Threat to wildlife from carpark and sports area at UEA in Norwich

Brendan Joyce, CEO Norfolk Wildlife Trust

The article by Mark Cocker in Saturday's EDP reinforces our own strong concern regarding the proposal of the Norwich Rugby Club and the UEA Sportspark to construct pitches and car parking spaces along with a two storey function building, in the Yare Valley between UEA and Colney Lane.

Male Migrant Hawker at UEA, photo by Michael Sankey

We are concerned that the scale of this development will lead to further degradation of local wildlife habitats along the Yare Valley, whilst at the same time lessening its value as a quiet haven for local walkers. This area of the valley is already well used by local people and any further loss of semi-natural green space should be avoided, particularly as there will be even more recreational pressure once new housing is built at Cringleford.

Whilst the proposers state that it will be possible to mitigate for the majority of impacts on protected species, they downplay the impact the development will have on the broader value of the valley as a wildlife corridor. The Yare Valley in Norwich is recognised as a key green corridor in the Greater Norwich Green Infrastructure Strategy and the proposed development will further weaken the integrity of this corridor. The area on the UEA side of the river is protected by County Wildlife Site designations and managed for the benefit of wildlife whilst at the same time allowing access to the general public. However, the south side of the river has suffered from piecemeal loss over the last 20 years, as the area between the river and Colney Lane has increasingly been developed for sports facilities.

The current proposals will be a further step in destroying the naturalness of this area and should not go ahead in their present form.

Useful links:

• Blog post by Professor Tim O'Riordan on Mark Avery's blog
• Planning application on South Norfolk Council website
• Link to the petition website

Big Yellow bee orchids are back

Chris Durdin, NWT Volunteer

I know what you are thinking: bee orchids aren’t big and not much of them is yellow.

The Big Yellow here is the Self Storage company on Canary Way, opposite Norwich City FC. It’s been a reliable place to see bee orchids in the heart of Norwich for several years. That it’s reliable isn’t down to chance: the staff at Big Yellow have been persuaded to enjoy and protect their unlikely guests. The temptation to be tidy is resisted.

The meadow in the city had 30 bee orchid plants in flower when I visited on 19 June, which is double my tally from last year. It’s a great step forward from when I first saw a few spikes of flowers in 2009 and persuaded the man with the strimmer to leave them.

A friend of mine suggests that orchids are popular “because they look expensive.” They are certainly a work of beauty in miniature – perhaps ‘priceless’ rather than expensive.

At Big Yellow, the orchids’ glamour has helped a pocket-handkerchief wildlife community. Ox-eye daisies dominate the meadow, visually, but there is St John’s wort, mouse-ear hawkweed and more.
 
I found several bright common blue damselflies, too, and a scary-looking yellow-and-black ichneumon wasp that was just too quick to be photographed.

The bee orchids are at their best so now’s the ideal time to take a look: you can see them from the pavement. If you have a moment to pop in and say thanks to the Big Yellow team it can only help the show to go on.

 
Chris Durdin leads monthly wildlife walks at NWT Thorpe Marshes. Details of monthly walks on http://www.honeyguide.co.uk/thorpemarshes.htm

Pop goes the weasel

Chris Durdin, NWT Volunteer at Thorpe Marshes

Sometimes watching nature you need a bit of luck. The party on a winter guided walk at Thorpe Marshes was on the path by the River Yare when an alert group member noticed a mammal balanced at the very top of the dead stalks of greater willowherb. It was a weasel, but what was it doing there? Another movement caught our eyes –a mouse, also high in the wintry vegetation. We watched for only a minute or two but it seemed longer, time running slowly as the cat-and-mouse – well, weasel-and-mouse – game continued. Then the mouse dropped into the base of the vegetation and the weasel followed, and both disappeared from view. We presume it was an unhappy outcome for the mouse, but we don’t know.

Harvest mouse and weasel (photo by Derek Longe)

In the meantime, Derek Longe was taking photographs, and the picture captures the moment. Remarkably, as well as helping us to confirm that it was a weasel and not a stoat, by zooming in we discovered that it was stalking a harvest mouse. Two mammal species confirmed in the click of a shutter.

Bridge still shut: a reminder that the usual pedestrian entrance into the reserve over the railway bridge in Whitlingham Lane is shut for major repairs until the end of March. The way in on foot is along a muddy path from Bungalow Lane, farther east along Yarmouth Road, and that’s also true for guided walks.

Chris Durdin leads monthly wildlife walks at NWT Thorpe Marshes. Details of these and recent sightings on the reserve are on www.honeyguide.co.uk/thorpemarshes.htm. The website also has the 14-page NWT Thorpe Marshes Wildlife Report for 2015.