Tern Winter 2022

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Become a member

Norfolk Wildlife Trust is a charity dedicated to all aspects of wildlife conservation in Norfolk. Established in 1926, we are the oldest in a partnership of 47 Wildlife Trusts located throughout the UK.

As a member of NWT, you will help us to create a Living Landscape for Norfolk, where there is more space for wildlife, better connection of wildlife habitats and where people live healthier, more sustainable lives. You will help us look after more than 50 fantastic nature reserves, ensuring they remain havens for wildlife and people.

If you are not already a member of NWT, please join today. Alternatively, you could give membership as a rewarding and worthwhile gift to a friend or relative. To become a member from as little as £3 a month you can: • Visit our website www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk

• Call us on 01603 625540

• Ask a member of staff at one of our five visitor centres

Tern is published three times a year by Norfolk Wildlife Trust. Advertising sales by Countrywide Publications and printed by Micropress Printers Ltd.

Editor: Nick Acheson

Designer: Hannah Moulton

While every care is taken when accepting advertisements neither Norfolk Wildlife Trust nor Countrywide Publications can accept responsibility for unsatisfactory transactions which arise. The views expressed in this magazine are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of Norfolk Wildlife Trust.

NORFOLK WILDLIFE TRUST

Bewick House, 22 Thorpe Road, Norwich NR1 1RY, UK

T: 01603 625540 F: 01603 598300

E: info@norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk

All contents © Norfolk Wildlife Trust. Reg Charity No: 208734

Cover photo: Mark Hamblin/2020VISION

From

There’s no doubt that we’re living through a period of unprecedented change and challenge. In times like these it feels important to take time to focus on all there is to be grateful for, which includes you, our members. Your constant support over the past century has helped us to continually honour our commitment to Norfolk’s wildlife, wild spaces and people. Thank you.

Challenging times ask for bold action, and we look forward to taking you with us as we embark upon our ambitious new strategy that seeks to create bigger and more connected spaces for nature and inspire everyone to value, enjoy and act for Norfolk’s wildlife (p. 24).

Following the sad passing of our Patron, Her Majesty The Queen, we have been reflecting on the steadfast support our Monarch gave to Norfolk Wildlife Trust and the natural legacy that she has left right across the county. I was proud to represent the Trust at the State Funeral, on behalf of every staff member, volunteer and member that has supported our work during the past 70 years — it was a day I’ll never forget (p. 5).

In this issue we reflect on the importance of collaboration. By working together with our partners and communities, we are proud to be making a difference for Norfolk’s wildlife and people at this vital time. From protecting and restoring our biodiversity and landscape, to helping everyone enjoy the rich benefits that a moment in nature can provide. We hope you’ll be heartened and inspired by the stories we share with you this season and wish you a warm and wild winter.

Eliot Lyne Chief Executive

Remembering our Patron, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

In a year of great change, no event has been more significant than Her Majesty The Queen’s passing on 8 September.

For Norfolk Wildlife Trust, and all those who have worked with us over the Queen’s 70-year reign, this was particularly poignant news. The Queen was our Patron for the entirety of her reign, lending steadfast support to our work protecting and restoring Norfolk’s nature since her accession to the throne in 1952.

During The Queen’s 70 years of service, she was a wonderful ambassador for

conservation and charity work. She leaves a lasting legacy across the globe, nowhere more so than here in Norfolk, where her family has a cherished retreat at Sandringham.

NWT CEO Eliot Lyne explains: ‘The Queen became our patron on the 23 June 1952 and, as Britain’s longestreigning monarch, her consistency and devotion have been a constant comfort. We will be ever grateful to

have felt her support, passion and commitment to Norfolk’s people and wildlife during the last 70 years.’

As the nation entered a period of national mourning, we kept our places and spaces open, for those who wished to visit for a quiet moment with nature, closing our visitor centres and offices on the day of the State Funeral as a mark of our respect.

Attending The State Funeral

Eliot Lyne, Norfolk Wildlife Trust CEO, tells of his unforgettable experience following an invitation to The State Funeral for Her Majesty The Queen.

‘It was such an honour to be invited to represent the Trust, all it stands for and everyone who has worked with the organisation over the past 70 years.

