Ovington Ramblers: Buxton Heath and Holt Lowes NWT Reserves

On 22 November 2016 - we fulfilled our ambition to walk every possible NWT owned or managed public access reserve in their 90th Anniversary year!

Our first stop was at Buxton Heath, six miles north of Norwich just off the B1149.  By the time we arrived the early morning drizzle had ceased and the sun was pushing through the clouds.  We began our walk to the right of the car park through low lying heather and scattered gorse bushes in full flower.  There were lots of different mushrooms to see and the moss in all its emerald glory was a stunning sight.

A 'Cromer Crab-like' giant mushroom

Afterwards we walked straight ahead in a different direction from the car park, a more wooded area full of oak and silver birch.  It was here we had our first site of the wild ponies that graze the area and couldn't resist the photo opportunity. The animals were very obliging and didn't seem to mind our presence at all. Buxton Heath is managed by Norfolk Wildlife Trust in partnership with the owners, Hevingham Fuel Allotment charity.  A wonderful reserve where the silver-studded blue butterfly was reintroduced in 1985 and where you can also find purple hairstreak and white admiral butterflies in summer.

Wild Konik ponies on Buxton Heath

Back at the car we had a quick coffee break and then drove north up the B1149 to Holt Country Park, where there is a large car par and toilet facilities.  You can walk through the lovely wooded area and eventually out on to Holt Lowes. The Lowes is a botanist's delight, with lots of rare plants, which are obviously scarce at this time of year.  However, it is still a picture in November with the last leaves of autumn hanging on the trees. The abundant heather is particularly tall as it vies with the gorse bushes and spruce saplings which are springing up everywhere. The walk on this bright, windy day certainly blew the cobwebs away and we thoroughly enjoyed it. This special reserve is managed by NWT in partnership with the owners, the Holt Lowes Trustees and is a wonderful reserve for dragonflies with over 20 species recorded including the rare keeled skimmer.

A view of Buxton Heath

Sadly, after visiting nearly 40 reserves this year, we have now come to the end of our mission. However, we have enjoyed every minute and will still have very many happy memories to keep. I am sure we will be visiting all our favourite reserves again in the future.  (Photos courtesy of  Maureen Simmons)



*********************************************************************************

Help us protect Hickling Broad – the heart of the Norfolk Broads

Please donate today:

•  Call: 01603 625540

• Text LAND26 TO 70070 with the amount of your donation (£)*
  

  *(Please  note that you may incur a standard network message charge based on your service provider rates).  

• Visit our website: www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk

• Or, Just Giving: www.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/norfolkwildlifetrust/hickling  

New lambs to nibble for nature

David Tallentire, Conservation grazing manager at Norfolk Wildlife Trust

When the cold weather of winter finally breaks, nature doesn’t waste any time in responding to take advantage of the sunshine. The arrival of spring brings back an abundance of colour and life to our countryside with a myriad of birds, flowers, butterflies and all sort of our favourite wildlife. But this got me to thinking, what best signals the arrival of spring? Is it the early white blossom of the blackthorn hedges, or the frogspawn appearing in our garden ponds? For many years I have associated the arrival of spring with the distinctive whistling call of curlew returning to their summer breeding grounds, however, for me this year, it is the arrival of our first lambs of the season which has signalled that spring is here. Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s flock of sheep have now started lambing and before anyone says ‘ahh’, let me make clear that these pint sized nibblers have a job to do.

NWT manages a wide range of semi-natural habitats which represent some of Norfolk’s finest nature sites. Our ‘flying flock’ was set up 20 years ago to move around our nature reserves, preventing areas which are important for wildlife becoming overgrown. This name reflects the fact that the sheep are highly mobile and are ‘flown in’ (via road rather than air!) wherever they are most needed. NWT has two shepherds, who manage the flock, checking the animals on a daily basis to ensure their welfare. A team of six working sheepdogs are on hand, enabling the shepherds to easily gather and move the sheep around our nature reserves. In any year, you can see them right across the county, grazing on the Broadland marshes, or on the coast at Holme Dunes, or across several of our Breckland heath reserves, which are the main home of our flock. By munching their way across our nature reserves, the sheep maintain open habitats, allowing a whole range of plants, insects, birds, reptiles and mammals to flourish. Without this regular removal of vegetation many our nature reserves would be at risk of being swamped by just a small handful of the more dominant plant species.

