6 minute read
Our nature reserves
Discover Market Weston Fen
To walk through Market Weston Fen is to journey back in time, treading lightly through a landscape lucky to have escaped the onslaught of drainage and agricultural improvement. Saved from the 20th century urge to industrialise every inch of wild land, it is now one of Suffolk’s richest botanical sites.
A rare example of unspoilt valley fen, Market Weston Fen was one of the few places that survived as Suffolk’s rivers were engineered and the wetlands were drained in the 20th century. As wild areas shrank and fragmented, Market Weston Fen remained highly biodiverse and the chalk springs that feed the site today are the same as those that did so millennia ago.
Nevertheless, when Suffolk Wildlife Trust acquired the site in 1981, conditions were declining. Overgrown and mismanaged, the fen needed cutting and the drier areas of heathland were overwhelmed by bracken. Fast forward forty years, and thanks to careful management and the support of a legacy left by David Feavearyear, we have expanded the reserve and Market Weston Fen has been restored to its former, beautiful glory.
Only a handful of sites in Suffolk have such a high abundance of wildlife, and this ultra-biodiverse hotspot boasts over 250 species of flowering plants. A winding path takes you through meadow, fenland, heathland and wet woodland. Areas rich in orchids, including marsh fragrant, southern marsh and marsh helleborine (which number in the thousands), are interspersed with ponds, wet woodland and Breckland dominated by buttery gorse and mature birch trees.
In spring, you’ll be greeted by the scratchy rhythms of reed and sedge warblers, the frenetic burst of Cetti’s warblers and the gentle reeling of the grasshopper warbler. Buzzards soar overhead, mewing gently to one another as they circle upwards on warm columns of air. As the Marsh helleborine.
Thank you Your generous response to the opportunity to buy land alongside the fen has almost doubled the size of this extraordinary nature reserve.
Common butterwort.
ALAMY
Market Weston Fen escaped 20th century industrialisation to become one of Suffolk's richest botanical sites.
STEVE AYLWARD
summer progresses, common butterwort and grass-of-Parnassus erupt into flower and watch for dragon and damselflies hovering over ponds. Butterflies and moths are abundant, too.
This was already an outstanding nature reserve and then, in March this year, thanks to the astonishing generosity of Trust members and supporters, Market Weston Fen has grown again. We are delighted to have
DID YOU KNOW Great fen sedge, or saw-sedge, forms dense stands around the fen, thriving in the calcareous soils. It is tall and robust with saw-toothed leaves, extremely tough but very flexible, and thus useful in traditional thatching. Saw-sedge is harvested commercially from Market Weston Fen, greatly benefiting the fen and local communities with a sustainable, local product.
been able to purchase a further 31ha (78 acres) of land to the south east, towards Market Weston. The reserve now covers over 72ha (178 acres). Complementing rather than replicating the existing nature reserve, we will let nature take the lead, with minimal intervention and some light grazing. Wilding is a journey of discovery, and our focus is on encouraging the abundance of once common species – like butterflies, common lizards, slow worms and scrubland birds – to thrive. Wouldn’t it be marvellous if, in a few years, visitors were welcomed by purring turtledoves and melodic nightingales?
Peaceful and serene, a gentle wander through the fen is the perfect tonic this summer. As you reach our new area of land, remember this is a blank canvas of opportunity. You’ll want to return year on year to see how wildlife can thrive when we let nature lead the way.
Common lizard.
PLAN YOUR VISIT
1 Market Weston Fen
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
Location: Fen Street, Hopton, Diss IP22 2RF. How to get there: The reserve lies to the south of the A1066, south east of Knettishall Heath nature reserve. From the KnettishallHopton road (Nethergate Street), turn south on to Fen Street. The reserve is on your left. Parking is on a quiet roadside at the bottom of Hopton village. Opening times: Open all year, dawn to dusk. Access: The gates have ‘Radar’ locks but the terrain is not easy, with uneven, soft ground and a step at either end of a narrow footbridge giving access to the fen. Please contact us beforehand if you would like to visit in a group. Phone for information: 01473 890089. Email: teamwilder@suffolkwildlifetrust.org Website: suffolkwildlifetrust.org/ marketwestonfen
TOP WILDLIFE TO SPOT
Marsh helleborine: A beautiful orchid of fens, wet grassland and dune slacks. Growing in profusion in places in July and August, look for reddish stems and white-andpink flowers. Grasshopper warbler: You’ll hear the insect-like fishing-reeling song of the grasshopper warbler before you see it, belting out from the scrub.