‘I don’t really have the words to describe it. It was a never-to-berepeated occasion. A window on history. I sat in the front row of the Nave to the west of the Abbey for what was a very emotional service.

‘The bit that really got me was the piper at the end — it was over my left shoulder, so I couldn’t see them, but there was something incredibly moving as the sound got quieter and quieter. You could see how much this affected the royal family too — as well as a momentous occasion, this was a family funeral.

‘I felt an air of thankfulness around London that day: a sense of gratitude for the Queen’s long and unfaltering service.

All of the people there were representing aspects of her life, the international, the national, the local and the community.

‘The day itself was unforgettable and equally so The Queen’s long dedication to Norfolk Wildlife Trust and our county’s wildlife.’

A royal legacy

The natural world is full of wisdom, with much to offer us all as we face times of loss, change and uncertainty. There is comfort to be found in nature’s steady rhythms, and seeds sown throughout life can bring rich rewards, creating an abundant legacy for many years to come. As we now adjust to a world without Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, her legacy lives on around us, throughout Norfolk’s countryside.

A Coronation Meadow at Fir Grove Farm near Wymondham, created to commemorate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2012, served this year as the perfect location for teaching landowners and community groups about the ecology, creation and management of wildflower meadows.

As part of the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative, created to increase and protect native tree cover across the UK, pupils from Bawdeswell Primary School plant acorns at Foxley Wood, helping to restore Norfolk’s largest ancient woodland.

The Queen was our Patron for the entirety of her reign, lending steadfast support to our work protecting and restoring Norfolk’s nature

© Peter Carins/2020

VISION , Ben Newton, Alan Price

Thank you

From the risk of losing vital environmental legislation to the cost-of-living crisis, there is no doubt that we are operating in challenging times, for both wildlife and people. And whilst our name heralds a focus on wildlife, we know just how central people are to our mission. And none are more central than you, our members.

You are the unfaltering engine room that has been driving our work restoring and protecting wildlife in Norfolk for nearly a century. Your loyal support also provides so many others the chance to feel the nurturing power of nature — something that we all need now, more than ever.

It is often whilst in the depths of difficulty that we feel gratitude bubbling to the surface and it is for

For some, a walk in the unrivalled beauty of our county’s wild spaces offers a much-needed chance to breathe deeply, look to the horizon and let their shoulders drop.

Young people are being nurtured by the sense of wonder that follows a glimpse of a new creature or new-found nugget of wild knowledge — another miraculous secret offered up by our natural world.

After an hour or two of digging, burning or planting, our conservation volunteers and community groups are being nourished in tandem with the earth by the feel of soil on their hands and the knowledge that their efforts are sustaining the creatures and the land that they love.

Thank you for understanding, as we do, that in times of challenge, nature often offers the best solution. Thank you for your continued support protecting and restoring our wild world which, in turn, is buoying spirits across the county.

I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to our members for your continued support.

© Kerry Bensley,

Richard Osbourne,

Frederic Landes

Highlights from Norfolk and national news from The Wildlife Trusts

2022 Sydney Long Memorial Medal winner announced

about positive changes for Norfolk’s environment and its wildlife.

Norfolk born and bred, Carl’s passion for fishing as a boy led to a friendship with Robin Combe, owner of the Bayfield Estate. This resulted, years later, in the formation of the River Glaven Conservation Group, through which long stretches of the river and its water meadows have been returned to a more natural state.

Bringing together people, conservation bodies and academia (as a professor at University College London), Carl has given great service to Norfolk’s natural environment.

NWT Chair, Alice Liddle, said: ‘The Sydney Long Medal is awarded jointly by Norfolk Wildlife Trust and Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society to honour those who make a significant contribution to Norfolk’s wildlife and wild places.

At our AGM in October, we were delighted to announce Professor Carl Sayer as the Sydney Long Memorial Medal winner for 2022. The award was given in recognition of Professor Sayer’s exceptional conservation achievements and the encouragement and support he offers others to bring

Crisis calculations

The Wildlife Trusts have published a groundbreaking report examining the projected impacts of climate change on our nature reserves. It assesses the risks of a changing climate and what we need to do to help nature adapt. The report shows that extreme weather is already affecting many nature reserves through wildfires, flooding, and drought. Research finds that by the 2050s, half of our nature reserves will have 30+ days of very high fire risk a year, and 55% will see nearby river flows drop by more than 30% during times of low flow. The report also shares innovative Wildlife Trusts projects that aim to reduce the impacts on wildlife. Read the report at wtru.st/changing-nature

Carl’s vision extended to restoring farm ponds, some of them ‘ghost ponds’, that had been filled in. His credentials as a local lad, and his ability to win the trust of landowners, have enabled his Norfolk Ponds Project to restore and conserve over 60 ponds.

