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  

What are the chances of that happening?

Life is full of coincidences and Norfolk Wildlife Trust volunteer Derek Longe had a special and rather unusual encounter with a special insect at NWT Thorpe Marshes one evening...

Imagine a damselfly flying well after eight o'clock at night.  It lands onto a photo in a published article about the same species at the same nature reserve. Slim chance you may say? Improbable? Well this actually happened!
 
Here is the photographic proof - 

Willow emerald damselfly admiring a picture of itself, Derek Longe

Mating willow emerald damselflies by Tabs Taberham

The damselfly in question was a male willow emerald damselfly seen at 8.16pm on 19th July 2017 at Thorpe Marshes NWT reserve.  This is a recent coloniser being seen first in Suffolk in 2007 and is rapidly spreading across the south-east of England. The peak emergence time is in August/September and most records range from July to October. This year the first seen nationally was back in June in Essex. Some had been more recently sighted around the local Norwich area so that was not an unexpected species.

Local naturalist and NWT volunteer, Chris Durdin leads monthly walks around Thorpe Marshes NWT reserve.In July, the regular walk is moved to the evening (the June one also) to take advantage of the longer daylight hours. That afternoon was particularly warm and humid, the evening temperate remained above 20C during the duration of the walk.
Warm enough for insects like damselflies to be still active that late in the day.  

At a point where this species has been sighted in previous years, Chris stopped and explained about the willow emerald damselfly and the various tree species it oviposits into. He then mentioned that I had witnessed a pair egg-laying into bramble last September on the reserve and that I had an account of this unusual event recently published in the journal Atropos. Having the article on me, I handed it to the others to have a look at. Whilst one of the group Ann Greenizan had it in her hands to read, a male willow emerald Damselfly magically alighted onto the article photograph. He stayed there just long enough for me to get a couple of photos before flying off, disappearing into the windblown vegetation.

This species has been variously described as "this stunning damselfly","an elusive beauty","enigmatic" and "unique". In my eyes, this surreal combination of real life and printed matter reinforces that "specialness" to me of the willow emerald damselfly!

'The times they are a-changin’ - NWT Thorpe Marshes

Naturalist and Norfolk Wildlife Trust volunteer Chris Durdin reflects on 'new nature' and how wildlife responds to climate change at Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Thorpe Marshes reserve on the edge of Norwich in Thorpe St Andrew.

Approaching dusk in February, and there’s a loud burst of song: a Cetti’s warbler

Cetti's warbler by Elizabeth Dack

. It’s an unremarkable record in 2017 for this bird, unusually among warblers a resident species.

But it’s a reminder of how wildlife responds to changes in climate. Cetti’s warblers first bred in Britain in Kent in 1973 and they soon moved into the Yare Valley. Broadland is now a stronghold and they are also found in wet scrub in much of the south and east of the UK.

There are plenty of other examples of ‘new nature’ on my local patch. We see little egrets fairly regularly. The first little egret I saw, in my student days, was in the Camargue in the south of France, and I can clearly recall my first in Norfolk, on Breydon Water, years later. Today it’s a distinctive and easily-recognised Broadland bird. Like Cetti’s warblers, numbers can be hit if there is a long cold spell, but how often do we get weather like that?

The Migrant Hawker dragonfly was once known as Scarce Hawker, and the new name came after regular appearances in the UK in the 20th century. Now well-established as a breeding species, it’s often the commonest dragonfly at Thorpe Marshes in late summer and with luck you can see them laying eggs. 

Speckled wood butterfly by Elizabeth Dack

More recently arriving still is the Willow Emerald damselfly, breeding in Britain for just a decade, but in good numbers at NWT Thorpe Marshes, elsewhere in the Broads and beyond. The northward spread of the speckled wood butterfly is another example.  

Losses related to climate change can be more difficult to pin down. Snipe used to ‘drum’ – their distinctive breeding display – at Thorpe Marshes when I first knew the area but have stopped breeding here, as in much of lowland England. Climate is probably partly at issue, but also subtle habitat changes. Willow warblers are getting scarcer, and cuckoos too, but for these and other birds that winter in sub-Saharan Africa other factors play a part.
For me, spotting how wildlife responds to changes in climate is obvious: what my eyes and ears reveal backs up what climate scientists say. Perhaps the climate change sceptics are less in tune with the natural world. Writing here, I hope I am preaching to the converted … and that naturalists everywhere will use the evidence of nature to challenge the cynics and doubters.

