Looking into wetlands' ancient past

The hidden history of marshlands near a Lincolnshire town could be revealed when archaeologists start digging them up.

The work is taking place in advance of a project to create a haven for otters, water voles, birds and dragonflies at Beckingham Marshes, near Gainsborough.

A team from the University of Birmingham will be using carbon dating and analysis of buried pollen to work out what the Trent Valley looked like between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago.
This is expected to highlight an ancient wetland landscape of reedbeds and wet woodland.
It was a landscape which could have been home to prehistoric hunter-gatherer people living alongside wild boar, elk and deer.

Once the work is completed, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds will press ahead with its wildlife habitat project after securing a £32,700 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
RSPB has been working with the Environment Agency to draw up a 10-year plan to turn Beckingham Marshes – once rich in birds and animals – back into an oasis of nature.
A series of public meetings have been taking place to give people the chance to contribute to the bid to create one of Britain's biggest wetland wildlife reserves.

It already has full planning permission from Bassetlaw District Council, approved last November – and Natural England is supporting the project under the Countryside Stewardship scheme.
A public meeting about the project take place tomorrow at 6.30pm at Gainsborough House, Parnell Street, Gainsborough.

And further meetings take place at 7.30pm on Wednesday in Walkeringham Village Hall, on Thursday in Beckingham Primary School and on Wednesday, July 1, at Gringley on the Hill Village Hall.

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