Ouse Washes is a linear biological Site of Special Scientific Interest stretching from near St Ives in Cambridgeshire to Downham Market in Norfolk, England. It is also a Ramsar internationally important wetland site, a Special Protection Area for birds, a Special Area of Conservation and a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. An area of between March and Ely is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire and another area near Chatteris is managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust manages another area near Welney.

The site lies between the Old Bedford River in the north-west and the New Bedford River in the south-east. The Washes are a flood storage area and are often under water in the winter. It is internationally significant for wintering and breeding wildfowl and waders, especially teal, pintail, Eurasian wigeon, shoveler, pochard and Bewick's swans. The site also has rich aquatic fauna and flora, and areas of unimproved grassland.

History

After the last glaciation between 100,000 and 10,000 years ago the sea level in eastern England was about lower than at present. As the ice retreated during the Mesolithic, the sea level rose, filling what is now the North Sea, and bringing the Norfolk coastline much closer to its present line. Coastal woodland was drowned by the returning sea and slowly degraded to peat overlying deposits of marine clays and creating the Fens.

Prior to the seventeenth century the Fens of eastern England were tidal marshland, frequently flooded and suitable for little more than summer grazing. In 1630, King Charles I granted a drainage charter to the 4th Earl of Bedford and his Adventurers, who constructed the Old Bedford River between Earith, Cambridgeshire and Downham Market, Norfolk, to facilitate drainage of the large area that became known as the Bedford Level. The Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden was engaged to complete the project and constructed the New Bedford River parallel to the old. The start of the works was interrupted by the English Civil War, but recommenced under Oliver Cromwell in 1649, and was completed in 1656.

Water control

The Ouse Washes are part of the system for controlling the flow of the Great Ouse when water levels in the river are high. In normal conditions, the waters of the Great Ouse run through the New Bedford River (or Hundred Foot Drain) to join the tidal stretch of the river at Welmore Lake Sluice, where another automatic system controls outflow. High water levels open the automatic sluice at Earith, thereby releasing water to the Old Bedford River, which eventually overflows onto the washland between the Bedford rivers, with the Welmore automatic sluice controlling outflow. When levels drop, the washes drain back into the Old Bedford River.

The washland area between the rivers is long and about wide and acts as a floodplain during the winter and, increasingly, also in the summer. The area between the outer barrier banks of the two artificial rivers covers about . As the peat underlying the Fens has dried out through drainage, it has shrunk and lowered the level of the washlands, making flooding more frequent.

By 2010, the three conservation bodies owned of the site. is held by other organisations, including the Fenland Wildfowlers Association (, the Spalding & District Wildfowlers Association ( and private individuals. The wildfowling clubs work closely with the conservation bodies to protect breeding birds.

The Ouse Washes Landscape Partnership scheme (OWLP) was a £1 million, 3-year project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund which ran from 2014 to 2017. The scheme focused on the promotion of the area surrounding the Ouse Washes, the heart of the Cambridgeshire and Norfolk Fens, and on encouraging community engagement with the area's diverse heritage. The area is mostly within of the SSSI but outside the barrier walls. A survey of the ditches showed that they were important for amphibians water voles, dragonflies and damselflies. More than 100 water beetle species included five for which the Fens are their national stronghold, and the 175 drain plants included eight of conservation concern.

RSPB Ouse Washes

thumb|An RSPB hide overlooking the [[Old Bedford River]]

RSPB Ouse Washes is a nature reserve, managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds at Welches Dam. It is signposted from Manea village which is east of Chatteris on the A142/A141 between Ely and March. The RSPB facilities also cover the area owned by WTBCN.

The reserve is on the western side of the washes, south of the A1101 road. Its unstaffed visitor centre is open from 9 am to 5 pm, the car park, toilets and the reserve itself are always open, but there is no shop. There are two birds hides south of the visitor centre, the nearer, from the centre, is wheelchair accessible, the further is . there are six hides north of the visitor centre, the furthest being from the centre. In wet conditions, the path along the bank can be very muddy.

WWT Welney Wetland Centre

thumb|Welney Wetland Centre: the bridge accesses the hides

The of the Welney Wetland Centre is one of ten wildfowl and wetland reserves managed by the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT). It lies north of the A1101 road where it crosses the washes. It has a visitor centre and café, and viewing facilities include an observatory with two wing hides. There is a further bird hide south of the observatory and four to the north. All the main hides are accessible except the third to the north. There are also some two-person hides accessed by steps. Road access to the reserve car park is via Hundred Foot Bank, Welney, Norfolk.

There is an entry charge for non-members of the WWT. The visitor centre is open from 10 am to 4 pm, although the café closes at 3.30 pm.

Extensions

Increased summer flooding led to declines in the numbers of breeding waders from the 1970s onwards, and to counteract this areas of former farmland adjacent to the washes were acquired and converted to wet grassland. The WWT's Lady Fen is adjacent to the Welney Wetland Centre and was converted from farmland between 2007 and 2013. The RSPB, WWT and WTBCN have also modified land adjacent to the RSPB reserve. The eventual aim is to expand this to , although as of 2022 only had been acquired. The total additional area of the "new" meadows is . More than 12,500 whooper swans wintered in 2021, about 5% of the world population. The number of Bewick's swans reaching the UK has fallen dramatically in the current century, as milder winters encourage them to remain in continental Europe, but several hundred still visit the washes. a Ramsar internationally important wetland site, a Special Protection Area for birds, a Special Area of Conservation, and a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I.

Notes

References

Further reading

  • RSPB Ouse Washes
  • WWT Welney
  • SPA designation
  • The Ouse Washes Website