Helping Fulbourn Fen to flourish

Helping Fulbourn Fen to flourish

Cowslips at Fulbourn Fen by Mark Ricketts May 2013

A grant from the Pebble Fund has allowed essential management at Fulbourn Fen, Cambridgeshire, to maximise the biodiversity of the reserve, and allowing species of orchid to thrive

Work at Fulbourn Fen nature reserve, enabled by a grant of £3,500 from Cambridge Water's Pebble Fund, has seen the clearance of invasive species and scrub, which will allow orchids to spread and grow in number.
Six species of orchid grow here with marsh orchids a particular highlight; the orchids are a regular draw for visitors in June and the display should continue to improve year on year.

In East Fen, the wettest meadow, hundreds of orchids bloom in early summer. Chalk-laden water from higher ground drains onto this fen and the lowest areas are wet year round, making perfect conditions for fen vegetation such as rushes and water mint. As well as the orchids and other botanical species, the reserve provides a diversity of habitats for a range of resident and transiting bird, invertebrate, reptile and amphibian species. 
As Fulbourn is wet fen, with a reduction in scrub, the Trust hope that the site will prove more suitable for snipe to use over winter in the future, as they once did before scrub took over.

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