Tuesday 25 March 2014

The season is near

 Rachael Wright, Isabelle Mudge and David Fieldhouse: Seasonal Education Officers

Spring has officially begun, the sun is out and the education season is about to start.
We - the new Seasonal Education Officers for 2014 - have just finished two weeks of induction training. We’ve been very busy visiting lots of fantastic nature reserves and sites across Norfolk. So far we’ve visited Roydon Common, Hickling Broad, Cley Marshes, West Runton, Ranworth Broads, Holme Dunes and Foxley Wood! We were lucky enough to be treated to guided walks with the wardens at all of the reserves and were inspired by their wealth of knowledge.

If you would like to visit one of our nature reserves, take a look at the nature reserves pages on the new website to get all the information.

It’s great to get out into the field and see where we will be spending our summer. This time of year is particularly inspiring, as everything starts to wake up and new life begins to appear. We’ve already had some amazing encounters with nature. At NWT Roydon Common, Jonathan the warden led us quietly in search of an animal waking up for the season. We listened for the rustling of grass, and looked under the bushes with our binoculars - this animal is great at camouflaging and it was good to have Jonathan's help to spot it curled up on the ground. This turned out to be our first adder of the season, and for some of us, the first adder ever!

Rob Spray and the education team on the coast
Other highlights over our first couple of weeks include watching the majestic marsh harriers at Holme, the large number of avocets at Cley, and smooth newts and dragonfly nymphs at Hickling. All this is just the beginning of the season! Our enthusiasm has certainly been fuelled by what we have seen so far and we are raring and ready to go. We can’t wait to share our enthusiasm to inspire people about the wonders of wildlife, and look forward to seeing you at some of our events this summer.

Visit the whats on page for upcoming events.

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