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Paper short abstract:

A study of the emotional ecology of Wicken Fen, a last remnant of a vast wetland habitat. Home to many endemic organisms, the extinction of one of them in the mid-19th century--namely, the Large Copper butterfly--stimulated calls to action for the preservation of the fen and its special water-scape.

Paper long abstract:

By the end of the nineteenth century, nature lovers in Britain were experiencing a vague sense of loss, as the destructive effects of humanity upon nature were becoming harder to ignore. The fens, a type of wetland, played an important part in the British narrative of loss. My focus is on Wicken Fen, the last remnant of a landscape that used to cover all of Cambridgeshire (gradually dried through many draining schemes beginning in the 16th century).

Incredibly biodiverse in endemic butterflies, water birds, and water plants, the fen was an important area for naturalists. The extinction in the mid-nineteenth century of the Large Copper, a brilliant butterfly which could previously be found only at Wicken, shook the entomological community and reverberated to other fields of natural history. The Copper became a warning sign and symbol of loss.

Following rumours of the impending drainage of Wicken, a group of entomologists purchased a considerable portion of the land by 1897. Later bequeathed to the National Trust, it was that organisation’s first nature reserve.

This paper will look at the emotional environmental history of this fascinating wetland habitat through three sets of relationships: between naturalists and the fen (sense of loss, why they decided to preserve the fen); between the local people who lived in Wicken Village and the fen on which their livelihood depended (their connection to the fen); and between the naturalists and the local fen-people (who did the fen ‘belong’ to? Who had the right to speak for it?).