Common butterwort:
The carnivorous heathland plant, common butterwort is quite rare in Suffolk. Its leaves excrete a sticky fluid that tempts unsuspecting insects to land, only to be eaten!
THINGS TO DO NEARBY
If you’re in need of refreshments after your walk, Knettishall Heath and our new catering van is a 10-minute drive. Admire the neighbouring Thelnetham Windmill, one of only four preserved tower mills in Suffolk. Enjoy more fenland wildlife by visiting a nearby site managed as part of the Little Ouse Headwaters Project.
More Suffolk Wildlife Trust nature reserves for a great summer day out
Nature reserves Larger reserves Larger reserves with refreshments & toilets
A1065
A11
THE BRECKS Mildenhall
A134
Newmarket
A14
Bury St Edmunds Ixworth
1
A143
A14
Haverhill
A134
Lavenham
Sudbury Diss
A140
Eye
3
Stowmarket
Needham
Market
Hadleigh Woodbridge
Ipswich
2
BROADS NATIONAL PARK
A146
Lowesto
Halesworth Southwold
A12
Saxmundham
SUFFOLK COAST & HEATHS AONB Aldeburgh
DEDHAM VALE AONB
A12 A14
Felixstowe
PLAN YOUR VISIT
2 Hutchison's Meadow
Why now?
Small but mighty, Hutchison’s Meadow is made up of a patchwork of wet and dry grasslands, resulting in a diverse and flower-rich meadow. The wetter areas are fed from a spring, whilst the drier areas are predominantly sandy, giving rise to a beautiful, botanical mix.
Know before you go
Location: Woodbridge IP12 1PD. Open: Open all year, dawn to dusk. Wildlife to spot: Bulbous buttercup, meadow buttercup, ragged-robin, tormentil, yellow-rattle. Find out more: suffolkwildlifetrust.org/ hutchisonsmeadow
The lowdown
At just 1ha (2.5 acres), this tiny nature reserve punches above its weight in the summer, as a range of wildflowers and plants spring up from the soils. The secret to Hutchison’s Meadow’s diversity lies in a mixture of wet and dry grassland areas, allowing species like ragged-robin, common fleabane, St John’s wort and southern marsh orchid to flourish in damp areas, and more typical meadow species to thrive in drier spots. Look for sweet-vernal grass, red clover, yellow rattle and two kinds of buttercup (bulbous and meadow). The meadow was kindly gifted to Suffolk Wildlife Trust by Sir Peter and Lady Hutchison.
Hutchison's Meadow.
PLAN YOUR VISIT
3 Combs Wood
Why now?
Situated in rolling farmland just above Combs Ford near Stowmarket, this botanically rich reserve has roots stretching back to the Domesday book, where it was recorded as “a wood for 16 swine”.
Know before you go
Location: Stowmarket IP14 2EH (park at Combs Cemetery). Open: Open all year, dawn to dusk. Wildlife to spot: Treecreeper, brown hawker, ash, common hornbeam, wood anemone, oxlips. Find out more: suffolkwildlifetrust.org/ combswood
The lowdown
This ancient woodland has been managed by coppicing for centuries, resulting in a spectacular springtime display of woodland flowers: early-purple orchid, wild garlic and ragged-robin, as well as oxlip (a plant limited to East Anglia), wood anemone and moschatel. Woodland butterflies love the dappled rides, and dragon and damselflies are common, including brown hawker and southern hawker. The woods can be reached by following the private road from the cemetery up to the top of the hill, then taking the footpath across fields to the left of Holyoak Farm.
Info & maps for all reserves
suffolkwildlifetrust.org/naturereserves
