A 3-mile long Anglo-Saxon earthwork in Cambridgeshire listed for its 'downland' and rare 'plants and insects'. The Fleam Dyke is home to many rare and notable wildflowers and invertebrates. In the last 20 years a lot of work has gone into the substantial restoration and extension of the surviving flora and 2005 saw the return of the chalkhill blue butterfly, which has since substantially increased in numbers. Dark green fritillaries which are completely new to the site were also seen several times during surveys in 2011, and a female was seen egg-laying on one of the numerous clumps of hairy violet which have emerged from under the scrub.
(Above) The original SPNR survey documents for the Fleam Dyke.
The Friends of the Roman Road and Fleam Dyke have added to the work by fund raising to pay for the clearing and treatment of scrubby overgrowth, and also completing 4 – 7 work parties a year.
They have found fairy flax, mouse-ear hawkweed, horseshoe vetch, lady’s bedstraw in places which were swamped by summer growth of clematis and dewberry. But one carline thistle does not a chalk grassland make and there is a sad loss of flora across the whole 3 miles, with one exception, the clearance brought sunlight to a great deal of clustered bellflower which had been maintaining a flowerless presence on the north end of the Dyke.
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