Carl has always appreciated the work of local naturalists in recording freshwater biodiversity and he served as President of Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists’ Society 2018–2019.

‘The Trust and the Society had no hesitation in awarding the medal to Carl Sayer. As a passionate environmentalist, he has applied his freshwater science research to the conservation and restoration of aquatic landscapes in Norfolk, particularly as a founder member of both the River Glaven Conservation Group and the Norfolk Ponds Project. The impact of both these projects is demonstrably significant and continues to benefit wildlife and people alike.’

Clear water at NWT Hickling Broad & Marshes

The water of the Norfolk Broads has for decades suffered from nutrient enrichment as a result of human activity. In consequence, the water in many of the broads is turned dark green by algal blooms, particularly in summer. This is detrimental to aquatic biodiversity and, with a number of partners, we have recently undertaken biomanipulation projects at Ranworth and Barton Broads, in an attempt to re-establish clear water.

Sometimes, however, nature intervenes. This summer the water of Hickling Broad became exceptionally clear of its own accord, something many of the staff and volunteers had never witnessed.

Reserve Manager John Blackburn recalled seeing the broad ‘gin clear’ just once before, nearly 25 years ago. ‘The likely reason this time’ John explained, ‘is that high winter water levels flushed out the system. Exceptionally low water levels in the spring allowed greater light penetration through the water column. Combined with higher water temperatures, this probably stimulated early plant growth.’

Strong aquatic plant growth takes up nutrients and offers cover from hungry fish to the tiny invertebrates that consume algae suspended in the water. These were all likely contributing factors to the water of Hickling Broad becoming crystal clear in 2022.

The Broads Authority assesses the status of aquatic plants annually, as they are a good indicator of water quality. NWT Hickling and Martham Broads are nationally important for aquatic plants, and between them they hold nine of the fourteen UK species of stonewort. Initial indications are that this has proved to be a bumper year for quantity and diversity.

The very rare holly-leaved naiad (pictured), found only at a handful of locations, has also had an exceptional year at Hickling. Senior Reserves Assistant Jon Wheeler stated, ‘When I arrived at Hickling, it was some years before I found my first sprig of hollyleaved naiad. This year it has been abundant.’

Natterjack success at NWT Syderstone Common

Natterjack toads thrive in ponds that dry out in late summer as this reduces both predation and competition from other amphibians. High water levels in the main breeding pond at NWT Syderstone Common, thick vegetation growth and elevated nutrients all indicated that 2022 would be a poor breeding year for the toads.

Anne Simpson, Assistant Reserve Manager for West Norfolk, explained, ‘The weather was also not ideal, with cold, dry conditions in April and May, and very little adult natterjack activity observed, even on the rare warmer and wetter nights. In the end, we had three strings of spawn laid in one of our predator-free nursery ponds, which turned into several thousand tadpoles. This led to many hundreds of toadlets emerging from the pond.’

Anne concluded, ‘This may not sound like a huge success, but natterjack toads are long-lived and don’t need to breed annually to persist on a site. The Syderstone population is small, but we have had successful breeding over the last eight years. So we are actually doing quite well!’

Ben Hall/2020 VISION , Bob Morgan, David Tipling

Working together to oppose the Norwich Western Link

The landscape between the A47 and A1067 is a well-connected network of vital wildlife habitats including ancient woodland, grassland, chalk streams and floodplain. It supports ancient oak trees and species including bats, badgers and farmland birds such as yellowhammer and linnet.

The proposed development will fragment this wildlife-rich area, damage the River Wensum Site of Special of Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and destroy parts of three County Wildlife Sites.

In July, Norfolk County Council shared data from new ecological surveys on the location of bat roosts and feeding areas in ancient woodland along the proposed

route. They also published a new route that they believe will avoid significant impacts on the bats.

