Fenland close to West Pinchbeck is to be restored as a wildlife habitat.
Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust has purchased Bourne North Fen thanks to a £750,000 grant from Biffa.
The 50-hectare (128-acre) site, that’s currently agricultural land, will link up with Willow Tree Fen near Tongue End.
A spokesman for the Trust said it will help meet “30 per cent of the Nature Strategy for Lincolnshire target for creating this endangered fenland habitat”.
“Creating a healthy wetland will support a rich diversity of wildlife including rare species that once flourished in the Fens such as bittern, common crane, bearded tit, greater water parsnip, European eel and spined loach,” the spokesman continued.
Tammy Smalley, Head of Conservation, Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust said: “Bourne North Fen will demonstrate a pioneering way of managing water that could be replicated elsewhere and act as the key to unlock that door by providing an exemplar. Nature can provide many of the solutions facing us as a society, and Bourne North Fen will illustrate that.”
Anglian Water is match-funding the project and hoping that the development of Bourne North Fen and the lessons learnt from it will feed into the development of the new planned multi-sector reservoir currently being investigated for South Lincolnshire. The aim of this is to incorporate wetlands as part of the design for the new reservoir.
Alexa Sherry, strategic planning manager at Anglian Water said: “Bourne North Fen is an exciting project which will bring many benefits to the area. We hope to replicate this design as part of the development of our new strategic reservoir and are therefore pleased to work in partnership with Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust to deliver this pilot for improved water management.”
