonplace in the Fens, pumping water from field ditches into larger feeder dykes. Being at the mercy of the weather, they were superseded in turn by steam, diesel and electrically powered machinery.An interesting Victorian metal windpump belonging to a neighbouring farmer can be seen from the public footpath at the far Eastern end of St Edmund's Fen. This pump is still operating today. A similar pump is derelict in the same field, and a static tractor-powered pump is in the undergrowth nearby.
The wooden windpump was reconstructed here in 1956. Having undergone a complete overhaul, it is now occasionally used to help maintain a higher level of water over the Sedge Fen. The original site of this pump was down in Adventurers' Fen. The site was not at the time owned by the National Trust but is now a part of the Reserve.
Top: 7. Fen woodland
Dotted around the small ponds and among the nearby scrub are a few ash and oak trees, forerunners of the woodland which would probably envelop the Fen if left unmanaged. As the Fen is becoming wetter due to the plastic membrane which was installed, larger trees are now dying off in places.
Top: 8. Droves
Droves are the wide paths used for access around the Fen. Some droves are very old, and were used originally for access to the sedge and peat workings. Others were made more recently, for management access. Droves are cut annually in Autumn. The particularly rich diversity of flowering plants to be found along this and other droves is encouraged by the autumn cut. Yellow loosestrife, ragged robbin, meadow rue and marsh orchids can be seen between May and September.Most of the orchids which can be seen are Early Marsh Orchids, with a few Southern Marsh Orchids and many hybrids of the two.
Top: 9. Brickpits
These pits were dug in the 19th century in order to extract the Gault clay for brickmaking. Now filled with water, they form an ideal habitat for a wide range of aquatic plants, and animals such as dragonflies. The rare Marsh pea is also common around the edge.Bladderwort (Utricularia) is abundant here, showing yellow flowers July-August. It is the Fen's only carnivorous plant. Fortunately for the many visitors who pass by this pond the bladderwort eats nothing larger than a water flea or midge larva. It has on its roots tiny bladders, from which it gets its name, and these roots float free in the water. When a creature crawls onto the bladder it triggers a trapdoor to open, sucking the creature in. The door shuts and the animal is trapped. Some carnivorous plants use enzymes to digest their victims, but there is no evidence that the bladderwort does so. Micro-organisms such as ciliates which are always present in fresh water seem to break down the dead animal and release the nutrients which the plant then absorbs.
The water here is very poor in nutrients which makes it ideal for the bladderwort. Indeed it cannot survive in enriched water. Management at the reserve ensures that water is not accidentally enriched by agriculatural chemicals and fertilisers.
In dry conditions wheelchair access is possible to a specially adapted bird hide at the Brickpits.
Top: 10. The Brickpit Hide
This hide was built in 1988 and overlooks the largest brickpit. The hide is adapted for wheelchair users. It is reached by a little bridge over the dyke.White waterlilies abound in early summer. The Bladderwort can be seen flowering July-August. Dragonflies and damselflies abound, and indeed this hide is better for watching these amazing creatures than it is for birds. A variety of fish, notably tench, can often be seen near the surface. A guelder rose can be seen to the left of the hide.
Top: 11. Bog oaks
Visitors can see a large pile of black trunks next to the path. The large sections of tree trunk stacked here were removed from an arable field next to the Fen in 1980. Remnants of the great forests which grew on the Gault clay, and were subsequently preserved by burial in peat, these trunks are 4,200 years old. They are not actually all oaks, but many different trees.
Top: 12. Sedge Fen Drove
At the east end of the drove is an avenue of tall trees where great and lesser spotted woodpeckers can often be seen and heard. Snowdrops, apple trees and some other 'garden' plants indicate the sites of cottages belonging to employees of the old brickworks. When the brickpits were abandoned the cottages gradually fell into disrepair and soon disappeared.
Top: 13. Willows and aspens
Bay willows form the line of trees by the ditch. They are not in fact native to this area and were planted in the 1930s. At the far end is a small grove of aspen . Along the path the familiar nettle is abundant, but at Wicken a non-stinging variety characteristic of fens is also present.This path is a good place to see butterflies early in the summer, as they flock to the early-flowering comfrey which grows there, to drink the nectar.
