On the verge: in search of spring treasures

David North, Head of People and Wildlife

Every spring of course is a time of miracles. Leaves appear by some strange alchemy where there were no leaves followed by intricate shapes, textures, patterns and colours of spring wild flowers. Every day brings change. New growth. A new flowering measuring the lengthening days of spring in a calendar of changing colours.

Primroses, photo by David North

This year my local verges seem to have surpassed themselves. Common flowers maybe but in such abundance. The gold of celandines paving my local lanes in gold. I’m very fond of this wildflower. Its horseshoe leaves have a delicate tracery of veins. Its golden flowers open to form yellow suns in the sun but rain cloud or fading light turn them into golden chalices which seem to glow with an inner light. There really do seem to be more this year perhaps they benefited from a wet, mild winter. Primroses too, at least where I live, are thriving. They seem to love steep banks where in golden yellow patches they really are hedgerow gold, their flowers a more subtle lemon-yellow than the brilliance of the celandines which are flowering near-by.

There are rubies to be found along my local lanes. Red dead-nettle this year is also super-abundant. Most a deep ruby red but a few patches painted a light pink.

The hedgerows are still silvered with blackthorn frost. Millions of star-like white flowers shine out of bare dark-barked, thorny branches which give blackthorn its name. Its other name of course is sloe and some of these white spring stars will be transformed into purple-black sour autumn sloes. The catalyst for this alchemy being small flying insects which pollinate the flowers: sex on wings! It’s a plant’s life. If you can’t tell sloe from hawthorn then remember blackthorn flowers on leafless branches and hawthorn’s creamy May blossom appears well after the bushes have greened with young leaves. Some of my local hedges look striped at present – the hawthorns green then sections white flowers on leafless blackthorn branches.
 

Violets, photo by David North

There are other jewels to find beneath the hedgerows along my local lanes. The amethyst and sapphire blues of delicate violets, still in flower and more brazen patches of ground-ivy, a similar blue but a very different flower shape.

On my walks, usually accompanied by a much-loved border collie (well sheep-dog to you and me!) who goes by the name of Rohan, while he sniffs making the most of a hidden scent-world I take in the new flowers appearing almost by the day. Passing village houses there are escaped cowslips. Garden escapes maybe but pretty though a sad reminder of Norfolk days now gone when wild cowslips were a common meadow flower. There are grape hyacinths too in regal, deep blues, such a strange flower but I’m rather fond of them. The seasons change so fast and the first lacy whites of cow parsley flowers have just begun to appear. Soon they will hide my smaller jewels.

Roadside verges can be a last and rather insecure home for so many of our flowers that have vanished from huge swathes of our countryside. The Wildlife Trusts have just released a new report, ‘Save our Vanishing Grasslands’ highlighting the need for more action to protect the wildlife-rich grasslands that still remain. You can help by simply signing the petition – it only takes moments – as now is a small window of opportunity to persuade our politicians to help ensure that new agri-environment support schemes for farmers, which are currently under review at European level, must reflect the massive loss , more than 95% that has taken place of England’s flower rich grassland. We need to ensure that no more are lost and that more support is given to landowners to help restore our meadowland where possible.
 

Celandine, photo by David North

These grassland are not just pretty. This declining resource is vital to support insect pollinators. Flower rich grasslands full of life. On warm sunny spring days they hum with bees and flutter with butterflies. They help protect our rivers from pollution, hold together healthy soils, store carbon, soak up water and reduce the likelihood of flooding. They are loved by people and provide so much to our general health and well-being. Every child should have a chance to lie in long grass under a blue sky, make daisy chains and watch a ladybird climb a grass stem. Perhaps even where picking a bunch of wild flowers for Mum is part of childhood and does not have to be frowned upon because they are so rare!

If you want a countryside that still has these precious jewels, where spring gold is easier to find, and the countryside just a bit more colourful, then please do sign. And don’t forget to explore your local Living Landscape and find some treasure on a road-side!