The flock currently numbers just under 1,000 sheep and includes Shetland and Black Welsh Mountain breeds. Despite being quite small, these are very hardy traditional breeds that are able to thrive on the nature reserves. By using native breeds NWT is also helping to secure the future of these breeds, many of which are at risk of extinction due to the influx of higher producing, more commercial breeds within UK agriculture. However, as well as their strong heritage, these animals have a number of important genetic traits, and need our protection for future generations. Our breeding program for the flock has seen NWT become one the largest owners of pedigree Shetland sheep across the whole of the UK.

Head of Nature Reserves at Norfolk Wildlife Trust, John Milton adds, ‘Amongst wildlife organisations NWT has been one of the early pioneers in introducing grazing animals including sheep, cattle and ponies throughout many sites and habitats, as a sustainable way of preventing areas from becoming choked with growth that smothers fragile species. The Flying Flock is a valuable conservation tool.’

But it’s not just their nibbling that has value; they also produce some fantastic fleeces. The Shetlands, in particular, are highly regarded for the quality of the wool that they produce.

The ewes were introduced to a few of our newly bought tups (rams) at the end of last year. The tups arrived from Hereford in October, looking very handsome as they did. They were clearly very keen to get on with their new job, as the lambs are now arriving thick and fast. Coming in a range of colours and markings, including some stand out white hairstyles; the lambs are quickly up on their feet, often giving our two shepherds the run around within hours of being born. We have had over 100 born so far this year, but plenty more are expected throughout the next month. The breeds of sheep that we keep are well adapted to lamb outdoors. The area that they lamb includes lots of shelter, plenty of food, and with minimal disturbance the ewes are free to find a secluded spot to give birth. However, our shepherds are on site as much as possible to assist the odd few ewes that run into difficulty. The new mothers and their lambs are then penned into a separate paddock to encourage a close bond, it also allows our shepherds to keep a close eye on them and make sure the lambs are getting enough milk.

The lambs will spend the summer with their mothers, predominantly grazing on the Breckland heaths and in autumn the ewe lambs will enter into the main flock and ensure that this nibbling for nature continues for years to come.

You can come and see some of these young conservationists in action this summer by visiting NWT East Wretham Heath nature reserve. Or stop by at the nearby NWT Weeting Heath visitor centre, where the flock grazing works to maintain the unique flora and fauna of the heath, including nesting areas for breeding stone curlew which can now be spotted daily from the bird hides.

Dartmoor and Konik ponies together,
photo by Lynda Simpson

Away from the flying flock, I am also involved in managing our herd of ponies which can be seen at several NWT nature reserves, such as Roydon Common near Kings Lynn.

Again, these living lawnmowers play a very important role in managing NWT nature reserves by removing yearly vegetation growth and maintaining open habitats for wildlife. A good example of this is at NWT Buxton Heath, where the year round pony grazing has seen a marked increase in the number of marsh helleborine orchids over the past few years. By maintaining an open sward, the ponies have helped this beautiful plant to flourish along with a whole range of others. The mix of Dartmoor and Konik breeds owned by NWT, being hardy animals, are well suited to thrive on a range of heathland and Broadland nature reserves. At Hickling, the long standing pony grazing has helped to maintain the fen grasslands, home to numerous iconic and rare species, such as the swallowtail butterfly and the Norfolk hawker dragonfly.

Cattle are another important part of NWT’s grazing management and we work with over 20 local farmers to conserve our nature reserves. Many of Norfolk’s important wildlife sites were actually created and maintained by traditional agricultural practices dating back centuries. By working with local graziers, we can continue to maintain these habitats through seasonal cattle grazing which resembles the historic local farming systems.

With over 6,000 acres of grazed nature reserve across the length and breadth of the county, our team of grazing animals is an essential conservation tool for NWT. It is highly rewarding to see the lambs following in the footsteps of their parents, grazing across our suite of nature reserves and helping to protect Norfolk’s wildlife in the process, the ‘ahh’ factor this spring is just an added bonus.

