--Which is hostile to thistle-heads and puzzle-heads, and to all withered leaves and weeds:--praised be this wild, good, free spirit of the storm, which danceth upon
fens and afflictions, as upon meadows!
I looked again, and saw him standing in the middle of a boggy Stygian
fen, surrounded by devils, and he had found his bounds without a doubt, three little stones, where a stake had been driven, and looking nearer, I saw that the Prince of Darkness was his surveyor.
I judged at once that some of my shipmates must be drawing near along the borders of the
fen. Nor was I deceived, for soon I heard the very distant and low tones of a human voice, which, as I continued to give ear, grew steadily louder and nearer.
They were like great flocks of geese, or cranes, or swans on the plain about the waters of Cayster, that wing their way hither and thither, glorying in the pride of flight, and crying as they settle till the
fen is alive with their screaming.
But efforts to restore its dune and
fen homes have seen its fortunes turned around.
The
fens were previously actively managed for "marsh hay" for feed and bedding for horses in towns and cities, until the advent of the car, when land was drained for farming or became derelict and overgrown.
<B The rare
fen orchid is only found growing wild in Britain in two areas - in Kenfig sand dunes, Bridgend, and in the
fens of the Norfolk Broads
But efforts to restore its dune and
fen homes have turned it around, said charity Plantlife.
The Government's Nature Capital Committee has warned that cultivated peatlands such as the
Fens, where black "
Fen blows" blow away the dried-out soil, are losing about 1-2cm a year and emitting seven million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Some 15 landowners, from farmers to gardeners, have already signed up to the Anglesey
Fens Living Landscape Project and it's hoped more will come on board during 2019.
It might look like you're fishing in ditches but the
Fens are something special.