Another step closer to completion at Hilgay

 Nick Carter, Conservation Officer (Fens)

The perimeter abstraction point

Last Friday - 28 March -  saw another significant development of the wetland site at Hilgay with the turning on of the abstraction system. This will enable us to abstract water directly from the River Wissey into either the perimeter ditch, throughout the year, or the storage lagoon during the winter. Abstraction during the summer will enable us to keep the site wet but it is during the winter that we will be able to build up water levels significantly which will aid the spread of reeds across the site. The aim is to now finish all the construction and fencing works by the end of April. 

Little ringed plover, photo by Nick Appleton

In my last post I was anticipating the arrival of little ringed plovers and sand martins. Friday saw the first little ringed plovers on site. In the morning only one bird was visible but by the afternoon there were at least four. Nearby there was a lapwing sitting on four eggs with other pairs also dotted around the site. No sign of any sand martins yet but hopefully they should arrive soon if they are going to breed. Several species of duck are still present including mallard, teal, wigeon, gadwall and shelduck which may also stay to breed. Several pairs of redshank and at least one pair of oystercatcher are also present along with small parties of snipe which will probably be departing soon. With south easterly winds forecast for the next few days more spring migrants should start arriving onsite, including those that just pass through such as wheatears.

Careful clearing around the bat hibernaculum

Eilish Rothney, Trinity Broads Warden

In 2002 a bespoke hibernaculum was built for Daubenton's bats on the site of the Essex & Suffolk Water Treatment Works at Ormesby St Michael. Daubenton's bats are also known as the 'water bat', fishing insects from the water's surface with their large feet or tail. 

A total of eight species of bat have been recorded on the Trinity Broads and a number of different bats have used the roost over the years including Daubenton's, Pipistrelles and Natterers. There are three species of Pipstrelle and they are our smallest bats – weighing less than a £1 coin! Natterers are medium sized, feeding on a variety of invertebrates including spiders; they like roosting in crevices.

By 2013 the hibernaculum / roost was getting rather overgrown with brambles and a number of alder were potentially obstructing the flight path the bats use to enter the roost. Brambles can be dangerous for bats as they can become entangled or damage their wings – we needed to do some clearance work! The difficulty was timing this work. To disturb the bats whilst they are in the deep torpor of hibernation could endanger them, but if we left it until the warmer spring weather when they would be more active and less vulnerable, we risked there being birds nesting. Consulting with licensed bat experts we drew up a plan:

Photos: Mick Finnemore and Eilish Rothney

• First check the Hibernaculum to see if bats were present
• Clearance work would be done with a crack team of volunteers working very quietly with hand tools
• Materials would be carried away some distance to be burned so no noise or smoke would affect the Hibernaculum
• Block the entrance to reduce noise and stop any smoke entering

The work was carried out in early March and I am so proud of my Herculean team who completed the bramble cutting within the day.  Result – hopefully safe happy bats with good access to their roost and good flight paths to the broad and surrounding feeding areas.

The season is near

 Rachael Wright, Isabelle Mudge and David Fieldhouse: Seasonal Education Officers

Spring has officially begun, the sun is out and the education season is about to start.

We - the new Seasonal Education Officers for 2014 - have just finished two weeks of induction training. We’ve been very busy visiting lots of fantastic nature reserves and sites across Norfolk. So far we’ve visited Roydon Common, Hickling Broad, Cley Marshes, West Runton, Ranworth Broads, Holme Dunes and Foxley Wood! We were lucky enough to be treated to guided walks with the wardens at all of the reserves and were inspired by their wealth of knowledge.

If you would like to visit one of our nature reserves, take a look at the nature reserves pages on the new website to get all the information.

It’s great to get out into the field and see where we will be spending our summer. This time of year is particularly inspiring, as everything starts to wake up and new life begins to appear. We’ve already had some amazing encounters with nature. At NWT Roydon Common, Jonathan the warden led us quietly in search of an animal waking up for the season. We listened for the rustling of grass, and looked under the bushes with our binoculars - this animal is great at camouflaging and it was good to have Jonathan's help to spot it curled up on the ground. This turned out to be our first adder of the season, and for some of us, the first adder ever!

