Answering the call: a year of wildlife festivals at Cley

As Norfolk Wildlife Trust's 2017 events programme comes to an end, Bayley Wooldridge looks back at this year’s event highlights: the four Cley Calling festivals. 

 To begin our celebrations for the year we had our first Cley Calling festival, Spring Song, tie in with International Dawn Chorus day.  The aim of the festival was to link the natural music and wildlife of the marsh to music and art that has been inspired by the marshes. On Friday night two sound artists spent the night in one of the hides in order to record the dawn chorus, which was broadcast live on the International Dawn Chorus website. The artists gave two free talks on Saturday morning about the process of capturing sound and played some of their recordings (which can now be found on Richard Fair’s website). Throughout the festival we hosted an exhibition called Confluence project, which showcased the work of three artists who take inspiration from waterways and coastlines in East Anglia. The exhibition was connected to Sundays evening’s performance, which involved a piano improvisation and a multi-media visual arts performance. The education centre was transformed with a grand piano and a dark space with ever changing images projected onto one of the walls. This was the most alternative event we had run at Cley and it was great to try something new within the space. 

Next up was Summer Sea, a festival designed to celebrate life beneath the waves during National Marine Week. A talk by Paul Sterry and Andrew Cleave kicked off the celebrations; fascinating stories of their travels across the UK to document our coastal wildlife, combined with incredible microscopic photographs of elusive sea creatures, made their talk a brilliant start to the festival. On Friday evening we welcomed James Boyd (right) to Cley to perform his enchanting ‘Stolen Years’ piece. Readings from the log book of the Concord interwoven with seasongs and poetry left the audience feeling as though they were part of the Concord’s story. The remainder of the festival included a classy evening of Pimms, pizza and poetry featuring Kevin Crossley-Holland, a glorious sunny day of free marine-based crafts down at Cley beach, and a mysterious interactive puppet performance for all the family to enjoy. 

The lead up to Autumn Colours was slightly worrying for all of us at Cley, because the whole reserve was still looking as healthy and green as ever as we left the summer months behind! However once the festival kicked into full swing with the arrival of street artist ATM, we started to see some of the beautiful autumnal oranges and reds we were hoping for. Throughout the festival ATM painted a fantastic female marsh harrier on a mural outside the visitor centre (left), meanwhile a variety of autumnal events focused on health and wellbeing were taking place all over the reserve. We were visited by Laurie Parma, a wellbeing researcher from the University of Cambridge, who gave a fascinating talk on the relationship between wellbeing and biodiversity. To round off the festival, we finished with a peaceful yoga session looking out over the marshes, and an early morning ramble around the reserve followed by a delicious home cooked roast: a perfect end to a wonderful week.

Last, and by no means least, was Winter Skies. We began the festival with a lunch time talk from Dave Horsley, who shared his knowledge and photographs of migrating birds from the Arctic. That same evening, we were joined by the Norfolk Coast Partnership, who gave a talk on their Dark Skies project and their collaboration with Norfolk Astronomy Society, who took us out onto the terrace for some stargazing. Saturday night saw us welcome over 100 guests into the visitor centre for a performance by Brian Briggs & Jon Ouin, two of the four members of ex-band ‘Stornoway’. Brian & Jon performed a series of their old songs, which were influenced by birdsong and wildlife, and shared with the audience some of their most remarkable experiences with nature. Perhaps the most memorable of their songs was ‘Boom went the Bittern’, a song that Brian jokingly described as an audio guide to birdsong, with lyrics such as: ‘“Teacher! Teacher!” said the tits on the feeder’ and ‘“Chiffchaff! Chiffchaff! said its own name, and I wish they all did the same’. And finally, on the last day of the festival we hosted the chair of the Society for Storytelling himself; Paul Jackson. He told his winter tales for all the family to enjoy as everyone in the audience nibbled away on some mince pies and sipped at their mulled wine or hot squash. A brilliant afternoon to prepare us all for the festivities of the Christmas holidays.

We hope everyone who journeyed to Cley Marshes this year had a truly unforgettable experience, and we would be delighted to welcome you all back to our beautiful reserve in 2018. From all of us at Cley Marshes, we thank you for supporting our work, and wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

The Cley Calling festivals were made possible thanks to funding from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Up the creek

Norfolk Wildlife Trust's David North explores Norfolk’s last true wilderness in a traditional crabbing vessel. 

Henry and My Girls, David North

Its 6.30am and I’m in Wells to meet Henry, and to board his restored crab boat, My Girls. It’s been blowing a brisk northerly for the last couple of days but fortunately the heavy skies and heavy rains of the last 24 hours have been blown elsewhere and the early morning sun is bright on Wells marshes.  And it’s the marshes I have come to explore.  Not many boats could attempt the narrow saltmarsh creeks that wind their way between Cley and Wells. And not many navigators know these creeks well enough to attempt the journey and find safe passage through this maze of sinuous, shallow and ever-changing channels. The great thing about ‘My Girls’ is her shallow draft. As long as we have a couple of feet of water under us Henry says we should be ok and that traditional crab boats were made for just this landscape.  So on a rising tide we are off, and with the town of Wells slowly disappearing behind us we head east towards Stiffkey and into a landscape as wild as anywhere on this planet.

