By Sophie Harrison and Abi Nell
Welcome back to a new season at
Weeting Heath! Our stone curlews made the perilous journey from North West Africa
back to Weeting on 17 March. We currently have three active breeding
pairs that are spending most of the time displaying, flapping their wings and
marking their territories. Pair 2, Cynthia and Hue that were the stars of the
Wings Over the Brecks last season, have safely returned to hopefully breed
again this year.
As part of the Breaking New
Ground project, we now have a new camera with a high quality zoom lens, which
will enable us to get up close and personal to our famous heath chickens! The
camera will be powered by a solar panel that is mounted on wheels looking like
something off robot wars! To minimise stress for our birds we had our solar
panel warrior wheeled out onto the heath prior to the birds’ arrival. When the
birds start to nest, we will be able to run a camera from the power source to
be within 10m of the nest. So watch this space for more Stonie updates!
To get Weeting up and running
ready for the new season, our Breckland Reserves Manager Matt Blissett, our
Breckland Reserves field officer Paul Waterhouse, and our visitor centre
coordinator Abi Nell were assisted by our surperb team of volunteers to give
the visitor centre a much needed lick of paint. Abi and I have have been busy
updating signs and waymarkers through the forest. Visitors should now be able
to navigate their way around the forest trail with ease.
The dense forest is great for green woodpeckers and Roe Deer. The more open areas that look out over the
heath are good for spotting stonechat, wheatear, woodlark and if you are very
lucky, goshawk. As the season progresses, more species will be visible in these
areas such as hobby, tree pipit, grasshopper warbler and hopefully turtle
doves.
Bird sighting highlights in addition
to our stonies on the heath so far have been lapwing, wheatear, buzzard,
kestrel, skylark, common curlew and mistle thrush. The pines have been buzzing with
activity from yellowhammer and nuthatch to lesser redpoll and brambling. In the forest, crossbills,
goshawk and peregrines have been seen flying over, whilst stone chat hide in
the gorse and woodlarks pose on fence posts.
March has had a mixture of
weather conditions, but we have seen several species of butterfly on the wing
on the finer, drier days. This has included peacock; comma; speckled wood;
small tortoiseshell; brimstone and red admirals! As the season progresses (and if the weather
picks up), we will be monitoring the butterfly species in weekly transects
across the reserve.
 |
| Pine Beauty |
For the first time this season
the weather conditions have been good enough to get our moth trap up and
running! Species caught include Pine Beauty; Common Quaker; Dotted Chestnut;
Clouded Drab; Hebrew Character; and Twin
Spotted Quaker.
You will find all staff and
volunteers at NWT Weeting Heath friendly and flexible. We are always looking to
recruit new volunteers to join our friendly group. Our volunteers range in age,
ability and interests. We have some that help us run the visitors centre,
others that are happy to get involved with hard work on the reserve and some
volunteers help us with their specialist knowledge of natural history to
contribute to our regular wildlife monitoring. If you have a special interest,
a love of working outdoors and as part of a team or even if you are just
looking for some company, we would love to meet you. Pop in and see us at any
time or email us at weeting@norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk.
· If you have been to visit and taken some
pictures that you are particularly proud of and would like to share them with
the team then please send then to weeting@norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk.
· The Brecks Local group is now up and running
again for local wildlife enthusiasts. A full list of activities will be
available soon but in the mean time you can contact John Davies at safarijohn47@gmail.com to find out
more.
On Monday 2 May we are holding the ‘Wild at Weeting’ Fun Day. The event is open to
families, members and non-members alike. There will be kids activities, special
membership offers, a guided walk, a second-hand book stall, a cake
stall, a plant stall, a moth demonstration and interesting facts about
Breckland wildlife. Read more here
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