Much of the management tries to recreate the old systems of fen working that persisted for hundreds of years, allowing species to become dependent on the practices.

The sedge-cutting has resulted in an array of animals, fungi, and plants colonizing the area that depend on regular clearance of the sedge in order to survive.

[13]) As part of the management plan for Wicken Fen, Konik ponies and Highland cattle have been introduced to some areas for grazing, in order to prevent scrub from regrowing.

It is a small smock wind pump, which was built by Hunt Brothers Millwrights, Soham, in 1908 at nearby Adventurers' Fen (see below) for drainage of peat workings.

In a reversal of its original function, it now raises water from the drainage channel, through a height of 4 feet (1.2 m), to maintain the level in the reed beds.

Many nationally rare species have been recorded, including the swallowtail butterfly until its decline and eventual loss from the fen in the 1950s, and despite an attempt to reintroduce it.

The Fen's long association with science, especially nearby Cambridge University, continues to the present day with scientists actively involved in the management of the reserve.

The visitor centre has a permanent exhibition of information about Wicken Fen, its history and ecological importance.

Concerns centred on the issues of loss of agricultural land and increases in levels of local traffic and mosquito populations.

[24] As part of the Vision project, the National Trust, in conjunction with Sustrans, opened a sustainable transport route connecting Wicken Fen with Anglesey Abbey and Bottisham.

The project, originally called the Wicken Fen Spine Route, includes the construction of a series of new bridges over the man-made waterways known as Lodes.

In July 2008, the new Swaffham Bulbeck Lode bridge and a half-mile cycle and bridleway path across White Fen were opened.

The designated national nature reserve of 269 hectares also includes the area around the Mere, to the south of Wicken Lode.

The area south of the Lode is called "Adventurers' Fen" and consists of rough pasture (grading from dry to wet grassland), reedbed and pools.

The dykes, abandoned clay pits and other watercourses carry a great wealth of aquatic plants and insects, many of which are uncommon elsewhere.

The Fen has received a great deal of recording effort and as a result, huge species lists have accumulated.

The Lepidoptera fauna is very rich also, especially moths, with more than 1000 species including the nationally rare reed leopard and marsh carpet.

Bird species recorded living at the site include great crested grebe, cormorant, gadwall, teal, sparrowhawk, water rail, kingfisher, snipe, woodcock, great spotted and green woodpeckers; and barn, little, tawny, long-eared and short-eared owls.

Ectomycorrhizal fungi, which typically prefer well-drained soils, are few: despite the presence of substantial oaks on fairly open, moderately dry ground in the reserve's carr thickets, oak-specific mycorrhizal toadstools are largely and perhaps wholly absent.