Leaving Wells behind, David North

I love the North Norfolk coast – its wildlife and its wildness – and I think I know this coast quite well.   I have walked the marshes over many years and once was lucky enough to fly over them in a small plane, giving me a birds-eye-view and revealing intricate patterns invisible when you are on the ground.  But being in a boat brings a new perspective. Exploring the marshes on foot means being out at, or near, low tide.  Here in the boat we are out amongst the marshland on a rapidly rising tide. Everywhere is movement and change: what was solid land moments before becomes water. Water that moves in strange patterns with currents running both up and down a creek at the same time, creating swirls, mini-whirl-pools, upwellings, calm, oily flats and silver sunlit ripplings. 

 

Big skies across the Marshes, David North

We ground several times, but, on a rising tide, its usually just minutes before, with Henry at the tiller, our outboard swings us back into the current and eastwards towards Morston.  There are ancient wooden posts that jut from the mud that could easily punch a hole in a keel and in one place a low bridge where we must duck as we pass under.  From the boat of course there are those fantastic huge landscape views across samphire and sea-lavendar-decked marshes and those huge North Norfolk skies, horizon to horizon, above.  These will be familiar to all who love these marshes but for the moment, as we navigate creeks barely wider than the boat, it’s mud that holds my attention.   

'Cauliflower and mashed potato' mud, David North

The English language lacks enough words for mud: there is mud here with the texture of cauliflower and mashed potato. There is mud, shiny, smooth and silvered by sun. There is mud that is black, and brown and grey, and even orange in places. There is mud that sprouts miniature cacti forests of samphire and mud patterned with footprints of shelduck and redshank. There is join-the-dots mud, pricked with sowing-machine regularity, by the beaks of now invisible waders. As the tide rises towards its high it becomes harder to see the edges of the channels that our boat, My Girls, most move within. It’s strange to see just the tops of marsh plants waving over a sea of water. There are forests of sea asters, apparently floating, their flowers not quite open yet, but hinting at yellow and purples soon to come.

Oystercatchers, Blakeney Point, David North

Then a change of scene. We are out into open water and catching the full force of swell from those preceding days of northerly winds. It’s exhilarating, and if not quite a roller-coaster, certainly enough to make me hang on tight until we enter calmer waters in the lee of Blakeney Point.  There are black and white oystercatchers at the seaward end of the spit, roosting out the high tide which has covered their feeding grounds. A more careful look reveals dunlin, grey plovers and a single black-tailed godwit amongst them. The lives of these waders is driven more by tide than by day and night. They will feed all night if that’s when the tide is low and muddy feeding grounds are exposed.  There are common seals hauled up on the Point, but the seals that follow us across Blakeney Pit are greys, heads bobbing above the waves, giving us searching, curious Selkie stares before diving, only to bob up again even closer.

Half-way house, David North

We pass inland, or should that be ‘inwater’, of the bright blue National Trust former lifeboat house and then, sail now rigged,  past ‘half-way house’, the watch-house, where once  ‘preventative men’, the early coastguards, pitted their wits against smugglers of brandy, baccy and geneva (gin). I wonder if there are still smugglers today, but sadly, if so, then it’ more likely drugs or human trafficking that’s plied. A sad  reflection on today’s world.   There are gulls and terns that fly over the boat with raucous calls; black-headed, herring and great-black backed gulls and both common and little terns.  Little terns are one of my favourite birds, elegant, graceful with and almost ethereal beauty as they hover before plunge-diving for small fish. I’m not alone in admiring them. It was Simon Barnes who described little terns as ‘what black-headed gulls dream of becoming when they die and go to heaven’.

Coming in to Cley, David North

Our journey ends navigating the newly dredged, but still narrow, river channel through waving reeds to disembark at the quayside next to Cley windmill.  So what will I take away from this voyage though North Norfolk’s wild marshes under the lovely terracotta sails of My Girls.  What I value most is the privilege of time spent in a truly wild place where the only sounds are wind, waves and the calls of curlew and redshank.  Salt-marshes are truly wild: shaped by the forces of nature, scorched by summer sun, swept by winter storm.  Places that are home for waders, seals and some highly specialised and very fascinating plants, but where we humans are never quite at home. Fleeting visitors, like me, that pass through on an adventure, always aware that tide and change makes these challenging places to explore.

Wild places, like these Norfolk saltmarshes, are rare as hen’s teeth in our modern world.  In North Norfolk we have some of the finest, least spoilt and most extensive saltmarshes in Western Europe.  Priceless!  Let’s make sure they, and their wildlife, are protected and valued as one of Norfolk’s most precious assets.