Discover Thorpe Marshes
Chris 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 15-page NWT Thorpe Marshes Wildlife Report for 2016.

Little gems: Roadside Nature Reserves (RNRs)

Roger Jones, Norfolk Wildlife Trust Volunteer Surveyor puts the spotlight on some special but often overlooked and special places for nature.

Meadow saxifrage at the roadside. David North

There is a little known, and underloved, set of nature reserves in Norfolk. There may be one on a roadside near you. Yes, Norfolk Wildlife Trust, along with Norfolk County Council, has recognised a whole series of Roadside Nature Reserves (RNRs). However, they are under publicised, though they support many interesting wild flowers. 

Whilst the rest of you whizz by at 70mph (OK 30mph – this is Norfolk) I have long harboured an affection for some of them. My interest was kindled around 25 years ago when the marker posts appeared outside a local supermarket. Over the years I have been visiting several which have particular specialities. This summer my wife Jenny and I set out on a semi-organised survey of RNRs. We’ve found pepper saxifrage, stone parsley, 500+ common spotted orchids (yes, on one verge!), knapweed broomrape, spiny restharrow (ouch!), danewort, sheepsbit and many more fascination and uncommon wild flowers.

On one of the survey days I became troubled by what I saw just outside Taverham on the A1067. A sign advertising the works for the Northern Distributor Road (NDR) had been neatly placed right over the RNR marker post. After contacting Norfolk County Council to find out the fate of this RNR I was informed that it was (as I suspected) due to be lost by the NDR works. However, the County Council already made great efforts to collect seed from this RNR last summer, and this will be used to establish a new grassland verge in the vicinity in 2017, which should hopefully be larger than what will be lost.
  

Pyramidal orchids by Roger Jones

In total we surveyed 40 of the 111 Roadside Nature Reserves in the county. We hope to carry on exploring and surveying our road verges next year! 

To find out if you have a roadside nature reserve near you, please contact Norfolk Wildlife Trust or simply look out for the distinctive roadside markers when you are driving in Norfolk.  

To view list of the RNRs in Norfolk please visit the NBIS website: www.nbis.org.uk/designated-sites 

A travel diary of my trip around NWT reserves in South Norfolk

David Thompson, NWT Trustee

Start date: 10 May 2016
Return date: 13 May 2016
Approximate distance cycled/walked: 125 miles

Tuesday  
It seemed like a good idea: to combine a staycation with a bit of birding, exercise, and getting to know NWT nature reserves better in the southern half of the county. May was selected as propitious. I would travel by bicycle and stay at inns on an itinerary starting and ending at my home in Old Costessey.

A good idea, then, except that rain had set in firmly by 9am, and my departure was delayed by the discovery that my telescope tripod –strapped to my back in a triangular back-pack - started knocking on my cycle helmet as soon as I pulled out of the drive.

I finally arrived at the Wayland Wood car park, wet through. I changed into walking boots, set off pushing my bike around the reserve (bear in mind that I had paniers laden with luggage - an easy target for opportunists, if left unattended). I bumped into two NWT employees endeavouring to get their vehicle out of a muddy rut. They had been removing copious quantities of ash from the burning of coppiced timber: no market, apparently, because the ‘ash’ can be contaminated with refuse – a bittersweet consequence of public access? I saw a few others, mostly dog-walkers, with dogs ‘on’ and ‘off’ leads.

Purple orchid

Anyway: Wayland Wood: a calm after the (rain) storm. Bird song, rather than bird flight. Chiffchaff, Thrush, Robin, Chaffinch, a pair of Blackcaps together with ethereal sightings of Mistle Thrush and Treecreeper, and a Buzzard easing itself off its perch into a gentle glide. Magical! Of course, there were also the tail-end Bluebells, and Purple Orchids.

