New Nature Reserve for South Lincs

Saturday, 21 September 2024 14:12

It's hoped a new South Lincolnshire Nature Reserve can help the environment, reduce flooding, and provide a new habitat for birds and insects.

Bourne North Fen is a new 55 hectare wetland area, and yesterday partners gathered at Thetford Farm Estate at Baston to share knowledge about the project.

Rutland TV presenter and author Julia Bradbury also went along to see the site:

"It would also be really important in the fight against climate change because there's peat underneath us here and that peat, as we know, is a really good way to store carbon and if it just continues to degrade and disappear, that carbon will be released. So every reason not to let that happen and also to let it store more carbon. And the other thing that it will do for the area is it will supply an important source of. water, filtered water, that can be used and utilized in all sorts of ways from drinking water to perhaps use in agriculture or maybe even use in hydrogen technology. So a massively important project for multiple reasons."

Tammy Smalley, head of conservation at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust says the site between Bourne and Baston will support farmers and wildlife.

"Bourne North Fen will deliver carbon storage and carbon capture over time as it gets wetter because it's got peatlands. It will deliver flood risk management in a flood spate event on the Bourn Eau. We will use excess water and polish it through all of the reed beds and provide that water on either into the natural environment or to the farming community or to Anglian water towards the South Link Reservoir in time. We will also be thinking about what species we want to reintroduce there that may create a buzz, so the local economy also gets that benefit.

So we'd like to bring swallow tailed butterflies back to Lincolnshire. We've already got breeding cranes, but let's face it, they'll move in over time as well. But other species such as great water parsnip, absolutely fabulous for pollinators. So that'll help all of our farmers."