Top: 14. Blackthorn
Here the path cuts through a blackthorn thicket. The prolific white flowers appear early in spring and give rise to sour sloes in autumn. Sloes are traditionally gathered and used to make sloe gin.Despite its vicious thorns and unpalatable fruit, blackthorn is an ancestor of our modern dessert plum. The shallow depressions in the path often flood and are ideal for marsh marigold, brooklime and yellow flag.
Top: 15. Thompson's Drove
This spur of Thompson's Drove was cleared in the 1920s to improve access for visiting naturalists. The vegetation on this stretch is particularly lush.
Top: 16. Spinney Bank
The difference of 8ft in land levels between the Fen and the surrounding arable land, due to peat shrinkage and wasting, is particularly clear here. The outside bank was waterproofed using heavy gauge sheeting in late 1988. The work isolates the Fen's water system, preventing the good quality water in the Fen from escaping to the surrounding farmland. This will help to safeguard the Fen's future.
Top: 17. Glades
The six small glades of herbaceous vegetation found on the inside of the path have been divided into two groups. Three members of each are cut annually in spring, summer or autumn.This sort of management builds up a mozaic of different management types and thus different habitats.
Top: 18. Spinney Abbey
Incorporated in the farm buildings in the trees beyond the fields are the remains of an Augustinian Priory founded around 1220. After its dissolution in 1538 one of the subsequent owners was Henry Cromwell, fourth son of Oliver, who lived at the Abbey between 1659 and 1673. He is buried in Wicken parish church.The farm is now a dairy farm owned by the Fuller family.
Top: 19. Fen carr
Carr is a growth of low, woody shrubs. The mature carr on the left side of the path contains most of the common species of scrub at Wicken, such as alder buckthorn and common buckthorn, hawthorn, privet and sallow, and provides good nesting, feeding and roosting sites for birds. In winter long-tailed tits and bullfinches flit from branch to branch. A pile of dead wood there is a result of carr clearance and there are also compost heaps are from litter cutting.
Top: 20. The Pump House
The diesel engine in the shed is sometimes used to pump water from the surrounding farmland into Drainer's Dyke, usually in the winter time. The water which is pumped up sometimes has traces of phosphates and nitrates, or farm slurry. The undesirable seepage of nutrients from the farm ditches has an effect on the Fen. Visitors will notice a different type of plant community growing in the ditches because of the different water quality. There is often a vigorous growth of certain kinds of aquatic plants and frequent algal blooms in the Dyke.Careful management of the water flow ensures that when this occurs the nutrient-rich water goes straight into Wicken Lode, without passing into other ditches.
Top: 21. Pond
A small pond was cut in the 1920s on the east bank of the Dyke and is now a particularly good site for stoneworts, a complex group of green algae.
Top: 22. Godwin Plots
The experimental plots here were established in the 1920s by Prof. Sir Harry Godwin to show how varying cutting intervals affect the vegetation composition. For example, sedge is much more common in the plots cut less frequently. Godwin proved that it is possible to change the plant communities in an area, merely by changing the management of the area. This principle is now fundmental to the management of almost every nature reserve in the world.
Top: 23. Carr clearance
Most of the bushes surrounding this recently cleared area are alder buckthorns, which indicate that the carr here is relatively young. The open field on the left, created in 1981, is divided into spring and summer biennial cuts.
Top: 24. Bog myrtle
On the left, close to the end of Sedge Fen Drove, is a small patch of aromatic bog myrtle, a plant which is usually associated with more acid conditions. It has a beautiful smell when crushed.
Top: 25. Birch
The birch and alder in this area may originate from trees introduced to demarcate the strips into which the Fen was once divided. These birches are now dying of old age but elsewhere are invading both open fields and carr.
Top: 26. Verrall's Fen
This part of the Fen was named after a local MP and eminent entomologist, who donated this part of the Fen to the National Trust in 1911. Most of it is now covered by carr.
Top: 27. Die-back of alder buckthorn
The fungal attack on mature alder buckthorn in the 1970s started in this area, but it was possible to capitalise on the situation by clearing another two fields in 1982-3.
Top: 28. Godwin Triangle
The isolated triangle of scrub on the corner was first surveyed by Prof. Sir Harry Godwin in 1929. The area has been left untouched to allow monitoring of vegetation changes over the years.
Top: 29. Tower Hide
Panoramic views can be had from the top of the tower hide erected to overlook the Mere. Dug in 1955-6, this provides secluded open water and reed fringes which are attractive to migrant and wintering waterfowl, and to many smaller birds, including bearded tits. Huge numbers of swallows and sand martins gather here on late summer and early autumn evenings before roosting.
