Back in 2019, Beane Marsh, close to Hertford North Station, came up for sale and a group of local residents started the process of fundraising to help buy and protect the site. Beane Marsh lies next to the River Beane, one of Hertfordshire’s rare chalk rivers and one of only 240 in the entire world – a fact that makes this habitat as rare as rainforest. The river is home to endangered Water Voles and the adjacent floodplain grassland is host to rare marsh plants and a wide variety of butterflies and dragonflies.
The Save Beane Marshes campaign succeeded in raising over £100,000 and, together with support from the Trust and funding from Hertford Town Council, the Trust was able to buy the site in 2020 so it could be managed as a nature reserve. Since then, the Trust, together with the Save Beane Marshes team, have worked hard to secure the future of the site with further funding raised for new fencing, enabling conservation grazing to take place, and the careful management of hedgerows to provide nesting sites, shelter and food for birds and other wildlife. Plans for the site also include the creation new ponds for wetland habitat and, as the site is not accessible to the public, a new information board that can been seen from the footpath on Beane Road.
In October, ‘Save Beane Marshes’ were given the CPRE Hertfordshire award for improving and protecting the environment in acknowledgment of their fundraising efforts that enabled the Trust to purchase the site back in 2020.
Speaking about this achievement, the Trust’s Director of Development Director, Emma Norrington said:
“We remain indebted to the huge fundraising effort of our friends at Save Beane Marshes and it is only fitting that their colossal achievement to save such a valuable habitat and wildlife site has been recognised with this award.”
This latest drop-in event facilitated the discussion of further plans to encourage bio-diversity at Beane Marshes, as well as encouraging the local community to take their own action for wildlife on their doorstep.
To find out more information about Beane Marsh Nature Reserve, visit our website.
Header image cc: Douglas McNab