Rob Spray and the education team on the coast

Other highlights over our first couple of weeks include watching the majestic marsh harriers at Holme, the large number of avocets at Cley, and smooth newts and dragonfly nymphs at Hickling. All this is just the beginning of the season! Our enthusiasm has certainly been fuelled by what we have seen so far and we are raring and ready to go. We can’t wait to share our enthusiasm to inspire people about the wonders of wildlife, and look forward to seeing you at some of our events this summer.

Visit the whats on page for upcoming events.

Norfolk Wildlife Services studying rare adders

Chris Smith, Norfolk Wildlife Services

Scientists are studying rare adders at Cawston Heath so that their heathland hibernation habitats can be better managed.

Adder, photo by Karl Charters

Dan Cadwallader from Norfolk Wildlife Services, the ecological science company of Norfolk Wildlife Trust, said: "They aren't the cuddliest of creatures, but I am hoping to start in the autumn for a Phd around adder at UEA."  

The company is photographing adders to trace their hibernation places, which are often on sunny banks, rabbit holes and tree stumps. "The hard part is not getting bitten as this is very emotionally disturbing for the snakes. We will be treating any nest of vipers found, well with some proverbial caution."   

The company's staff, who are specially trained, will be equipped with stout boots and specialist snake gauntlets for the photography work, and using digital cameras to record scale patterns, which are unique to each snake.

The animals have been asleep since October 2013, so they are still sleepy as they wake up in the cool spring weather. Generally when they are active, the tramp of feet will cause they to slip away. However we would recommend that anyone with a nosey dog that likes to sniff things to be kept on a lead on the Trust's heathland reserves.  If dogs do get bitten, which is often on the muzzle or nose, consult a vet immediately to get the dog monitored and have pain relief.  The snake venom is designed to hunt mice, rats and lizards, so for anything larger the effect is similar to wasp stings - very painful, but with a similar issue of anaphylactic shock.

Norfolk Wildlife Services is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Norfolk Wildlife Trust and we gift aid our profits back to the Trust at the end of the year to benefit the county's wildlife and wild habitats directly.

Power turned on at Hilgay

 Nick Carter, Conservation Officer (Fens)

With the recent spell of dry weather work has re-commenced at the Hilgay Wetland Creation site. This has enabled Fen Group to place the concrete top onto the pump chamber which in turn has resulted in Panks Pumps, an NWT Investor in Wildlife corporate member, then being able to install the pump. 

Reshaping near pump inlet, photo by Nick Carter

This pumps water from the ditch network back into the storage lagoon so that it can be recirculated around the site. Installation of the pump has involved a new transformer being installed by UK Power Networks, also a corporate member, and a cable being laid across the site and a pump chamber being buried next to the storage lagoon by Fen Group. The pump was switched on and water was pumped into the lagoon, on 11 March but a minor fault in the control panel meant it had to be turned off again. Very frustrating! Panks were back the next day and fixed the fault and the pump was fully operational. The pump can move an incredible 100 litres every second which means it could empty an Olympic-sized swimming pool in less than 7 hours!  Another major milestone in the development of the site had been achieved. With the pump working we will start to abstract water from the river next week to start to wet up the site further.
 

Water coming through lagoon inlet, photo by David Price

Also on site at the moment are Beatbush Fencing who are completing the installation of fencing and gates across the site to enable the site to be grazed. In particular it is important to keep the grass short on the perimeter banks to ensure any faults can be quickly spotted and to deter animals such as badgers from digging holes and weakening the banks.

Another significant milestone has been the submission of the planning application for change of land use from agriculture to nature conservation for the neighbouring Methwold Wetland Creation site. We should get a decision in mid-June.

In the warm weather, although winter visitors such as jack snipe, fieldfare and redwing are still on site, some species, including shelduck, have been displaying while one brood of Egyptian geese has already been seen. We await the imminent return of little ringed plover, sand martin, nightingale and warblers; let’s hope we don’t get a sudden cold spell.