Top: 30. Adventurers' Fen
Adventurers' Fen has been drained several times in the past and was reclaimed again for agricultural use during the Second World War, destroying much of the botanical and entomological interest. A fascinating account of this process can be found in a book by Alan Bloom called "The Farm In The Fen". When it was handed back to the Trust in 1952 management was directed towards improving its attractiveness to birds. Some 90 acres of wet grassland which are grazed during the summer attract large numbers of wildfowl and waders when they are flooded in winter and spring.This area of the Fen is not all open to the public, but as it is lower than the main Fen it can be viewed from this point and from the Boardwalk.
Top: 31. Sedge field
Sedge was once the most important crop in the area. In fact, the main part of the reserve is still called the "Sedge Fen". Sedge is harvested every year, from different fields. Each field is harvested once every four years. The sedge is cut by machine, and then bundled and piled up by hand, just as it has been since 1414, when the first recorded sedge harvest was made at Wicken.Sedge is still used for thatching roofs, along with reed. Thatchers use the sedge to put on the ridge of the roof, as it is flexible. It has to be replaced every 20 years or so. Sedge can be seen piled up around the Reserve buildings during late summer, when it is waiting to be picked up by thatchers.
Wicken is now Britains single largest sedge producing site. The sedge harvest is a very labour intensive activity. The reserve depends upon volunteers who come every summer, and stay in the Ganges Hut, to undertake the sedge harvest.
Mature sedge fields such as this provide ideal overnight roosting sites for wintering hen harriers, which are regularly seen between November and March.
Top: 32. Lode Bank
As this sheltered drove faces south it is a good place to see some of the Fen's many butterflies. Fast-flying yellow brimstone males can be seen on almost any warm day from March to September. Brimstone caterpillars feed on both alder and common buckthorns. The large skipper is abundant from mid-June to the end of July. In winter, when the watertable rises, you can see from the position of mole hills how moles are forced into the higher ground of the bank.
Top: 33. Wicken Lode
Much of Wicken Lode is still navigable but nowadays is only used by pleasure craft. The junction between Wicken Lode and Monk's Lode marks a limit of navigation of the River Ouse. The water-level is actually much higher than the farmland beyond the far bank.The dead end of the Lode between this point and the William Thorpe Building is one of the best places to find the rare Bitterling fish. In the UK this fish is found only here and in the Manchester Ship Canal. It is thought to be an escape from domestic aquaria. The Bitterling has an exraordinary lifestyle, with the female fish laying her eggs in the valves of freshwater mussels. The larvae actually live amongst the gills of the mussel before emerging to take up a more normal fish way of life.
The 130 acres of land between the Lode and the distant farm buildings is now also a part of the Reserve, purchased in 1994 and being restored to wet grazing meadow. This area is known as Priory Farm.
Top: 34. Wicken Poor's and St Edmund's Fens
This triangle, bounded in part by Monk's Lode which flows in from near the Newmarket area and by Wicken Lode, belongs to Wicken Parish Council. The area is common land, set aside for the poor after the Fen strips passed into private ownership. Here villagers still have ancient rights to collect sedge and dig peat. Residents of the parish have the right to collect as much peat and sedge as they can by themselves, on one day of the year - Lady Day. This right is no longer exercised. St Edmund's Fen lies beyond the line of taller trees which can be seen running along the back of Poor's Fen. Most of this is mature carr and woodland.An old story tells of the farmer who lived at Spinney Abbey Farm, who one Lady Day broke the old custom and brought all his men with him to collect turf and sedge. The other villagers were furious but could not stop him. As he loaded up his carts an old woman who lived across the Monk's Lode came to the bank and cried across "I curse thee and all who come after thee!". Whether her curse was effective or not cannot be proven, but it is recorded that all his children born after that date were deaf and dumb, and within a few years he was destitute and had to sell the farm. The remains of the old woman's garden can still be seen, and the tree that grows there is locally known as "the witches tree".
Top: 35. Clay bank
This raised bank is made of pale grey Gault clay excavated from the Lode during the 1960s. Directly opposite is the site of the staithes from which sedge and peat would have been loaded onto barges for transport.For more information enquire at the William Thorpe Building or telephone (01353)720274.
