Orchids including lesser butterfly orchid, narrow leaved marsh orchid and bog orchid, are just some of the rare species set to benefit over the next five years from £249,800 of funding to restore and recreate lowland heathland and mire habitats at
Roydon Common.
A grant from WREN, a not for profit business that awards grants generated by landfill tax through sites owned by FCC Environment, will enable Norfolk Wildlife Trust to create grassland habitats and restore rare bog and fen habitats. It will also aid the continued development of rare mire community providing vital protection for all of NWT Roydon Common’s mire systems.
Roydon Common is one of the finest examples of lowland valley mire in Europe and the largest surviving open heath in West Norfolk. It is a ‘mixed mire’, where the geology has created both acidic and base-rich conditions, upon which a great variety of plant life has developed. It is also a sanctuary for rare breeding birds, water voles, and rare plant life including woolly feather-moss; sedge species such as Dioecious sedge. Orchids will benefit too, with a possible reintroduction of the rare bog orchid.
West Norfolk Reserves Manager, Bill Boyd said: “The grant from WREN will help us to address the issue of losing mire habitats. We will be peeling back the build-up of decades of uniform species-poor overgrowth, much of which is probably the result of 100 years of air pollution, in order to reveal the original mire habitats. Some of these plant communities that will be revealed and restored are themselves internationally rare. It will be a bit like restoring a valuable old painting by removing a newer one from its surface.
“The on-going sustainability of the work will be aided through the introduction of a small herd of cattle in the latter years of the project to help maintain the condition of the mires.”
Roydon Common is an Invertebrate Site Register Grade one site, which means 13 nationally scarce invertebrate species are associated with Roydon’s Mire complex and will also benefit from the restoration and re-establishment of the mire and fen meadow communities. A host of other rare invertebrates will also benefit, including keeled skimmer and black darter dragonflies and fen raft spider.
Along with NWT Grimston Warren, Roydon is a key nature reserve in NWT's Gaywood Valley Living Landscape.
Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Roydon Common Mires project is one of 12 recipients of WREN’s Biodiversity Action Fund to receive a share of the fund this year, totalling more than £2.7 million. Other organisations to benefit include Buglife and Coille Alba.
The national fund, which is now in its sixth year, has helped support 73 projects at a total cost of £15,829,398 since 2009. More than 500 sites have benefitted from the funding including 130 sites of Special Scientific Interest and 14,000 hectares of priority habitats such as chalk streams, grassland and coastal reed beds.
Kristian Dales, sales and marketing director at FCC Environment said the number of and quality of projects applying for the biodiversity fund increases every year. “FCC Environment and WREN are together committed to supporting projects which protect, maintain and expand some of the country’s most unique ecosystems. We’re looking forward to seeing the projects take shape with help from the WREN funding, and seeing the positive impact they’ll have, helping to conserve natural spaces and species for generations to come. These projects will also help the UK meet government targets to improve and increase biodiversity.”
Conservation, biodiversity or wildlife projects that are interested in WREN’s Biodiversity Action Fund can check their eligibility by visiting
www.wren.org.uk. The next deadline for applications is 31 January 2015.