Site Code
Country: United Kingdom
Central coordinates: 52.37843938o [52o 22' 42" North], 1.00783266o [1o 0' 28" East]
Administrative region: East of England (East Norfolk, East Suffolk)
Area: 233 ha
Altitude: 21 - 43
Site Description
The IPA includes a suite of valley fens whose springs form the headwaters of the rivers Little Ouse and Waveney. Several key fenland sites are included within this IPA which between them support a wide range of wetland habitats in close proximity; the quality and quantity of springwater is key to the maintenance of the fen vegetation, the aquatic flora and also the wide array of other life that abounds in this IPA. The fens were traditionally mown or burnt but nowadays grazing is also used. Most of the sites are now nature reserves and are open to the public. The IPA includes a zone of opportunity which surrounds and joins up the core sites; this area encompasses the former extent of fens in this part of the valleys and links areas with common soil types and (until recently) landuse histories. Some of this area is already subject to restoration effort, such as at Thelnetham in the Little Ouse Headwaters Project area. The IPA includes a suite of valley fens whose springs form the headwaters of the rivers Little Ouse and Waveney. Several key fenland sites are included within this IPA which between them support a wide range of wetland habitats in close proximity; the quality and quantity of springwater is key to the maintenance of the fen vegetation, the aquatic flora and also the wide array of other life that abounds in this IPA. The fens have accordingly been adversely affected by drainage and water abstraction, as well as deepening of the River Waveney and Little Ouse channels. At Redgrave and Lopham Fen a water company borehole situated next to the fen was moved after forty years of damaging abstraction. The lowering of the water table was causing severe drawdown effects on the water table in the fen and altering the supply of groundwater to the wider area, greatly impacting the botanical diversity of this and nearby sites. Sites further afield, such as Market Weston Fen, have faired better and this is reflected in the rich flora associated with the site.
Botanical Significance
Noted for stoneworts and habitat interest.
The area is of International Importance for its stonewort assemblages, reliant on the clean base-rich spring waters, but the fens also support, between them, a wide range of wetland communities including calcareous fen vegetation with Cladium mariscus and species of the Caricion davallianae and Molinia meadows on calcareous, peaty or clayey-silt-laden soils (Molinion caeruleae); other habitats include scrub and woodland, fragments of blanket mire, wet heath and neutral grassland, making up a complex suite of habitats that render these two lengths of valley particularly diverse in landscape as well as biodiversity terms.
Thelnetham Fen is a former site for Liparia loeselii and is a likely site for reintroduction. Lopham Fen is also a former site for the endangered stonewort Nitella tenuissima, which may still be present in spore form.
Management guidance notes
Upper Waveney & Little Ouse Valley Fens
Notes
None