However, Dr Charlotte Packman, an independent bat expert, has been carrying out in-depth research into barbastelle bats on the proposed route for the past four years. She has confirmed that Norfolk County Council’s reports show only a very limited snapshot of what is known about the nationally important barbastelle super-colony that occurs here — with colony counts, home ranges, foraging areas and roosts substantially underrepresented in their reports.

It is very concerning that the true scale and importance of the barbastelle supercolony have not been presented in the

Council’s reports and that the impact of the proposed road on barbastelles has therefore been significantly underestimated. NWT has recently employed Dr Packman to support the completion of research which is fundamental to the protection of this globally threatened species.

In recognition of their importance for barbastelle bats, we have written to Natural England, urging them to designate a group of woods on the proposed route as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC). This area clearly meets the criteria for SSSI and SAC status and deserves the full protection under wildlife law that this designation provides.

Recognising that many others share our concerns, we have formed a collective of environmental organisations including Stop the Wensum Link, CPRE, Friends of the Earth, the Woodland Trust, Norfolk Rivers Trust and Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society. We’re working together closely to speak up for wildlife and to oppose this harmful development, on the grounds of the unacceptable impact it will have on wildlife and the wider natural landscape.

Following an open letter sent to the leader of Norfolk County Council in August this year, which was signed by high-profile conservationists and local people, including Chris Packham and Stephen Fry, we collectively launched an e-action, helping people to speak up for wildlife during the Council’s eight-week informal public consultation.

To find out more about our work opposing the Norwich Western Link, including action you can take to speak up on behalf of wildlife against this development, visit www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/ndr

NWT continues to raise its grave concerns for wildlife as Norfolk County Council’s plans for a Norwich Western Link road progress.

Successful marine conference at Cley

On 6 and 7 August, Marine Conservation for Norfolk Action Group (MCNAG) held ‘Making Waves for Norfolk’, its first in-person conference (following last year’s online event), in the Simon Aspinall Wildlife Education Centre at Cley Marshes, in partnership with Norfolk Wildlife Trust.

The main conference sessions took place on Saturday 6 August. They focused on raising awareness of the need for marine conservation, the effectiveness of marine policy, and forging collaboration between conservationists and fisheries to protect the seabed and its wildlife. The day began with a rousing

keynote address by Howard Wood, one of the founders of the Community of Arran Seabed Trust and a Goldman Prize winner for his tireless work to restore the wildlife of the sea around his home island. Other contributing organisations included Eastern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority, Wash Wader Research Group, Seasearch East, Norfolk Beach Cleaners Collective, Exo Engineering, RSPCA East Winch and Friends of Horsey Seals.

On the Sunday, as part of National Marine Week, Norfolk Wildlife Trust and MCNAG hosted activities for families on marine wildlife and habitats, and an art installation highlighting the problem of marine plastics.

Rural hedgehogs in trouble

Regularly voted Britain’s favourite mammal, the hedgehog is in trouble. National statistics suggest population declines of up to 50% since the turn of this century. A recently completed dissertation by an Easton College student has added local evidence to this picture.

Joshua Rose undertook his study over the summer of 2021 and spring of 2022, working with NWT and the Upper Wensum Environmental Cluster Group (a collaborative group of farmers managing land in the River Wensum catchment between Fakenham and Dereham). In addition to collating public sightings, Joshua’s study used footprint tunnels. These are baited tunnels, containing ink pads and paper, that record the footprints of species using them. Placed strategically, at appropriate densities, for sufficient time, this methodology can robustly determine the presence or absence of hedgehogs in a given area.

The results of the study are worrying. Hedgehogs were detected in just three of twenty kilometre grid squares covered, confirming an emerging picture for rural hedgehogs. ‘Villages act as islands for hedgehogs,’ Joshua

concluded, ‘amid seas of potentially unfavourable arable habitat.’

The exact causes of hedgehog declines are not fully understood, but are likely to include habitat loss and fragmentation, reduced numbers of invertebrates,

road deaths and increasing badger populations. To confirm the picture, similar surveys are being undertaken by our Claylands – Wilder Connections project. The NWT Nature Recovery team is considering how best to respond to this worrying picture.

