Oxfordshire's calcareous, alkaline, valley-head, groundwater-fed fens
4 years of restoration of such fens in Oxfordshire has produced a significant increase in plant biodiversity
The Freshwater Habitats Trust website has a link to an article by Judy Webb,
'The use of Marsh Lousewort as an ecosystem engineer in fen restoration'
If you'd like to volunteer to help with the FHT's fen restoration work* see their POSTER
Learn about wetland plants - scroll down to About the GroWet plants
(Freshwater Habitats Trust website)
MSc dissertation by Oxford Brookes student Adam Bows on fen restoration in the Lye Valley,
Chilswell Valley and Raleigh Park is available here as a PDF
MSc dissertation by Oxford Brookes student Darcey Haldar on estimating the carbon stock in the Lye Valley’s peat fen and
also an estimate by Judy Webb of the carbon in the North Fen, based on this data, are available here as PDFs.
4 years of restoration of such fens in Oxfordshire has produced a significant increase in plant biodiversity
The Freshwater Habitats Trust website has a link to an article by Judy Webb,
'The use of Marsh Lousewort as an ecosystem engineer in fen restoration'
If you'd like to volunteer to help with the FHT's fen restoration work* see their POSTER
Learn about wetland plants - scroll down to About the GroWet plants
(Freshwater Habitats Trust website)
MSc dissertation by Oxford Brookes student Adam Bows on fen restoration in the Lye Valley,
Chilswell Valley and Raleigh Park is available here as a PDF
MSc dissertation by Oxford Brookes student Darcey Haldar on estimating the carbon stock in the Lye Valley’s peat fen and
also an estimate by Judy Webb of the carbon in the North Fen, based on this data, are available here as PDFs.
*The Freshwater Habitats Trust has received two grants totalling £888,000 from the UK Government's Green Recovery Challenge Fund. The £40 million fund, which is part of the government’s wider green economic recovery, jobs and skills package, brings forward funding for environmental charities and their partners to start work on projects across England to restore nature and tackle climate change. The fund is delivered by the National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with Natural England and the Environment Agency. Part of it has been allocated to the Oxfordshire Fens Project, which aims to restore declining Oxfordshire fens using methods developed at Lye Valley Local Nature Reserve in Oxford, and at other recovering fens. Currently (February 2022) work is being carried out on six Oxfordshire fens (four SSSIs and two Local Wildlife Sites).
Thanks to the grant, the FHT has been able to appoint new recruits to the Oxfordshire Fens Project: David Morris, BSBI vice county recorder for Oxfordshire (V.C. 23) as Senior Plant Ecologist and Andy Gunn as manager of the Building Oxfordshire's Freshwater Network project. Part of Andy's new role is designing activities and training for the new trainees. He was formerly BBOWT's Project Officer for the Wild Oxford project. The FHT also have a new Community Engagement Officer, Lizzie Every (contact details at bottom of poster, if you'd like to volunteer to help with work on local fens).
David, Andy, Lizzie and three new FHT trainees were given a guided tour of the Lye Valley by Judy Webb on
1 February 2022 - photos here.
Thanks to the grant, the FHT has been able to appoint new recruits to the Oxfordshire Fens Project: David Morris, BSBI vice county recorder for Oxfordshire (V.C. 23) as Senior Plant Ecologist and Andy Gunn as manager of the Building Oxfordshire's Freshwater Network project. Part of Andy's new role is designing activities and training for the new trainees. He was formerly BBOWT's Project Officer for the Wild Oxford project. The FHT also have a new Community Engagement Officer, Lizzie Every (contact details at bottom of poster, if you'd like to volunteer to help with work on local fens).
David, Andy, Lizzie and three new FHT trainees were given a guided tour of the Lye Valley by Judy Webb on
1 February 2022 - photos here.
The Freshwater Habitats Trust's Oxfordshire Fens Project covers four privately-owned SSSIs that are benefitting from a WEG [Water Environment Grant] for SSSI Fen Restoration. These include Hinksey Heights fen (location of the other sites undisclosed at the request of their owners).
FHT were awarded grants totalling £888,000 for projects in Oxfordshire and The New Forest: Tweet 28 July 2021 New FHT project Building Oxfordshire's Freshwater Network - see Tweet by David Morris and Judy Webb's response, 12 Nov. 2021 |
The Freshwater Habitats Trust's Oxfordshire Fens Project
website has a link to Judy's History of Cothill Fen NNR (August 2020) and one to her article on marsh lousewort (June 2020) - see also her Tweets about the plant in June 2020 Judy is also involved with the FHT's Ex-situ Wetland Plant Project . Further information is available on her Greater Water Parsnip page Consultation on Oxfordshire Plan 2050 Judy's submission 8 Oct 2021 asking for policies to protect the fens' vital green catchment areas |
Members of the FHT's Oxfordshire Fens Project committee visiting one of the SSSI fen sites. An old artesian well can be seen in the foreground. Four other privately-owned SSSI fens are included in the project, all currently partly classified as in ‘Unfavourable’ condition. At the request of the owners their location has not been divulged. Work on these four SSSIs is being funded by an EU Water Environment Grant secured by the Freshwater Habitats Trust.
