Woodwalton Fen
| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
Gordon's Mere, Woodwalton Fen
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| Area of Search | Cambridgeshire |
|---|---|
| Grid reference | TL 229 844 |
| Interest | Biological |
| Area | 209 hectares |
| Notification | 1985 |
| Location map | Magic Map |
Woodwalton Fen is a 209 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Ramsey in Cambridgeshire. It is a Ramsar wetland site of international importance, a National Nature Reserve, a Special Area of Conservation and a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. The site is managed by Natural England.
One of the first nature reserves to be created in England, Woodwalton Fen was bought by Charles Rothschild in 1910. Rothschild intended to present the site to the National Trust, but they declined it, and it was kept initially as a private nature reserve with a bungalow for the owner to stay in.
The site has one of the few remaining ranges of flora characteristic of the East Anglian Fens. There are rare fen plants such as fen wood-rush and fen violet, and ditches have uncommon aquatic plants including bladderwort and water violet.
As well as being a nature reserve, Woodwalton Fen is used to store winter flood water. There are issues relating to water quality. The flood water entering Woodwalton Fen has high silt and nutrient loads.
It is part of a Special Area of Conservation, Fenland SAC, which includes two other fragments of wild fenland in Cambridgeshire: Wicken Fen (about 38 miles from Woodwalton) and Chippenham Fen.
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