 Exploring  the saltmarsh coast:

Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserves at Holme Dunes and Cley and Salthouse Marshes are great places to see some of the wildlife characteristic of North Norfolk’s coastal marshes.

The North Norfolk coast path between Wells and Cley follows the top of the saltmarshes providing great views over the marshes.

Under sail, David North

If you are interested in exploring the creeks by boat then details of how to book a trip with Henry on his restored, traditional crab boat My Girls, and other coastal adventure trips can be found at www.coastalexplorationcompany.co.uk  

A week of coastal experiences at NWT Cley Marshes

Amanda Schrem recently completed a week's work experience at NWT Cley Marshes and discovered what a lot goes on  at this busy visitor centre and reserve.

Amanda on the beach at West Runton

On my first day, we started off with the mandatory staff health and safety procedures and paperwork. Once that was done, we went to Sheringham for the Coastal Creations event, which involves collecting various interesting objects from the strandline and using them to make art. It was great fun and I learned a lot about all the objects found on the strandline, for example that mermaid's purses are actually egg cases, that cat sharks exist in Norfolk and something that looks like dried seaweed but is actually a type of animal called hornwrack, smells like lemon when first washed up.

In the afternoon we went up to Cley beach to collect some plankton samples, as preparation for an upcoming sea dipping event- this was something I had never done before.

A bit of 'Marine Mayhem'

On the second day, I went on "A Walk with the Warden" event, which included birdwatching. I learnt a huge amount about the history of Cley and, as a complete birdwatching novice, the difference between an avocet and a black-tailed godwit.  In the afternoon I worked on reception. This was completely new to me and a bit daunting at first but I ended up really enjoying it. On day three I had the morning off! In the afternoon I invented some arts and crafts that children could make during the "Marine Mayhem" event on Saturday. I made a fish out of a recycled bottle and tissue paper, and an 'egg-box rock pool'. I also did some odd jobs in the office, like laminating. In the evening, I got involved with the "Coastal Stroll and Supper".

Rockpooling at West Runton

In the morning of the fourth day, we ran the Rockpooling event at West Runton. There were a lot of people and it was great fun, I hadn't been rockpooling for years. Someone caught a scorpion fish, which was fascinating to see! It was great learning about other life in the rock pools as well,  a highlight was seeing a velvet swimming crab. In the afternoon I helped set up the room and organise tea and coffee for the afternoon talk on "Life between the Tides".

Day five was the day of the "Marine Mayhem" event with crafts and activities for families. I was helping out with that, doing things like using the badge machine and helping with the recycled bottle craft.

Puppets from the Norfolk Girl puppet show

On my last day of work experience, we set up the "Norfolk Girl" event, an interactive puppet show based on a chapter from the book "Mystery of the Mystery Mist".  In the afternoon I organised some event promotion and designed some news posters for upcoming events.

Overall, I had a very interesting week that gave me a great insight into work on and around a nature reserve. I would like to thank all the staff at NWT Cley Marshes, in particular Rachael Wright, Cley Community Education Officer for organising my fantastic week!

For more information about events and activities at NWT Cley Marshes visit https://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/whats-on

Work experience at Cley

Oscar Conway

I applied to Cley Marshes work experience week because I felt it would give me the perfect opportunity to know what it is like to work around nature and on a reserve. Seeing as this is what I would prefer to do later in my life, a week of interesting and inspiring activities ‘woke me up’ to the great work environment and range of tasks and jobs needed to run a reserve.

After arriving and being introduced to the site, team and common wildlife found on the reserve, I helped out with a school visit. This involved myself and other volunteers explaining the conservation work going on at Cley and other Norfolk areas to the children. I helped out with the activities they participated in, like pond dipping and beach exploration.  This gave me a chance to improve my confidence for interacting with people of various ages as the school group consisted of different age groups.

As well as this, the activities also allowed me to be out on the reserve where I could also enjoy my passion for nature and wildlife spotting. Species I observed at Cley included: spoonbill, bearded tit, dunlin and many more. I managed to fit in lots of time to observe birds and wildlife between my time working. This might have been on the till with a few other volunteers to answer people's questions, give tickets out to reserve members and first-timers and deal with purchases made by visitors in the visitor centre. This was extremely enjoyable because of the satisfaction from helping people and because it was generally fun to use the till.

Other tasks I really enjoyed at Cley were the mornings out on the reserve with the warden and volunteers where I helped put up signs, collect grass-cutting equipment from the storage facility and clean different areas of the reserve. It was great to experience the ‘hands-on’ side of looking after Cley and nature as a whole. One of the vital needs for running a nature reserve and visitor centre is a brilliant and friendly team and this was certainly the case at Cley.

Overall, the week on the reserve was a fantastic experience, it was both useful for learning new skills and highly enjoyable throughout. 

We are fortunate to be able to offer work experience at Cley where we have a Community Education Officer, unfortunately we are not able to offer work experience weeks at our other reserves.  If you are interested in a career connected to conservation and would like to do your work experience at Cley please see our website for more information and an application form (scroll down to the green feature box).