While gazing out from Trundle Mere Lookout yesterday, it was great to take in the view of the Living Landscape, and explain to some guests from the University of Cambridge how conservation is benefitting our part of the Fens.

Encouraging scientists, such as students and their tutors, to make use of the facilities at the Great Fen goes back many years before the ‘Living landscape’ concept, including the ‘Big Idea’ that became the Great Fen, was conceived. This is because the National Nature Reserves (NNRs) were not only established (starting in the 1950s) to protect some of our most important habitats, species, and geology, but also to provide ‘outdoor laboratories’ for research.

While walking through Holme Fen National Nature Reserve with Professor Christine Lane and her colleagues from the Department of Geography, we were fortunate enough to have some sunny weather, with the temperature actually rising above freezing.

The plan for that day was the usual busy mix of multi-tasking, including community engagement, site management and monitoring. A variety of conservation management tasks are taking place at the moment, as it is winter, and that morning I was helping my fellow staff members clear the way for some planned ditch management. At the same time, I was waiting for the call from Christine and her team to say they had arrived at the Holme Fen Posts; a useful rendezvous point. The University had used the Great Fen for field trips in the past and, post COVID, this was a good opportunity to catch-up, make new contacts and see what other opportunities there might be to work together.

Red kites were on the wing and Chinese water deer were dashing across the open grassland as I introduced our visitors to some of my work-mates, a range of topics coming up, from chainsaw training to conservation grazing; it’s good to share. We then walked up to Trundle Mere Lookout, overlooking Rymes Reedbed.

Now that the ice had started to melt, flocks of teal were using the meres and reservoirs at Rymes Reedbed again. The tinkling calls of a flock of over 80 of these ducks, intermixed with the growling of ice shards grinding up against one another, drifted across to us from the old farm reservoir.

As it was designed to do, Trundle Mere Lookout is a useful vantage point to observe and review the changes at the Great Fen, at Rymes Reedbed in this case, and as we approach the annual World Wetlands Day (WWD), is was appropriate to have the soundscape of wintering wildfowl as our backdrop. WWD is celebrated each year on 2 February, to raise awareness about wetlands. The work we do at the Great Fen is of international importance because, as you will read from the WWD website, “nearly 90% of the world’s wetlands have been degraded since the 1700s, and we are losing wetlands three times faster than forests. Yet, wetlands are critically important ecosystems that contribute to biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation, freshwater availability, world economies and more”.

Before the rain started to fall that afternoon, I was out again, checking dipwells and trail cameras, escorted part of the way by a watchful male stonechat; another useful sighting for our colour-ringing project. Last week, I and many volunteers were out on our monthly bird survey. Temperatures were low that day, but the views were stunning, and by the end of the morning we had discovered there were quite a few bird species out and about. Once the results were in, it was clear that some of the smaller bird species were still active, despite the cold, and this included stonechats. We identified several pairs using the Fen that day; confirmation that the recent growth in the wintering population was still maintaining good numbers.

It's not all about the wildlife, but also what lies beneath, and last week we were able to help out our Great Fen Partner, Natural England, by hosting a training course for them. Over 30 people attended a soils survey field trip at the Great Fen, as part of the England Peat Map project.

The project is updating and improving the quality of the data on England's peat. This will involve mapping the extent, depth and condition of the peat by March 2024. The fascinating geology of the Great Fen has been recognised before and most recently by its designation as a Local Geological Site.  We were happy to provide a fieldwork venue, and encouraged to see so many people actively engaged in exploring the depths of the Fens.

We have also been out surveying for raptors (birds of prey) and mammals as well, especially as we have a particular focus on gathering mammal records at the moment. Just before Christmas, we had our annual vantage point count and mince pies; a combination of fieldwork and feedback for the monitoring volunteers. On that occasion, I and Lorna Parker (the Great Fen Restoration Manager) also ran a guided walk for the volunteers, feeding back on the survey work they had carried out during the developmental phase of the Peatland Progress Project, and what a landmark year it had been. If you would like to send us your Great Fen wildlife records for 2022, you can contact me via this page, and look out for some updates on what’s around; the next few years could get really exciting!

More presentations about our work are on the way. These include a general talk about the Great Fen, for Bedfordshire Natural History Society, then another online talk, this time on the subject of the amphibians and reptiles of the Great Fen, and finally an update for our redoubtable volunteers. The latter talk is to thank the Wildlife Trust BCN volunteers for all the hard work they put into supporting the Great Fen, and many other nature reserves that the Wildlife Trust manages in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire; thanks to all our volunteers, you are a valued part of the team.

Henry Stanier (Great Fen Monitoring & Research Officer)