Restoring the NWT Dereham Stream Fens

Restoring the NWT Dereham Stream Fens project will enable Norfolk Wildlife Trust to deliver a more landscape scale approach to management of its Mid Norfolk reserves. After many years of NWT managing Scarning Fen, Dereham, in isolation, the opportunity to start to address the fragmentation of its reserves in the area has arisen with the acquisition of Rush Meadows SSSI, two kilometres along the Dereham Stream. The Dereham Stream forms a potentially valuable ecological corridor which includes a number of designated sites along its length.
LCF will support a three year programme of works aimed at halting the declines in the conditions of 0.75ha of rare and threatened M13 mire habitat (Scarning) and 13ha of valley fen (Rush Meadows) and also restore 3 ha of valley fen habitat in areas of former scrub on both sites and 800 m dyke (Rush Meadows). The introduction of grazing will greatly contribute to the favourable condition of 19 ha of valuable fen habitat, and provide a more sustainable approach management.