​The Kingfishers Bridge nature reserve has been committed principally to restoring the lost native habitats of fenland wildlife.  In this mission it has adopted a ‘wildlife-first’ approach – ensuring that the most cost effective and best suited habitat provision is made for the success of each targeted species. Since 1994 over 250 acres of farm land has been transformed into a variety of wetland and meadow habitats, recreating  many of the processes and physical variety that is present in natural ecosystems.  This strikingly new approach was largely due to the vision of Andrew Green, the farmer who owned the family farm and who founded the Kingfishers Bridge reserve. We record and monitor wildlife throughout the year to better understand what impacts on wildlife, at all levels, and so  act to improve conservation management in the Fens and beyond. Over the last 25 years, this experimental and scientific approach to wildlife conservation has produced a huge range of habitat diversity and some exceptional wildlife outcomes.

​The Kingfishers Bridge Wetland Creation Trust (Reg. Charity No. 1078882) works to provide funding for our projects and research, testing existing management techniques and trialling new methods.
 
This approach has led to a number of important success stories, both on an environmental level and for the wildlife that thrives here.  For example, at a time when reed bed establishment was costing several thousand pounds an acre for wildlife projects, Kingfishers Bridge was able to use information, born out of reed seed germination studies, to propagate nearly 50 acres of reed bed for a total of only £28.50: a much more achievable sum for a small wildlife project.  Within a few years this reed bed was home to the first successfully fledged Bitterns in Cambridgeshire since 1936 and the first to be reared in an artificially created reed bed in the UK!

​Experimentation and recording of outcomes at Kingfishers Bridge is ongoing: find out more on our Projects page.  We share our work and outcomes at many levels including through the involvement of schools, university groups, specialist organisations etc.. At our Liaison Days we engage with professional conservationists who both learn from us and advise us on best practice. The annual August Open Day is aimed at raising the local awareness of wildlife and conservation, with many fun activities and events throughout the day to engage the next generation who will protect the natural world.