Lunch time speaker meeting with Christopher Hainsworth

Chris Hainsworth manages Chippenham Fen National Nature Reserve for Natural England. The talk will be about the wildlife and management of this biodiversity rich reserve. 

Chippenham Fen is a nationally and internationally import wetland habitats and associated plants and insects.  There are large areas of tall herb rich fen and short fen grassland, calcareous grassland, neutral grassland, woodland, mixed scrub and open water.  The meadows are grazed by a small herd of Asian Water buffalo.  The plant life is very diverse and includes a number of uncommon species, particularly in the damp meadows with more than 400 species of wild flowers including the main British site for the rare plant Cambridge Milk Parsley.  More than 500 species of moths occur, including fen specialties such as the Silver Barred and Reed Leopard moth. Many nationally scarce and rare invertebrates have been found here, and 10 species are known in the UK only from this site. The rare spider Rosser’s Sac Spider was first found and described from Chippenham Fen. There is an interesting mix of bird species and it is one of the best sites for breeding Woodcock in Cambridgeshire.