© Iain Robinson, Adi Ciurea, Frederic Landes, Tom Marshall

Norfolk Wildlife Trust travels back to the Ice Age to support wildlife

Watering Farm adjoins one edge of NWT Thompson Common, a site whose 400 rare Ice Age pingo ponds are of tremendous significance for wildlife, including the UK’s rarest amphibian, the northern pool frog.

Jonathan Preston, NWT Wildlife Conservation Manager, was joined by academics from University College London and Brighton University, as well as members of Norfolk Ponds Project and Norfolk Geodiversity Partnership, as we painstakingly dug into areas believed to be ‘ghost pingos’. Hitting a layer of black peat, which indicated the original base of the ponds, we found seeds and organic matter from centuries ago, allowing us to regenerate these lost pingos for wildlife and bring the past back to life.

Following the purchase of land at Watering Farm in 2017, NWT began excavating ghost pingos last year, as part of the Brecks Fen Edge and Rivers Landscape Partnership, with funding from National Lottery Heritage Fund. In 2021 we excavated four of a possible 20 pingos believed to be hidden on this patch of land. This year we were able to restore a further four pingos.

Our work at Watering Farm is helping to extend this unique habitat, providing more space for wildlife and better habitat connectivity across the landscape. This will buffer sensitive habitats on Thompson Common, create more space for special Brecks wildlife and help wildlife adapt to the impacts of climate change.

NWT has also recently acquired Mere Farm, a 130-acre site that borders Thompson Common, where we plan to excavate further lost pingos in the future.

Pingos are shallow, fluctuating Ice Age pools created by small hillocks of ice melting to leave depressions in the soil. Pingos harbour a variety of interesting flora and fauna. However, as agricultural practices intensified, these ancient ponds were frequently filled in and their precious wildlife lost from the landscape.

What is a pingo?

This summer we excavated arable fields at Watering Farm in the Brecks, to rediscover more of a lost wildlife-rich landscape dating back to the Ice Age.

© Bob Morgan, Jim Foster ARC

Independent financial advice every step of the way

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Contact us for a discovery meeting that is at no cost to you. This can be in person, over the phone, or via video call at a time that suits you.

© Robin Chittenden

A joint effort BITTERN

promotes

The bittern has had mixed fortunes as a breeding bird in Norfolk and the UK. During the existence of the great East Anglian fens, tens of thousands of these secretive birds must have lived here. But bittern numbers dropped sharply with the drainage of our once vast wetland reedbeds. By the end of the 19th century, hunting, habitat loss and the Victorian pastime of egg collecting led to the bittern effectively becoming extinct as a breeding bird in the UK.

Emma Turner, ornithologist and pioneering bird photographer, captured the elusive bittern on film at Hickling Broad in 1911, providing the first

recovery

Wildlife roundup

WORDS AND PICTURES BY ROBIN CHITTENDEN THE VOICE OF BIRDLINE EAST ANGLIA

When a well-known Norfolk birder spotted four European bee-eaters on the Isles of Scilly, early this spring, little did he imagine that the very same flock would end up summering at Trimingham, near his home. What were the chances of that? The gang of four were spotted as they made their way round Norfolk, first being seen over Heacham, Holme and Titchwell, before turning up at Trimingham.

European bee-eaters are charismatic, multi-coloured birds which, as their name suggests, love to eat bees. But in truth many flying insects will

do, including quite large dragonflies. The European bee-eater used to be classified in the UK as an overshooting summer visitor from southern Europe. Bee-eaters migrate north from Africa for summer in the Mediterranean, but sometimes a few of them would keep going and end up here.

In recent years bee-eaters have become regular but scarce visitors. As global warming has ramped up, the climate has become hotter and is now more akin to a Mediterranean climate than a temperate one: perfect for European bee-eaters. Balancing this

positive for European bee-eaters is a negative, in that the number of insects has sharply declined here. There must have been enough prey at Trimingham though. The birds settled down and dug out a couple of tunnels in a former sand quarry. After what seemed like an age, two pairs successfully bred. Proof of the species’ first Norfolk breeding

came with the sight of at least three chicks that emerged from their nesting chambers. Once fledged the families quickly departed before heading back to Africa for winter.

Several other species are extending their range northwards from southern Europe. This summer’s visitors again

Left: A gang of four bee-eaters were spotted as they made their way around Norfolk this summer. Below: black-winged stilts visited NWT Hickling Broad

In recent years bee-eaters have become regular but scarce visitors.

