Landscape recovery pilot: The vision takes shape

‘Wilder, Wetter, Better for Nature’ is the Landscape Recovery pilot in North Norfolk. The project aims to restore biodiversity in the area by providing a mosaic of habitats across the Norfolk Coast AONB, running from Hunstanton in the west to Weybourne in the east of the county. Here, North Norfolk Coastal Group communications officer Sarah Juggins takes a look at the aims and ambitions of the pilot.

Natural England, the Norfolk Coast Partnership (responsible for the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)), the Norfolk Rivers Trust and the Holkham Estate jointly submitted the ambitious and visionary Wilder, Wetter, Better for Nature project for government approval. For the plan to work, it needs buy-in from everyone connected to the coastal strip. This means farmers and land managers who work the land in this stretch of the county; the businesses that have made the AONB their base; the community who call the coastal strip home and the visitors who arrive every year to enjoy all the wild beauty that the coast has to offer.

Wilder, Wetter, Better for Nature is about providing habitat for nature, while also enabling humans to interact within the same landscape. It is about recognising that creatures, like humans, travel and need a network of linked habitats. It is also about ensuring that the habitats are large and extensive enough to support the species who either live there or travel through.

The scheme also focuses on four chalk rivers in the area. By buffering the river valleys, water quality and biodiversity along the river banks will also increase. Not only is this good for nature, it is also a key action to mitigate flooding and soil erosion.

‘Fields of poppies, meandering rivers and a noticeable increase in visual nature.’

This is the vision of Jake Fiennes, the Conservation Manager at the Holkham Estate and author of Land Healer (see Book Review on page 25), which comprises 25,000 acres in North Norfolk and attracts in excess of one million people visitors each year.

Marshland magic

Fiennes, whose conservation work has been praised as ‘world class’, oversees the 10,000 acre National Nature Reserve which includes 2,000 acres of fresh water grazing marsh. Over the years the marshes have become a haven for wildlife and in particular ground-nesting and overwintering wild fowl and waders. The estate