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Fen Management Handbook - Scottish Natural Heritage

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Mesotrophic openwater<br />

transition fen<br />

at Berrington Pool,<br />

Shropshire with bottle<br />

sedge, slender sedge,<br />

yellow loosestrife<br />

and white water lily<br />

(Nymphaea alba)<br />

(I. Diack).<br />

Water horsetail, which<br />

can form single species<br />

stands in standing water<br />

up to and around 1m<br />

deep. St. David’s Airfield,<br />

Pembrokeshire (I. Diack).<br />

Brimstone on alder<br />

buckthorn, Shomere Pool,<br />

Shropshire (I. Diack)<br />

Wooded areas of fen, also known as fen-carr, are dominated by willows (Salix<br />

spp.), alder (Alnus glutinosa) and birch (Betula spp.). Scarcer woody species<br />

associated with fens include buckthorn (Rhamnus catharticus) and alder buckthorn<br />

(Frangula alnus), both food plants of the brimstone butterfly (Gonepteryx rhamni).<br />

The understorey of shade-tolerant fen plants can include uncommon species such<br />

as marsh fern (Thelypteris palustris) and elongated sedge (Carex elongata). These<br />

wet fen woodlands give the impression of a primeval swampy wilderness, with huge<br />

up-standing tussocks of greater tussock sedge emerging from peat-stained water<br />

amongst gnarly alders, over which large mosquitoes and dragonflies hawk and<br />

hover.<br />

23

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