© Robin Chittenden

Above: A little tern colony did exceptionally well at Winterton. Right: Records of Eleonora’s falcon are increasing

included black-winged stilts, those ridiculously long-legged waders, which checked out various localities including NWT Hickling Broad. A pair presumably ended up breeding somewhere not that far away from Welney because a family party was seen there in June. A male great reed warbler set up territory for the whole summer at Snettisham Coastal Park on Ken Hill Marshes. But, despite its loud croaking song, it apparently failed to attract a mate. It can only be a matter of time before this vociferous bird successfully hatches chicks somewhere in the UK.

Some seabirds did well this summer while others succumbed to bird flu. At Winterton the little tern colony did exceptionally well. About 300 pairs raised around 700 chicks. The large roped-off area and helpful staff and signs recommending that dogs should be kept on leashes obviously did the trick. In contrast Scolt Head Island suffered a bad outbreak of avian flu with several hundred Sandwich terns dying. Its warden posed the question: ‘Are we witnessing the collapse of seabird colonies around the North Sea?’ Dead seabirds were still turning up along beaches in North Norfolk in September: a kilometre stretch along Blakeney Point from NWT Cley Marshes had two freshly

dead gannets, plus a fulmar, a Sandwich tern and a guillemot.

NWT Hickling Broad became one of the best places to see good birds this spring and summer in Norfolk. Rarest was a white-tailed lapwing, a wader that breeds from Iraq eastwards. A huge, redbilled Caspian tern, which should have been breeding in the Baltic, was seen there on and off for the whole summer. Another Mediterranean species whose records are increasing is Eleonora’s falcon. This species breeds on rocky cliffs, like those on Mallorca, and then heads back to Madagascar for winter. One was seen in the area of NWT Hickling Broad, Horsey, Winterton and Sea Palling

at the end of August. This is the third record of Eleonora’s falcon for Norfolk, all three observed in the same area. This species is likely to become more regular with time.

The article and photographs on this page are by Robin Chittenden, ‘the voice of Birdline East Anglia’. Anyone can listen to the latest bird sightings by phoning 09068 700245. Calls cost 65p per minute plus your telephone company access charge. For enquiries please call 07941 333970.

You can see more of Robin’s bird and wildlife photographs at www.birdlineeastanglia.co.uk

NWT Hickling Broad became one of the best places to see good birds this spring and summer in Norfolk.

FUTURE

Facing the at

Cley and Salthouse Marshes

NWT is working towards installing a new hide at Cley, from which visitors can watch avocets, shelduck, curlews and black-tailed godwits (pictured)

© David Tipling

Below: In spring 1937, warden Billy Bishop found the first ever bittern nest recorded at Cley

In spring 1937, Billy Bishop made contact with Dr Sydney Long to share the news that he had found the first bittern nest ever recorded at Cley. The doctor, Billy records in his book Cley Marsh and Its Birds, was sceptical, believing it more likely that the new warden had found a pheasant nest. But Billy was adamant and later wrote that ‘Dr Long arrived at Cley in the shortest possible time it took to get from Norwich to confirm my discovery.’

Bitterns have since bred many times at Cley, including in summer 2022, after a breeding absence of several years. Spoonbills also bred at Cley this summer, on land next to the reserve. For the very first time, freshly fledged spoonbill chicks could be seen from the hides, begging for food from their parents, fulfilling a dream held for many decades, first by Billy and later by his son Bernard who followed him as warden.

After 96 years in the care of NWT, Cley remains a flagship reserve, a vibrant freshwater wetland, and — as evinced by the breeding success of bitterns and spoonbills this year — a constant source of amazement. It would be

naïve, however, to think that Cley will forever stay the same. Sea levels are rising, thanks to climate change, and winter storms hit the beach with increasing ferocity. When the Environment Agency took the decision no longer to shore up the shingle ridge, following the flood of 1996, it was clear that — though the natural shingle ridge has proven an effective sea defence — Cley would in time revert to being saltmarsh, as it had been before it was embanked in the 1600s.

