The Wideness of Skies and the Tiniest of Creatures

Today I met my friend L for a catch up at Wicken Fen just outside Ely. It's a National Trust nature reserve that I've not been to before, but I'll definitely be back. It's a really beautiful site, my title is the strap-line the NT use for it. After tea and cake in the cafe, we went on an hour's boat trip down Wicken Lode and back as seen in my main photo. The guide gave us an interesting talk about the Fen, its history, wildlife and proposed development. Then after lunch we walked around Sedge Fen and the woodland walk, passing the windpump in my Extra. Lots of butterflies and dragonflies still out and about on a glorious hot and sunny day. 

Millions of years ago the lowlands of East Anglia were flooded which created peat bogs, which in turn created the fens. This landscape still exists at Wicken Fen, which is good for flora and fauna (over 9,000 species have been recorded there) and good for the planet as the peat stores carbon. The Wicken Fen Vision project is the NT's largest lowland landscape restoration project and will expand the reserve dramatically.