Reflecting on a Dry January

The newly installed weir at High Fen Wildland, with a higher water level clearly visible on the ‘wet’ side, despite little rainfall.

by Matthew Hay

2025 is now well underway and at High Fen we’ve been reflecting on the achievements of the first phase of our peatland restoration project. Thanks to funding from the Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme, administered by our partner the Fens East Peatland Partnership, we were able to design and install a cut-off trench across the southwestern corner of High Fen Wildland. This cut-off trench uses in-situ chalk marl, or a geotextile membrane, to create an impermeable seal below the surface of the soil, which will stop groundwater escaping northeast to the Cut-Off Channel – an enormous drain installed in the 1950s to protect against flooding in the Fens. The results of our groundworks are encouraging, with a clear rise in the water table on the ‘wet’ side of the cut-off trench !

High Fen’s flooded fields in January 2024

However, it has also been astonishing to see just how dry the Wildland is this year, compared to January 2024. Like a ski resort with no snow, this Dry Fen feels like it is missing its winter essence – water – and with it the wildlife that relies on wetland habitats. Last year, we had water everywhere. Thousands of wigeon, teal, shoveler and mallard wheeled about in the skies above our wetlands, trying to avoid the attention of numerous harriers patrolling the marsh. We had huge flocks of Whooper and Bewick swans roosting on the submerged fields overnight and green sandpipers probing the mud around their edges. The squeals of water rail were often heard and up to seven short-eared owls would be out every afternoon, quartering the rush pastures in the golden light of mid-winter.

A whooper swan drifts serenely through the marsh.

For the team at High Fen, this Dry January has made two things starkly clear. The first is that with a rapidly changing climate, we’re going to experience hugely variable weather. Record wet years will precede record dry and our restoration needs to be resilient to these extremes. It is for this reason that we are applying to install additional syphons across the site, which will abstract water during the winter months only, helping to alleviate flooding in the wider region.

The second is that for a fenland ecosystem, water is life. The silence of a dry, High Fen this January has furthered our motivation to forge ahead with re-wetting this special place, so that every winter going forward, the skies will be filled with the noise and spectacle of a abundant wildlife – just as the Fens should be.