Pulloxhill Marsh
You’ve done it! Thanks to your wonderful support, we have reached our fundraising target to help buy Pulloxhill Marsh SSSI. We’re hugely grateful to everyone who has donated, shared the appeal or sent messages of encouragement. We are still waiting to hear the outcome of our application to Biffa Award, which will cover the remaining purchase costs, and we’ll let you know as soon as we have news.
If you would still like to support Pulloxhill Marsh, donations remain very welcome. Any additional funds will now help care for this 12½ acre site, including fencing, grazing, practical conservation work and wildlife surveying, so that it can be protected and managed well for nature in the future.
Thank you again for your generosity and support - it really does make a difference.
About Pulloxhill Marsh
Just a few fields distant from our Flitwick Moor nature reserve, lies Pulloxhill Marsh. This 12½ acre Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) is a fragment of ancient countryside that has somehow escaped the impacts of modern agriculture and development.
Ancient Marsh Abundant with Wildlife
Natural springs flowing into the marsh on three sides have created an unusual wetland of reed and sedge, dominated by blunt-flowered rush and marsh valerian, rare in Bedfordshire.
Sitting in a shallow valley, the wetland gives way to species-rich grassland, with a remarkable abundance of pignut, an umbellifer with fine leaves and delicate white flowers.
Visiting the site, Brian Eversham, our Chief Executive, found a dozen invertebrates he’d never seen before. He believes that, with appropriate management, this small site can support its special wildlife long term and could become a distinctive extension of our nearby Flitwick Moor nature reserve.
Raising the Funds
We have applied to Biffa Award towards the purchase costs, and the Bedfordshire Natural History Society is also making an incredibly generous donation. Your generosity has helped fund the shortfall we were facing to complete the purchase. We will now continue to fundraise towards the costs involved in ensuring Pulloxhill Marsh remains a wonderful place for wildlife.
FAQs
Why is there a shortfall?
The funding we have applied for only covers a percentage of the total costs in buying the land and legal costs. We are also extremely grateful for a very generous donation from the Bedfordshire Natural History Society. Unfortunately, both these sources of funding do not cover the full costs required to protect Pulloxhill Marsh for the future.
What will happen if the appeal raises more than our target?
Pulloxhill Marsh is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and incredibly important to biodiversity. Any additional funding will enable us to start management work to ensure Pulloxhill remains a wonderful place for wildlife. This will include fencing so that we can bring cattle on to the site to promote a species-rich sward, practical conservation work, and surveying. Any further surplus will go towards other conservation operations in Bedfordshire.
