“This fen seems to boast just about every botanical rarity possible for its small size – a classic example
of just how rich a valley fen can be.”

Reserve news: We have extended Market Weston Fen!

With over 250 flowering plants, 20 species of butterflyincluding white admiral and grayling, and 200 types of moth such as the oak eggar and dotted fan-foot Market WestonFen is a wildlife paradise. It comes as no surprise to learnthat it is one of the finest fragments of valley fen inEast Anglia and is nationally and internationally important for wildlife.

A public footpath passes through the fen, or you can take the circular waymarked trail to explore other areas of the reserve. This takes you up onto higher ground and into a patchwork of scrub, heath and ponds before leading you back to the open fen, which is dominated by sedge beds.

Most of the sedge fen, used commercially to cap thatched roofs, is cut every 3-5 years. Fen meadow areas are cut annually. This regular harvesting allows a superb display of flowering fen plants to thrive particularly marsh lousewort, purple loosestrife, grass-of-Parnassus, marsh helleborine and insectivorous sundew.

Purple loosestrife grows by the pond

Birds like snipe, sedge, reed and grasshopper warbler breed in the open fen and nightingale nest in the scrub. Keep a look out for kingfisher darting along the stream and the secretive common lizard basking in the sun.

Other Trust reserves nearby: Hopton Fen, Thelnetham Fen

To obtain protein, insectivorous plants like round leaved sundew trap and digest small insects