I finally reached Thompson Common, but couldn’t get my ‘push-bike’ through the narrow gate intoo the NWT-controlled areas. So instead I took the Pingo trail to the south of the Common, eventually coming across an NWT sign to Thompson Water. A mysteriously quiet and secluded water body. Warblers chirping everywhere. Mostly, it was the sight of coot dotted about on the water on their nests, which was special. Swans, too, and a couple of Canada Gees flying in, making a lot of noise. This seemed like a natural place, and a cuckoo heralded its presence before I left.


Wednesday

It is clear to me that the secrets of the Breckland Reserves reveal themselves reluctantly. Hockham Fen, for instance: although only a few kilometres only from Chequers Inn where I had stayed, it took half an hour and conversations with several dog walkers finally to discover what I think must have been the ‘Viewing Point’ referred to in the Reserves Handbook. That said, however, the view over the mire against a misty backdrop of trees, was very tranquil – a perfect setting for the ducks, geese, swans and egrets that gradually revealed themselves.

Thence to East Wretham Heath. Access to the reserve areas is via specially large cattle gates, thank goodness! I could get my bike in (to push it) to the Hide. What struck me at East Wretham was the extraordinary number of corvids – black dots all over the heath and noisy crowds in the plantation. The sound of a cuckoo, and warblers near the hide, but not much else in evidence.

I took the Drove Road west as it seemed the most direct route connecting with the road to Lynford. Quite difficult riding – constantly up and down, deep ruts, puddles and soft ground. Cuckoos en route.

Weeting Visitor Centre: arriving ca. 3.30pm – at last the rainfall seems to be over -  bedraggled, hot, wet, desperately thirsty, and – I fear –wiffy! Sophie, the Centre Manager, gave me some pointers, allowed me to lock up my bike securely, and off I set. I was struck by touches like the raked paths through the trees to the hides and, especially, to the Forest Walk, which I took.

Saw two Stone Curlew from the West Hide, and was pleased to be able to show them to the ladies already in the hide through the telescope I had carried on my back from Norwich - some justification for the effort. An iPhone was the only camera but an attachment allowed me to use it in conjunction with the telescope. Visibility was poor and the floor of the hide prone to vibration, so the photographic results were correspondingly poor.

My most interesting spotting announced itself first as a loud song in the bush next to the visitor centre. I poked my head slowly into the bush, as the song continued. This was a lower register, more varied song than the Goldcrest. Finally, at 1.5m distance, I could clearly see the greenish back, and the yellow-orange head-stripe... a Firecrest. A UK first for me!


Thursday
 
The ride from Thetford to East Harling via the Forest was delightful: Forestry Commission Forest Holiday Camps from time to time. The final leg via Quidenham to New Buckenham was positively alive with yellowhammers, singing their song (sometimes without ‘cheese’) and regularly displaying on the bushes beside the road.

New Buckehham Common: thankfully, possible to push a bike around the Common, and to negotiate the cattlegate at the crossing over the stream. I explored the north side only, including the main pond, buttercups, orchids (including the green-winged orchid) and various water plants. Saxifrange and Cowslips but not many showing birds. Linnet? A pair of Greylag Geese looking very much at home, and an egret flew in just as I was leaving.


Friday   

My route to Lower Wood, Ashwellthorpe took me NE along lanes between low hedgerows and directly into the wind, which made the going difficult. On one leg, I was again accompanied by yellowhammers.
 
At the Wood, I was able to get my bike through the gate, and do the ‘nature trail’ circuit –Wild garlic (Ramsons) everywhere, along with bluebells and early purple orchid. Blackcap and chiffchaff singing. A great spotted woodpecker and maybe a flycatcher. Evidence of coppicing, and – of course – the area of new hornbeam planting protected by an electric fence.

From Lower Ashwellthorpe Wood, I cycled northeast to Hethel Church to view the country’s smallest nature reserve; Hethel Old Thorn. The interpretation panel was partly obscured by (what I assume was) cow parsley.

So that concluded my visits to eight NWT sites, and all that remained was the cycle ride home. I would definitely consider doing it again, but next time making enquiries beforehand about ease of access for bicycles (for pushing, not cycling). I would also reconsider my method of carrying the tripod!                                                                 

The Ovington Ramblers: Hoe Rough

Maureen Simmons

Hoe Rough is found a few miles north of Dereham on the B1146 close to Gressenhall museum. It  provides a pleasant circular walk passing by the meandering river Whitewater across heathland and wet fenland.  It was a typical April day when we paid our visit but we managed to avoid the showers, although we did need our wellies as part is very wet.

