The National Trust has acquired a further 70 acres (28 hectares) of land adjoining Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire, in efforts to protect more of the precious fenland habitat and to help more rare animals and birds including turtle doves.
The turtle dove used to be a frequent visitor to the UK following its annual migratory path from breeding grounds in mid-summer through western Europe to wintering grounds in west Africa. But, since the 1970s, numbers have been in sharp decline in this country and this ‘dainty dove’ is now under threat from global extinction due to habitat loss, food shortages and unsustainable levels of hunting.
The UK had around 2,100 breeding pairs of turtle dove according to a survey in 2021 and the best places to spot them are East Anglia and south-east England, where hundreds of farmers, landowners and conservation organisations are working with ‘Operation Turtle Dove’ to restore turtle dove habitat on farmlands and reverse their decline.
Wicken Fen, an internationally significant National Nature Reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest, was the first nature reserve to be acquired by the National Trust, with two acres bought in 1899. The reserve has since expanded to over 2,000 acres (809 hectares), supporting over 9,300 species, and this recent addition was made possible by legacies and donations from the public to support the Wicken Fen Vision and the purchase of land for nature.
Some of the newly acquired landscape will be used to support turtle doves and other farmland birds, thanks to a £58,000 grant from Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme and generous donations towards hedgerow tree planting.
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Posted On: 15/12/2023