Please support our Grazing appeal, to continue and develop NWT's conservation grazing

Encountering adders

Jessica Riederer, Seasonal Education Officer

If you are reading this, you must be inspired by wildlife in some way. Maybe you spend your days off like I do, wandering about Norfolk’s varied landscapes seeing what you can discover. I have spent most of the summer exploring Norfolk’s wetlands where I have been completely absorbed by dragonflies - their iridescent colours and the quick hum of their wings, the way they patrol the hedges and pond surfaces scooping up insects and chasing away intruders, the way some species – especially the Emperor, will zoom over, stopping to hover a foot away from your face, moving their powerful bulky bodies back and forth to get a closer look before zooming off to continue with their day. Dragonflies make me incredibly happy.  This weekend though, I was ready for another encounter. This weekend I was searching for adders.

I had not seen an adder since the spring. Cool, sunny, spring mornings are the best time to see them, as being coldblooded, they need to bask before hunting or searching for a mate. During the summer there is less need for them to bask and this makes seeing them less likely. But as we creep through August, blackberries are ripening, migrants are leaving England, and as much as I hate to admit it, there is now – more than occasionally - a bit of a nip in the air. In a month, adders will be looking to hibernate, so now could be a good time to look for them.
 

Lizard, photo by Jessica Riederer

On Friday, one of our volunteers, Kirsty Bailey suggested I visit Buxton Heath, a reserve I was unfamiliar with. When she informed me that a healthy population of reptiles – grass snakes, slow worms and adders could all be found there – and that the reserve was generally quite quiet, I knew this was the place for me. On Sunday morning I arrived at Buxton Heath just as the clouds were clearing and the sun’s rays were beginning to touch the heather that stretched across the reserve. It was just gorgeous. As I began to walk, I immediately started to search places I knew adders would be, and my best luck finding adders has always been amongst dead bracken. 

Adder, photo by Jessica Riederer

Anywhere bracken was piled amongst the heather, I would stop a few meters away and let my eyes skip, hop and glide back and forth and up and down over the piles. The dead bracken leaves are the same colours and make the same patterns as the diamond pattern on an adder’s back, and this is the reason they are so beautifully camouflaged amongst it. It was the perfect adder morning and I knew they were there, but as the first 45 minutes passed and I was still not seeing anything, I could feel my patience (and confidence) waning. I was quiet as could be, literally taking one step every minute, scanning and looking. Eventually, I saw a small, well camouflaged lizard and this boosted my confidence, and as I watched him flitting about I decided that if I could spot a lizard, I would spot a snake. It was then that I located my first adder, about ten feet away, curled up in the middle of a bracken pile. He was incredibly camouflaged and even though I knew I was looking at an adder, it was almost as if my eyes did not want to believe it as I had been looking for so long.
 

Adder, photo by Jessica Riederer

Oh the joy! What a gorgeous snake. This was one of the lightest adders I had ever seen, and not yet full grown. I slowly inched my way closer, got a few photos and then just stopped and watched him (her?). In a few seconds, his tongue flicked as he detected my presence and he slid oh so quietly back into his bracken home. I was blessed with two more adders on that lovely morning. One was tiny and spotted me before I spotted him, so I just saw his tail disappearing, but the other one was basking. This adder was much larger and much darker in colour - even her red eyes were almost black. This time, after observing her for a bit, I backed up and moved away before she detected me and so she was left basking in the late August sun.

I spent four hours at beautiful Buxton on Sunday and I look forward to my next visit. If you think your wildlife spotting skills are pretty good and would like a challenge and a reason to really slow down, head to one of our heathland reserves, such as Roydon Common or Buxton Heath and see if you can spot an adder. Please remember that adders are venomous so give them a bit of distance. Heading out with a group of people will probably not help you to find one – nor will your dog! If you have keen eyesight, patience and are light footed, you might be rewarded! Most importantly, please remember to keep your eyes and ears out for all the other splendours of the heath!

Buxton Heath is managed by Norfolk Wildlife Trust in partnership with the owners,  Hevingham Fuel Allotment Charity.