Hooray for Hedges!

Eilish Rothney, Warden - Trinity Broads Reserve

This month in the Trinity Broads we are focussing on hedgerows. In Britain,  I think we have got so used to the gradual removal of hedges that it is only looking back that we can see how much has been lost, and with the hedgerows goes all the wildlife associated them.

In Filby a team of volunteers braved the cold last Sunday to plant over 300 hedge plants, filling in “gaps” where once a hedge would have been. Elsewhere in Filby the Monday volunteers have been preparing ground to restore nearly half a kilometre of hedge.

As linear habitat hedgerows can provide essential cover and food for many animals to move around. Bats can use them to commute to hunting grounds and some species will feed directly off hedgerow foliage, “gleaning”. Newts may use them to move between ponds. The more varied the hedge species, the structure and the base plants, the better the hedge for wildlife. Native trees and shrubs are always best, with hawthorn providing flowers and nectar in spring and berries in the autumn, hazel catkins provide early spring pollen for a variety of insects and the hazelnuts later in the year sustain small mammals using the hedge. Other shrubs such as fieldmaple, blackthorn and dogwood add to the variety and can provide dense areas helpful to songbirds looking for nesting sites safe from predators such as magpies and domestic cats.

Other wildlife using hedgerows include bees, butterflies, shrews, bank voles and even harvest mice; and of course, the wonderful hedgehog. The lovely hedgehog is one of my favourite animals, but its population has shown a catastrophic decline from around 30 million in the 1950s to only 1.5 million by 1995; latest estimates show that it has declined further, down one third in the last 14 years. Neat and tidy gardens, use of pesticides, impenetrable fences and walls and hedgerow loss have all contributed their decline. Feeding on variety of things, Hedgehogs can be helpful by consuming slugs and insect pests.  Keeping gardens hedgehog friendly and planting hedges as sheltered pathways helps these lovely iconic creatures roam safely.  

Hedgehog, photo by Tim Lake

The collective name for hedgehogs is a “prickle” - let’s hope that we can encourage their numbers so they can become a common sight again.



We will be having another Hedge day on Sunday 15 March see the NWT Living Landscape website for more information

Trinity Broads Celebration

Eilish Rothney, Trinity Broads Warden

Sunday 3 August 2014 11am to 4pm

Location: Essex and Suffolk Water, Water Treatment Works, Ormesby, Norfolk, NR29 3LR

For the first time in over a decade we will be opening the Essex and Suffolk Water (ESW) Treatment Works at Ormesby with an event to celebrate both the wonderful area in which we live; its wildlife and viewing the complex processes that produce our drinking water from these local lakes. 

Norfolk Wildlife Trust and ESW will be showing how protecting the environment and water quality in the lakes both encourages the rich wildlife of this area and also ensures a good and reliable water supply for the villages around. 

There will be experts on hand and lots of activities for grown- ups and children alike; bug hunts, moth trapping, bird box making to name but a few. The Trinity Broads Singers Community Choir will serenade us with world music  and . . . . . . it’s all FREE.

Most displays and activities will be available throughout the day. Some of the guided activities such as the meadow minibeast and woodland bug hunts will occur at intervals throughout the day (no booking necessary). 

Bird box making will take place 11am-12.30pm, 1.15-2pm, 2.45-4pm or as materials allow. 

The Trinity Broads Singers will perform at 12.30pm and again at 2pm.

Tours of the water treatment process are self- guided with experts on hand to explain what happens and there will be demonstrations taking place of some of the treatment processes. 

Light refreshments will be available or bring a picnic to enjoy by the Broad.

Beautiful babes!

Eilish Rothney, Trinity Broads Warden

End of April and May have seen the start of our breeding wetland bird survey on the Trinity Broads. This involves myself and two volunteers “pootling” around the reed fringes of all five broads looking and listening for signs of breeding birds. And, with 21km of reed fringe this is no mean feat. 

Spot the chick!

Early in the season is best for nest spotting as the reeds have not grown too tall, the low flat rafts of the great crested grebe and the raised maisonettes of the coot are works of art. Each nest is individual, sometimes we can see eggs but sometimes the coot builds a “volcano” so little is visible in the crater. Often the parent sits tight protecting her clutch. We are very careful not to disturb or cause distress.

Other signs we look for are birds “skulking” in the water – looking furtive, swimming low like a submarine about to dive. Or else they shoot out… or into… the reeds very suddenly. A lone male swan, wings erect, magnificent and regal patrols keeping others away from his territory. The female sits serene atop a mountain of plant material.

With the warm spring, already there are mature families of grebe – the young beginning to lose their characteristic stripy heads. The stripes signal the parents to feed them, soon these will have to fend for themselves. We spot a family of pochard, seven little ducklings sticking as close to mum as possible, for the moment safe from predators such as lesser black-backed gulls.

From the reeds warblers and reed buntings churr and whistle and occasionally a Cetti's warbler shouts its melodic song from a broad-shore bush; each call a territory and potential nest. A lone bittern boomed in April but we don’t think he found love.

May and the broads have been full of coot chicks – some families of five young which is unusual! There is still nest building activity and we are hoping for more duck families. If you are out on the Broads try to disturb the red fringes as little as possible, some birds are very nervous. Keep a safe distance and mind your boat wash.

Have you heard of Ken?

 Eilish Rothney, Trinity Broads Warden

Ken the cuckoo, photo BTO

Ken the famous Trinity Broads cuckoo that is. He is named after Ken Saul, a long standing volunteer who has been active on Burgh Common for 30 years where “Ken” was caught last summer and had a tracking tag fitted.

Why? I can hear you asking. The 'Red Listed' cuckoo is one of the UK's fastest declining migrants and, until recently, was one of which we knew least about once it left the UK. Would a British Spring be complete without the cuckoos’ distinctive call that we take so much for granted? It is worrying to know we have lost over half of our breeding cuckoos during the last twenty-five years. Clearly we need to understand all aspects of the cuckoo’s annual cycle before we can begin to suggest what might be driving the decline.
 

Cuckoo on River Ant at Ludham, photo by Liz Dack

Whilst the cuckoo has been well studied during the breeding season here in the UK, once they head off on migration very little was known about the routes they take or where in Africa they spent the winter months. There has only been one recovery of a young bird that was found in mid-winter in Cameroon and that was 82 years ago. If we can pinpoint areas of importance then we can look at whether there are pressures there which could explain the losses of the British cuckoo.

Since 2011 the British Trust for Ornithology has been attaching satellite-tracking devices to cuckoos from Norfolk to find out more about their important stop-over sites and wintering destinations on the way to and from Africa. The tags are new technology and are solar-powered, transmitting for 10 hours and then going into 'sleep' mode for 48 hours, to allow the solar panel to recharge the battery. Transmissions are 'blogged' on the BTO website, follow the link below. And you can follow Ken's journey from Burgh Common to East Gabon for Christmas and now we are tracking him back to Norfolk – as of 19 March he had reached the Ivory Coast already covering nearly 1,000 miles.

If you are interested in sponsoring Ken – please see the BTO website.