Dereham residents will be treated to beautiful displays of marsh orchids and many other wildflowers after plans to restore areas of threatened fen meadow in the town received a £107,000 funding boost.
Norfolk Wildlife Trust will begin a programme of scrub clearance and water control measures at Rush Meadows and
Scarning Fen later this year after receiving the money from grant-giving body WREN’s FCC Biodiversity Action Fund.
John Milton, Head of Nature Reserves, hopes the three-year project will pave the way for a lasting biodiversity corridor through the heart of the town, allowing threatened flora and fauna, including water voles and rare invertebrates to thrive.
He said: “We are extremely grateful to WREN for backing the Dereham Stream Fens project. Without support of this kind we really are in danger of losing some of our most endangered habitats, along with the rare and threatened species that rely on them for their survival.”
WREN is a not-for-profit business that awards grants for community, biodiversity and heritage projects from funds donated by FCC Environment through the Landfill Communities Fund. Dereham Stream Fens is one of 16 projects to receive a share of the £2.7m given out by WREN’s FCC Biodiversity Action Fund this year.
The fund has provided more than £19.6m worth of support to 96 projects across the UK since being launched in 2009. More than 600 sites have benefitted, with more than 23,000 hectares of priority habitat created, improved, or maintained - including heathland, reed bed, native woodland, grazing marsh, coastal floodplain and fen.
Lisa Green, WREN Operations Manager, said: “FCC Environment and WREN are committed to supporting projects that protect and expand some of the country’s most important ecosystems. That’s why we’re delighted to be funding the Dereham Stream Fens project, which will help to safeguard the future of this nationally-significant landscape for generations to come.”