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If it weren't for beetles and other creepy crawlies, Wicken Fen wouldn't be a wildlife preserve at all - just another wildlife free zone. In the 19th century there was a beetle collecting craze. People like Charles Darwin would come up from Cambridge to hunt on the fen for beetles. However, the fens were being drained for farmland. Fortunately in 1899 the bug collectors had a whip round and bought a couple of acres of the fen for 拢10 and gave it to the National Trust to look after. They've been adding bits and pieces to that land ever since. It's not just cream teas and country houses, keeping a reserve like this is hard work. The scrub has to be cut back - this landscape is man-made and has to be maintained. The other thing that saved Wicken Fen was a rather special plant - the Great Fen saw sedge. Wicken Fen is famous for it. It has sharp edges that would easily slice open a finger and is used for thatching cottages.