TRANSACTIONS SPIDERS
FROM
FENS I N
THE by
REDGRAVE,
AND
HOPTON
LITTLE
OUSE
VALLEYS
DR. E . A . G . DUFFEY, B.SC.,
PH.D.
WAVENEY
LOPHAM
AND
INTRODUCTION
THE plant ecology of the valley-fens which survive around the head-waters of the Little Ouse and Waveney Rivers has recently been described by Bellamy and Rose (1960). Most of these fen relics are now scattered and relatively small in area but one large section of maior importance remains unspoilt on the Waveney side of the watershed of which three-quarters (Little, Middle and Great Fens) lie in Norfolk, and the remainder (Redgrave Fen) in East Suffolk. The nearest villages are Redgrave on the south side and North Lopham on the north, and all four fens are usually referred to as Redgrave and Lopham Fens. Hopton Fen (approximately 28 acres), which is not described by Bellamy and Rose, lies three and a half miles vvest of the main fen area in the Valley of a small tributary to the Little Ouse in West Suffolk. The few acres of wet fen which may still be found there are largely dominated by the sa- Âťsedge (Cladium mariscus) which grows in and around numerous water-filled pits and depressions which are the remains of old peat cuttings. The Redgrave and Lopham Fens complex covers a little over 300 acres and is the largest and finest example of its type remaining in East Anglia for richness of flora and fauna. Difficulties of drainage and its status as common land are the main factors responsible for its preservation to the present day. Other relic fens in the same general area still exist at Weston, Thelnetham, Hinderclay and Bio Norton. All the surviving Valley fens which have been mentioned have been scheduled by the Nature Conservancy as Sites of Special Scientific Interest under Section 23 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act, 1949. Scheduling requires the Nature Conservancy to notify the scientific interest to the local authority, so that consultation can take place before any proposed development of the area is approved. It does not permit any interference with ownership rights and if these exceptionally interesting areas are to be preserved, some positive action must be taken by a conservation Organisation, to safeguard them in the future and provide protection against the everincreasing threats to uncommitted land of this type.