Location: Needingworth, Cambridgeshire, UK
Since 1999 the RSPB has been working in a wetland creation project partnership with the minerals sector at Needingworth Quarry, one of the largest sand and gravel extraction sites in the UK, to create Ouse Fen nature reserve. With a 30-year lifespan, this carefully planned project is now more than half complete with more than 16 million tonnes of aggregates quarried from the site so far. The quarry operator, initially Heidelberg Materials (formerly Hanson UK) and now Brice Aggregates, is gradually handing the restored wetland over to the RSPB to manage in perpetuity. Following phased restoration, the reserve will include one of the largest reedbeds in Britain along with open water, scrub and rough grassland within a 700 ha nature reserve adjacent the river Great Ouse. It will form a part of a near contiguous 3,000 ha wetland that also includes the RSPB’s Fen Drayton Lakes and Ouse Washes reserves.
The project has been designed to create high value habitats for target species and incorporate significant public access. In the last 20 years the site has become important for rare species such as the secretive Bittern, known for its loud booming calls in Spring, Marsh Harrier and Bearded Tit.
- 3 sq km has been restored to wildlife-rich wetland so far.
- The site already holds up to 12 booming male Bitterns, 8 nesting Marsh Harriers and a pair of European Cranes annually.
- Water Voles and Otters have established themselves across the reserve alongside 22 different species of dragonfly.
- Around 19km of trails have been opened to date with 15,000 visitors a year.