RSPB Ouse Fen News

 

April 2023

News from Ouse Fen nature reserve

Working in close collaboration with Hanson UK’s team at their Needingworth Quarry since the wetland-project began over twenty years ago, we are currently creating our eleventh mere. Transforming an aggregates quarry into the UK’s biggest created reedbed will not only provide an important home for threatened species like bittern but also provides a wild open space for the local community and visitors to enjoy.

Community Projects at Ouse Fen

We have been busy with two large projects over the past year. In the autumn a community update brochure was distributed to 10,000 households surrounding the reserve, sitting as it does between Needingworth, Bluntisham, Earith and Willingham and Over. The brochure celebrates two decades of the Hanson-RSPB wetland project and the nature reserve taking shape on your doorstep. It tells the story of the project’s successes and the plans still to come to fruition.
Earlier in the year the RSPB received funding through Heidelberg Cement’s Quarry Life Awards for a community access mapping project, linking four of the villages surrounding the reserve to Ouse Fen by a series of circular walks (Willingham could not be included – but its time will come!) Through workshops we took on board community ideas for the routes, features to mark and improvements that could be included on the ground. Artist Richard Allen produced the resulting hand painted maps which were promoted locally. We ran work parties in July to install the new features, and held guided walks in August to guide local residents along the routes.
We’re pleased to report that thanks to community support we have, bar a few final tasks, now finished the project, have beautiful maps to share, new features on the reserve and received the ‘Runner Up Award’ in both the national and international competitions! We would like to thank everyone who got involved in the project and hope that you will enjoy using the walk route maps.
All of these resources, including the community update brochure, can be downloaded from our website at www.rspb.org.uk/ousefen.

Management & Restoration

Many thousands of visitors cross the threshold each year to enjoy the 3 sq.km of wetland created so far at Ouse Fen. With open skies above and wild landscapes below you can spot an array of wildlife from the reserve trails, simply enjoy the peace and tranquillity, take a family walk, exercise or link up with connections to long-distance rights of way.
Adjacent these visitor trails, water levels in the most recently restored meres are slowly being raised as the reedbed habitat develops. But this winter’s drought has brought a reminder of just how fragile freshwater supplies can become, making this an unusually difficult challenge this year. Not always were you want it, stands of reed blocking a kilometre of our main water distribution channel were removed by a long-reach excavator this winter. Nearby, the small group of konik ponies that joined us last May from Wicken Fen, continue to do well, diversifying grasslands and creating new freshwater habitats around the reedbed margins.
Meanwhile back in the office, Hanson and the RSPB continue to focus our project team efforts on the design of the river water abstraction equipment necessary to ensure that the wetland is supplied with enough water permanently and allows migration for declining UK populations of European Eels.

Autumn & Winter Wildlife News

The past few months have thrown up a mix of wildlife highlights. In September a Corncrake on its autumn migration flew from grassland at the feet of one of our wardens – one of a handful of reserve records of this historically widespread farmland bird. A few visitors were able to enjoy a wintery Snow Bunting in the car park in December, while in the same month a family group of four Otters were seen playing and fishing amongst the winter ice. A peak count of up to 35 Marsh Harrier’s coming into roost at dusk in January must be a reserve record. Water and Rock Pipits could be seen picking through the ditch slubbings left by our excavator, followed by up to 15 Cattle Egret, cousin of the more familiar little egret, recently arrived in Cambridgeshire. However, only two of the former 11 strong Glossy Ibis flock could still be seen at roost after the winter freeze, as soft muds turned their feeding grounds solid. Will they all return – we hope so.

Come and see!

Spread across 300 ha of watery wildness Ouse Fen is a great place to walk and see wildlife. If you want to try your luck and hear an elusive booming bittern calling from the reedbed this spring – a reminder that our visitor entrance between Earith and Willingham is open during daylight hours at what3words.com/wacky.dabbling.enjoy. To plan your visit or to join a guided walk around the reserve go to www.rspb.org.uk/ousefen.
See you there!
The Ouse Fen Reserve Team
e: ousefen@rspb.org.uk

 

Picture: Ouse Fen from the air