Over the coming eighteen months, under a significant partnership with the Environment Agency, with generous further funding from a private donor, we will be undertaking major work at Cley, to help the reserve and its wildlife adapt to rising sea level and protect its freshwater habitats for as long as possible. In recent winter storms, huge volumes of shingle have been

pushed by waves onto the reserve and the New Cut has increasingly become blocked with shingle. The New Cut is the drain on the north side of the reserve which essentially marks the boundary between brackish and saline habitats to the north and freshwater habitats to the south. It is important for the longevity of the reserve’s freshwater habitats that the New Cut remain clear, and able to drain saltwater from the reserve during floods for as long as possible.

This project will see the most vulnerable section of the New Cut moved to the south, making it far less likely to become clogged with shingle. The North Scrape, beloved of winter waterfowl and waders, will also be reprofiled. And the reedbed — which has again been breeding habitat for bitterns in 2022 — will be rejuvenated by the addition of meandering freshwater channels, accompanied by water

control structures and sophisticated equipment to monitor water levels, salinity and contamination. Termed pseudo-creeks, for the time being these channels will serve as secluded hunting habitat for bitterns and other reedbed species. Crucially, they will also increase the speed at which we can remove saltwater from the marsh in future storms. Finally, at such a time when the marsh reverts to saltmarsh, they will become tidal creeks.

Most excitingly, we are also working towards installing a new hide overlooking the North Scrape. Since the loss of the old Swarovski North Hide to a storm in winter 2013–14, building a replacement has been judged too risky. But we are now commissioning a hide on wheels, which can be towed to the safety of higher ground when a major storm is forecast. In this way we hope that our members can again

watch the North Scrape from the comfort of a hide, without the risk of our losing it to a violent winter storm.

For the installation of the new North Hide, we are deeply grateful for a significant donation made by Robert Gillmor and for donations made in his memory following his recent death. Robert was a pioneering bird artist, illustrator, author and teacher, who cofounded the Society of Wildlife Artists, and whose work is instantly familiar to naturalists all over the world. He moved to Cley with his wife Susan in 1998 and remained a stalwart supporter of NWT and Cley and Salthouse Marshes for the rest of his life. We hope a new hide, from which visitors can watch the avocets, shelduck, curlews and black-tailed godwits Robert loved and illustrated, will prove a fitting way to mark his extraordinary legacy.

Visitors can watch shelduck (above) and avocet from the new hide

After 96 years in the care of Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Cley remains a flagship reserve, a vibrant freshwater wetland

© Richard Osbourne, David Savory, Andy Rouse/2020VISION

Norfolk AWilder

A strategy for nature’s recovery

Following the legal formation of Norfolk Naturalists Trust on 5 November 1926, our founder Sydney Long wrote in the Eastern Daily Press that he understood Norfolk to be ‘the first county that has formed a local Trust of this nature.’ There was, he believed, ‘unlimited scope for its activities.’

Unlimited scope to act on behalf of nature in Norfolk may seem a weighty challenge, but for almost a century Norfolk Wildlife Trust (as we have been known since 1994) has attempted to live up to it. Our nature reserves have spread and flourished right across the county, as have our work advising landowners, our outreach and education, and our advocacy for nature and our shared environment.

The challenges faced by biodiversity, the environment and human society in 2022 are, however, hugely different to those identified by Sydney Long and his friends when they formed the Trust in 1926. Keenly aware of the many threats to wildlife even in the early twentieth century, Sydney Long was ‘anxious to preserve for future generations areas of marsh, heath, woods and undrained fenland ... with their natural wealth of flora and fauna.’ But these visionary men could not have known just how catastrophically wildlife would decline in the UK over the ensuing century, as a result of human activity, nor how disastrously we would harm our environment and climate.

A casual glance at State of Nature 2019 (a rigorous review of scientific data on nature in the UK, prepared by more than 70 government, academic and NGO partners) reveals just how perilous are the challenges now faced — in Norfolk and across the country — by wildlife and wild landscape, and in consequence by our own society. In the light of such enormous threats, the role of a modern Wildlife Trust has surely changed.

Mindful of this, and of the rapidly changing political landscape of the world, for the past year we have been preparing A Wilder Norfolk, our new strategy for nature’s recovery.

© David Tipling

A Wilder Norfolk is based on consultation and on reflection. Our first step was to undertake a survey of our staff, to which we received 80 responses. We then asked you, our members, about your priorities for our future. Over 600 of you shared your views, via our membership survey, for which we are very grateful.

