Where are the Fens located in England?
eastern England
Fens, also called Fenland, natural region of about 15,500 sq mi (40,100 sq km) of reclaimed marshland in eastern England, extending north to south between Lincoln and Cambridge.
Where are the Lincolnshire Fens?
The Fens is an area of 400,000 hectares, stretching from Lincoln and Boston in the North, Cambridge to the South and Peterborough to the West. It includes large parts of the counties of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire and smaller parts of Norfolk and Suffolk.
Are there Fens in Suffolk?
The Fens, also known as the Fenlands, in eastern England is a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species….
The Fens | |
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Region | East of England and East Midlands |
Counties | Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk; parts of Suffolk and Huntingdonshire |
Area |
Why did they drain the Fens?
Was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until he was beheaded in 1649. Charles understood that draining the Fens would reveal the super-fertile peat soil just beneath the water, making it ideal for farming. He saw this as a way of making money by collecting taxes from the farmers.
What kind of animals live in fens?
Fens are often found near bogs and over time most fens become bogs. Insects like mosquitoes and horseflies are common in fens as are amphibians, insect-eating birds, and insect-eating mammals like shrews, voles, and muskrats.
Are the fens sinking?
Since the major draining works began, the fenlands have fallen to such an extent that they reside substantially below sea level. With the lowering of the water table, the entire soil profile has shrunk like a dried-out sponge.
What towns are in the fens?
Visit Cambridgeshire Fens The four vibrant market towns – Whittlesey, Chatteris, March and Wisbech, the ‘capital of the fens’ – are rich in history and well worth a visit in their own right.
Is Ely below sea level?
The largest of the fen-islands is the Isle of Ely, on which the cathedral city of Ely was built; its highest point is 39 m above mean sea-level.
Are the Fens man made?
The great works of large-scale drainage of the mid-seventeenth century in Fenland that followed, like the Old and New Bedford Rivers and the Denver Sluice, are some of the largest man-made landscape features in England. Fenland led the way in the use of a ‘new’ technology, the windmill.
Are the Fens sinking?
How do you identify a fen?
Fens are peatlands characterized by a high water table, but with very slow internal drainage by seepage. Similar to bogs, the surface water in fens is also generally nutrient poor and the peat layer is at least 40 cm thick.
What is the difference between fen and bog?
Although both bogs and fens are similar types of wetlands as they are both considered peatlands, what sets them apart from each other is the source of their water supply. Fens typically are fed by a steady source of ground water whereas bogs are usually enclosed depressions filled by rain water.