The 'Grimston Wetscapes’ project saw us carry out incredible restorations of parts of Roydon Common and Tony Hallatt Memorial Reserve, thanks to £210,350 from the FCC Communities Foundation as part of the Landfill Communities Fund. Both sites form part of a huge area of globally important wildlife habitats, including wetlands, woodlands and heathland. 

Together, these sites represent one of the most important lowland wetland and heath landscapes in the UK. The sites support an incredibly diverse range of plant and insect life, including many species that are rare or threatened in the UK. Historically, these sites would have formed part of a vast chain of wetlands, but due to drainage, afforestation and development, almost all of these have now been lost.   

Over the past two years, we have brought back more natural water flows across the sites, undoing damage caused by long-term land drainage systems and building on decades of previous work to restore the sites for wildlife.  

A vital part of the project saw us successfully restore a ‘ghost stream’ that had lain dry for more than two hundred years, its life-giving waters diverted into a steep-sided drainage channel. By combining different data sources, we were able to plot its original course, and careful excavation made sure the stream would hold just the right amount of water along its course to benefit a variety of wildlife and plants throughout the year. 

Rare plant species are now bursting into life across the sites, including round-leaved sundew - the insect-eating, wetland specialists - and lesser cow-horn bog moss. Scarce dragonflies dart glittering paths across newly created pools, and the restored stream now counts a wonderful array of wildlife including kingfishers, otters and invertebrates like the wonderfully-named green-footed peacock beetle as regular visitors. 

Thanks to new deer fencing, flower-rich glades are beginning to grow among dense tangles of scrub – a rare habitat in the UK that we hope will soon be filled with the sweet song of scarce bird species such as willow warbler. 

The removal of large areas of purple moor grass, which was smothering the ground’s surface, has allowed special fenland plants to grow once again, allowing them to carry out the important job of creating more peatland. 

As well as supporting rare wildlife, this work means that West Norfolk is home to even more healthy, functioning peatlands - the most important UK habitat for carbon storage, crucial in helping to combat the impacts of climate change.  

Ash Murray, our West Norfolk Reserves Manager, explains: ‘The beauty of wetland restoration is that results can be rapid and dramatic. Four months after restoring the first section of the ghost stream, pied wagtails darted and flitted over the banks catching emerging insects. The first pair of oystercatchers to successfully breed on the reserve chaperoned their gangly-legged chicks along the gravelly banks and new plants started to grow in and around the stream, including marsh lousewort, marsh arrowgrass and a species of stonewort. 

‘It’s a source of great hope to see wildlife respond so quickly to our efforts - we have created a flourishing wetland for wildlife that is also more resilient to future changes in our climate, so it’s good for us, as well as nature.’ 

FCC Communities Foundation is a not-for-profit business that awards grants for community projects through the Landfill Communities Fund. 

Cheryl Raynor, FCC Community Foundations Grant Manager, says: ‘We are delighted to have supported Norfolk Wildlife Trust to deliver this exciting and important project. To be involved in the restoration of globally important wildlife habitats is a privilege. Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard over the past 2 years to bring this to fruition.’