Where once ducks were trapped.
This is an unusual habitat, with the reeds growing through the bracken.
This decoy is the most famous in the East Fen (the last great fen to be drained). It is said to date from 1774, and survived with diminishing duck catches until 1878, when it finally went out of use. The fen had been a great source of wildfowl, but with the drainage begun in 1801 the decoy started to run down. Yet even in 1866 over one thousand ducks were taken.
The Pool was partly redug and restored in 1993, but access is now difficult because of the regrowth of trees and plants.
I could see no sign of "Decoy Pipes" as marked on the map (I went to the place where the SE decoy pipe is marked), though apparently these were not pipes as such, but nets on hoops and stakes (some of the latter are said to be still there somewhere).
See:
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For how the decoy worked see:
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There are two more former decoy woods in the area: Old Decoy, 2km to the WSW, and Pool Decoy 4km to the WNW. For details of the Decoys in the area see:
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Archive Link )