Photo from p. 3 of the FHT's River Ock Catchment Partnership Winter 2019 Newsletter (the first edition of this newsletter), posted here by kind permission of the Freshwater Habitats Trust.
From left to right: Ellie Mayhew, Regional Project Officer for the FHT, Jeremy Biggs, the Trust's Director, David Morris, BSBI/Vice-County 23 Recorder and, since 2022, the FHT's Senior Plant Ecologist, Rod d'Ayala, an ecologist skilled in wetland hydrology, Judy Webb, and Steve Gregory, a freelance ecologist skilled in entomology.
Photo from p. 3 of the FHT's River Ock Catchment Partnership Winter 2019 Newsletter (the first edition of this newsletter), posted here by kind permission of the Freshwater Habitats Trust.
From left to right: Ellie Mayhew, Regional Project Officer for the FHT, Jeremy Biggs, the Trust's Director, David Morris, BSBI/Vice-County 23 Recorder and, since 2022, the FHT's Senior Plant Ecologist, Rod d'Ayala, an ecologist skilled in wetland hydrology, Judy Webb, and Steve Gregory, a freelance ecologist skilled in entomology.
During meetings with the Freshwater Habitats Trust (FHT) in 2017, Judy spoke about the restoration of alkaline fens in Oxfordshire (Lye Valley, Chilswell, Frilford Heath Ponds and Fen SSSI, and Cothill SAC) and pointed out that there were other SSSI fens in the county, privately owned, that also needed restoration. She drew attention to Hinksey Heights fen (Harcourt Hill Scrub Local Wildlife Site - owned by HInksey Heights Golf Club), which, she explained, was classified by the Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre (TVERC) as ‘scrub and wet woodland’, although the designation should have included ‘reed bed’, as the site was actually an overgrown alkaline valley-head spring fen.
As a result of the meetings, the FHT agreed to host the project and Natural England agreed to give it their support, particularly with regard to obtaining grants for the work.
A small grant for HInksey Heights fen was obtained from the Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment to cover 18 months of tree felling, scrub removal and reed cutting carried out by volunteers under the guidance of a paid contractor. Restoration work began there in July 2018 with the aim of restoring it to short fen vegetation. Volunteers work there on the second Sunday of every month.
Four other privately-owned SSSI fens are included in the project, all currently partly classified as in ‘Unfavourable’ condition; at the request of the owners, their location has not been divulged. Work on these four SSSIs is being funded by an EU Water Environment Grant secured by the Freshwater Habitats Trust.
As a result of the meetings, the FHT agreed to host the project and Natural England agreed to give it their support, particularly with regard to obtaining grants for the work.
A small grant for HInksey Heights fen was obtained from the Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment to cover 18 months of tree felling, scrub removal and reed cutting carried out by volunteers under the guidance of a paid contractor. Restoration work began there in July 2018 with the aim of restoring it to short fen vegetation. Volunteers work there on the second Sunday of every month.
Four other privately-owned SSSI fens are included in the project, all currently partly classified as in ‘Unfavourable’ condition; at the request of the owners, their location has not been divulged. Work on these four SSSIs is being funded by an EU Water Environment Grant secured by the Freshwater Habitats Trust.
Judy's interest in fens dates back to her PhD (completed in 1977) on the vegetation history of three alkaline fens in Scotland (now National Nature Reserves). She has studied and recorded the plants, invertebrates and fungi, as well as the water quality, of Oxfordshire alkaline fens since 2006 and is regularly contacted by the local branch of Natural England and by Oxford City Council about fen management.
Her particular research interests are in Cothill Fen SAC, a site of European importance, on which she has written a history for the Freshwater Habitats Trust, and the Lye Valley SSSI. These fens, which are some of the most botanically diverse habitats in England, typically occur in valleyhead and hillslope locations. They are mainly irrigated by groundwater discharge from springs and seepages, with the water table close to the surface all year round. An excellent poster created for an event covering Groundwater-dependent Ecosystems (27 February 2013), organised by the Hydrogeological Group of The Geological Society, provides detailed information. |
Marley 1 Fen (two others there now taken over by willow scrub) Judy is not involved with this fen but an Oxford University video, featuring Dr Curt Lamberth, explains how investigation of the peat is helping researchers understand the environment of Wytham Woods as far back as the last ice age: 'The Fen', the fifth video in the series The Laboratory with Leaves.
Cothill fen Hinksey Heights fen Lye Valley fens Alkaline Fens & the Importance of the Lye Valley SSSI Fens within Oxfordshire and Nationally/Internationally, Judy Webb 2014 BBOWT Wild Oxford project Judy's reports for Chilswell Valley*, Lye Valley. Raleigh Park and Rivermead Nature Park are available towards the bottom of this BBOWT website page *Read also interview with Andy Gunn about Chilswell Valley For the Wild Oxford project BBOWT are working with Oxford City Council Photos by Judy Webb of important plant species found in these Oxfordshire fens: Flowers Sedges and grasses |
Bog bean, Menyanthes trifoliata Fruits of Black Sedge, Carex nigra Marsh helleborine, Epipactis palustris
Photos by Judy Web
Photos by Judy Web