Thriving Communities Fund - Grant Success

Little Ouse Headwaters Project (LOHP) has been awarded funding through Anglian Water’s Thriving Communities Fund to help us deliver year 3 of our ‘Ponds for the Future’ project on Webbs Fen that will see a network of ponds created benefiting wildlife and communities on the Norfolk/Suffolk border.

Anglian Water Thriving Communities Fund Logo

The funding will support the third year of our pond project on Webbs Fen, which is part of our wider pond strategy to create a network of wetland and pond habitats across our reserves. We have just completed year 1 of the project where we created 6 ponds, which was a great success and have funding secured for year 2 for an additional 6 ponds to be created and now year 3 from Anglian Water, for a further 6 ponds to be created which will help to protect the local water environment, while engaging with the local communities.

Anglian Water Thriving Communities Fund - Water Image

The funded project will include:

• Creation of 6 wildlife ponds on Webbs Fen in 2028

• Provide tools and equipment for volunteers

• Informing and educating local communities about the importance of ponds, by funding a special pond edition of our newsletter ‘News from the Ouse’

LOHP Conservation Manager, Ellie Beach said: “This funding will make a huge difference enabling us to complete the third year of our ‘Ponds for the Future’ project on Webbs Fen, creating a further 6 ponds bringing the total to 18 new ponds for wildlife. Creating wetland habitats which will cope with a changing climate, protecting the species that live in and use them for the future. While educating the local community about the importance of our water environment.”

A spokesperson for Anglian Water said: “Through our Thriving Communities Fund, we’re proud to support community‑led projects that are helping to protect and enhance the natural environment while delivering real benefits for local communities. This funding is part of how we’re Building for Better, working in partnership to deliver positive, long‑term outcomes across our region.”

The fund is delivered in partnership with Cambridgeshire Community Foundation, who manage the application process and distribution of grants.

Surprising discovery along the Little Ouse

We have been putting out wildlife cameras for many years along the headwaters of the Little Ouse, especially as part of our Otter and Water Vole studies (Langston, R. & Rivett, A. 2020; Langston, R. et al. 2022), and have collected some lovely video and audio clips of many different species. These clips include Otters feeding, social interactions between Otters, a Fox reluctantly getting its feet wet, wintering Chiffchaff flycatching, Kingfisher “beating” its Bullhead prey prior to swallowing it, and many more insights to the comings and goings of local wildlife.

Otters © Arthur Rivett

Imagine our surprise when a recent clip recorded a mammal we had not seen before along the river: a BEAVER! We have no idea where this Beaver has come from. It is possibly an escapee from one of the licensed releases into “secure” enclosures, or it might be an illegal release. We are investigating possible origins.

Image of European Beaver in Devon © Arthur Rivett

Either way, it has stayed around for a while now, and we are starting to find feeding signs. Our camera footage includes it feeding on Willow twigs. We first recorded it on camera on 2nd November. Beavers have been extinct in Britain for several hundred years and Otters around now, are likely to have had little or no prior experience of Beavers. We will continue to monitor activity and signs, along with our other mammal recording. Beavers are mainly crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk) or nocturnal, so you are more likely to see signs than the Beaver. Please respect the wildlife that shares the valley with us and don’t try to search for it, which is likely to cause disturbance.

Tree gnawed by a Beaver © Ellie Beach

Wood chips a sign that a Beaver has been at work © Ellie Beach

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/6f333c_ecb9571d02b545199b53c55b6e7423c1/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Beaver recorded on wildlife camera on Little Ouse Nov 2025 © LOHP

Langston, R. & Rivett, A. (2020). Otter diet along the upper Little Ouse. In, Suffolk Natural History: Transactions of the Suffolk Naturalists’ Society 56:1-12

Langston, R., R. Minter, J. McCormack, E. Beach & R. Langston (2022). Water Vole activity monitoring along the Little Ouse Headwaters. Transactions of the Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists’ Society 55: 34-42

LOHP's Newest Reserve

With the purchase of Prince Freddy’s Meadows, 27 acres (11ha) of pasture and woodland beside the infant Little Ouse at Blo’ Norton, the Little Ouse Headwaters Project has taken on by far its most ambitious project yet. The meadows are named after Prince Frederick Duleep Singh, who lived at nearby Blo’ Norton Hall from 1909 to 1926. This fascinating piece of land would also have been familiar to Virginia Woolf, who stayed at Blo’ Norton Hall in 1906, and who wrote affectionately of the area and even swam in the river.

Aerial view of riverside land in Blo' Norton © Strutt and Parker

Over the years the land, and the flow of the river, has been much altered, so the LOHP faces the formidable challenge of restoring it to its former glory. It has interesting wildlife, with otters and water voles, breeding mandarin ducks and visiting red deer, but has the potential to be much richer. 

Mandarin Duck © David Tomlinson

Ellie Beach, LOHP’s Conservation Manager, warns that “It will require a year of intensive study of the topography and existing flora and fauna before any work on the land is undertaken. Our aim is to eventually restore the old meandering course of the Little Ouse and to bring back the rich biodiversity that the meadows must have once had.”

Chair of Trustees, Rob Robinson, commented "LOHP was started by volunteers 23 years ago with the aim of improving the habitat along the headwaters of the Little Ouse, which is nationally very rare. This land is a vital piece in the jigsaw and its restoration, although daunting, has the potential to become a real haven for wildlife."

There is currently no public access to Prince Freddy’s Meadows, but LOHP plans to provide access points where there are good views of the river as part of its plans to restore the site. Join us at our AGM on Friday 5th December to hear more about Prince Freddy's Meadows, or come along and visit on Sunday 11th January 2026 - See Events page for more details or visit Prince Freddy's Meadows webpage.

Donations to help restore Prince Freddy's Meadows can be made to LOHP at JustGiving.