For more than 100 years, Wicken Fen has been the source of valuable research data. Some of the most eminent naturalists and scientists in the world have studied the habitats of Wicken Fen and the species to be found here, such as Sir Arthur Tansley, Sir Harry Godwin and Dr Max Walters.

There are many research projects underway at any time. Some of them, like the Wicken bird ringing project - the longest-running project of its kind in the UK, require long-term recording of data. Other studies have specific short-term aims like the re-introduction of threatened species or improved understanding of fen soils, water chemistry and restored habitats.

An innovative 5-year research project to monitor and evaluate the fen restoration projects at both Wicken Fen and the Great Fen has recently been completed. This project was funded by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and based at Anglia Ruskin University under the supervision of Dr. Francine Hughes. A number of scientific publications have been produced by this project, and we have a superb set of data on the developing vegetation and soils. In addition, we have a set of aerial photographs that provide a detailed view of the site and its habitats in 2007 and 2012. More about this Project can be found here, including a link to download to this excellent handbook:- Stroh, P. and Hughes, F.M.R. (2010) Practical approaches to wetland monitoring: Guidelines for landscape-scale, long-term projects. 45pp

We are keen to support further research work at Wicken Fen, but we do need to co-ordinate these activities. If you wish to carry out research at Wicken, please start by filling in the Form available on this webpage, and email it to the address on the form.

There is a range of other research underway on the Wicken Fen Vision, on topics such as soil carbon, beetle communities, water chemistry, land use, bird populations, and aquatic insects including dragonflies.

Many hundreds of scientific articles, reports and papers have been published about Wicken Fen and the vicinity. Dr Terry Rowell produced a bibliography of those published up to 1985. This has been updated subsequently by Adrian Colston, Stuart Warrington and Laurie Friday (2008).

PHOTO: Dr Dave Aldridge studying bitterling in Wicken Lode