Site Code
Country: United Kingdom
Central coordinates: 52.29673849o [52o 17' 48" North], 0.41405354o [0o 24' 50" East]
Administrative region: East of England (Cambridgeshire)
Area: 258 ha
Altitude: 11 - 16
Site Description
Chippenham Fen supports a rich variety of fenland vegetation and is seen as the main site in Britain for Cambridge milk parsley Selinum carvifolia. It contains a variety of habitats such as fen, woodland, scrub, open water, wet meadows and chalk grassland but the main vegetational interest is in the species-rich fen-meadow communities. However, the site also supports a rich aquatic flora and is of European Importance for stoneworts.
Botanical Significance
Noted for stoneworts interest. Chippenham Fen supports a rich variety of fenland vegetation and is seen as the main site in Britain for Cambridge milk parsley Selinum carvifolia. Spring flushes, chalk and neutral grassland, fen and woodland are all grazed with cattle (and water buffalo) and parts of both woodland and fen are also mown and the litter removed. The woodland areas were planted in the 1790’s and part of the site was ploughed in the WWII, now returned to grassland. This site lies 12 m above sea level, unlike other fens within Cambridgeshire that are at a lower altitude. The chalk bedrock, which outcrops in places, is overlain by a layer of clay that is then overlain by the surface layer of peat. Springs from the underlying chalk aquifer provide a supply of clean, base-rich water to the area, supporting a rich aquatic flora with a significant stonewort assemblage. The IPA also includes part of Chippenham Park and surrounding area; this is because some of the water supply from the fen arises in the Park and as run-off from surrounding land and has a significant effect on its ecology. The site qualifies as an IPA because of the presence of the designated fen type ‘Calcareous fens with Cladium mariscus and species of the Caricion davallianae’ and because of the stonewort communities of European Importance; it also supports a wide range of other species-rich vegetation types and is the main UK site for Selinum carvifolia; other species of note include Dactylorhiza incarnata var. ochroleuca (one of only 3 UK sites).
Management guidance notes
Noted for stoneworts interest
Notes
None