Nowadays we take much longer on our walks as we take the time to “stop and stare”.  It is amazing to see so many tiny different plants growing in profusion that we once would have walked across without noticing.  Sometimes we look up the rare plants of interest on the walk and take pictures downloaded from the internet so we know what to look out for.  It is a way of learning as we go.  Today we were armed with pictures of yellow rattle, bogbean and cuckoo flower.  Unfortunately, as it is still early in the year, we only managed to find the cuckoo flower, a delicate soft lilac little flower growing in the wet ground.

Also thriving here along the river are huge poplar trees. These trees are dioecious, meaning they produce male and female flowers, or catkins, on different plants and there were many chunky red male catkins which had fallen from the trees. (The female catkins are greenish-yellow).




 
The Ovington Ramblers are a small group of friends who have decided in their 20^th year of walking together that we will try to visit all the Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserves in their 90th Anniversary year.

The Ovington Ramblers: Sparham Pools

Maureen Simmons

Continuing our mission to visit every NWT site this year, this week we went to Sparham Pools, former gravel pits near Lyng.
 

the bridge

Although there is a small car park at the site, we decided to leave the car near the popular Fox public house and walk the last quarter-mile to the lakes. This way we could see the beautiful ancient bridge over the river Wensum, which today was rushing and roaring after the recent heavy rains – nature showing her wild strength.
 

Sparham pools

Arriving at Sparham Pools we were greeted with a cacophony of bird song and the honking and clacking of wild geese. We also heard our first chiff chaff of spring.

The “pools” are actually vast lakes, but there is a well marked pathway all the way round, much of which is on higher ground providing excellent views across the water.  On the lakes we saw Canadian and greylag geese, swans, coots and a lone great crested grebe. Such a shame there was only one grebe – it would have been a special treat to watch their unique courtship display.
 

Marsh marigold

As always, there was plenty of gorse in flower and the honey suckle was stirring among the leafless branches of shrubs and trees. The flag irises were shooting up in the shallow water at the edge of the pools and we saw a beautiful clump of marsh marigolds reflecting their bright yellow flowers in the water. Although the marigold blooms from March to June, it is also known as mayflower – the name of the ship that carried the Pilgrim fathers to America.

This is truly a lovely part of Norfolk and well worth a visit. You never know – the great crested grebe may have found a mate!


The Ovington Ramblers are a small group of friends who have decided in their 20^th year of walking together that we will try to visit all the Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserves in their 90th Anniversary year.

The Ovington Ramblers: Narborough Railway Line

Maureen Simmons

Our chosen walk this week was along the disused railway line at Narborough. As we left the car park we met the gate warden who gave us information about the reserve and also told us about the five bovine custodians who'd been carrying out reserve management and recently left for pastures new. It was such a lovely morning with brilliant sunshine and we had an excellent view from the top of the embankment across the surrounding countryside. It really was magical because we were above the height of the multitude of birch and hazel trees on either side. We heard many birds including robins, great tits and pheasants as well as a green woodpecker.

Gorse bushes were in full bloom but couldn't match the brilliance of a patch of coltsfoot about 6ft x 3ft, all flowers turned towards the sun. We also saw our first butterfly of the year - a Brimstone. Before long the embankment reduced and we were walking on the same level as nearby fields where we spotted 3 hares in total. How they could run! They really are the Usain Bolts of the local animal population. The trees changed from birch and hazel to blackthorn ,mini oaks and even an apple tree bearing several mummified apple corpses from a previous season. We wondered if this had been generated from a core thrown out of a train window many years ago. At the end of the path we retraced our steps and on our return to the car park saw two buzzards circling overhead. One suddenly dived and we assumed he was in luck for an early lunch.

It was a fitting end to a brilliant walk and we can only imagine what it must be like later in the season when things for which the reserve is renowned appear.

 The Ovington Ramblers are a small group of friends who have decided in their 20^th year of walking together that we will try to visit all the Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserves in their 90th Anniversary year.