Building on your input, with external professional advice and with feedback from partner organisations including RSPB, Broads Authority, National Trust and other Wildlife Trusts, our council of trustees and senior management team have developed A Wilder Norfolk, a strategy for Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s future. This is a long-term framework, designed to stand the test of time, around which to build effective and timely work for Norfolk’s nature, environment and people, both now and in the future. It is closely aligned to the national strategy of The Wildlife Trusts, as we firmly believe we are stronger together.

At the heart of A Wilder Norfolk is the critical need for evidence in decision-making for nature. Despite the many excellent sources of information on nature in Norfolk, we lack a unified statement of how wildlife and wild habitats are faring: a State of Nature report specifically for our county. Such an understanding will be critical to the delivery of 30 by 30, a national ambition, shared by many statutory and voluntary bodies, under which 30% of land and sea will be managed in a nature-positive way by 2030. We believe we can play a central role in facilitating such a report.

We also understand, more keenly than ever before, that the key to nature’s recovery in Norfolk is collaboration. In partnership with businesses, schools and universities, farms, local government, interest groups, families, creatives, and other NGOs we can become an unstoppable force for wildlife and the environment, and their place in our lives.

Three Principles infuse the whole of our new strategy, namely Expand, Improve, Connect. They are inspired by the Lawton Review (2010) which concluded that England’s wildlife sites needed to be ‘bigger, better, more joined up.’

At the heart of A Wilder Norfolk is the critical need for evidence in decisionmaking for nature.

Our new Vision — of what we want to see in the world — is that:

Norfolk’s nature is abundant, thriving and valued

This is a future in which everyone’s life is enriched by nature and everyone in society feels empowered to act on behalf of nature. Wildlife is abundant everywhere — on farms, in towns and cities, in gardens, along rivers and on nature reserves — and the future of even the rarest species and habitats is secure.

Norfolk Wildlife Trust understands that the key to nature’s recovery in Norfolk is collaboration.

Below: lapwing

Our new Mission, for the delivery of our Vision, is:

We are clear that, to deliver our Vision, we must be leaders for nature’s recovery and work in effective partnership with other leaders, from every sector.

To create more space for nature to thrive and inspire more people to take action for nature

© Paul Harris/2020VISION, Mark Hamblin/2020VISION, Frederic Landes

The three pillars of A Wilder Norfolk are our three Goals, to each of which each our three Principles — Expand, Improve, Connect — can be applied. Our Goals are:

1 Abundant and thriving nature

Norfolk Wildlife Trust will play a key role in the county delivery of the 30 by 30 ambition, under which 30% of land and sea will be positively managed for nature by 2030. As we own and manage just 1% of the county’s land, on behalf of the people and wildlife of Norfolk, we cannot achieve this alone. We see our reserves as reservoirs of species, habitats and genes, and exemplars of best practice, but they are not enough. Not nearly enough.

We will continue to expand our reserves, delivering Sydney Long’s founding mandate for NWT, and we aim to do so by 30% by 2030. But crucially we are committed to working far more extensively and effectively with farmers and other landowners, building on the successes and lessons of Claylands – Wilder Connections, and at least doubling our landscape-scale impact in Norfolk by 2030.

We will also increase our capacity to deliver nature-based solutions, developing at least two major projects by 2030. And we will commit greater energy and capacity to the conservation of Norfolk’s marine environment.

2 People valuing nature

Ambitious though it seems, we also aim to see one in four people taking action for nature in Norfolk. Much research indicates that one in four is a social tipping point, beyond which societal attitudes change.

To achieve this, we will build on our existing engagement network. Most importantly, we will also investigate the barriers preventing more people — and a wider range of people — engaging with nature, the environment and Norfolk Wildlife Trust. We have grown in countless ways since twelve people — all men — founded Norfolk Naturalists Trust in 1926, but we recognise that there are still many ways in which we can become more relevant and inclusive. Our recent acquisition of Sweet Briar Marshes will be fundamental in this respect. Plans for the reserve will be developed in partnership with local communities, especially those which typically enjoy limited access to green space.

To deliver our ambitious Vision, we must be leaders for nature. Our talented, hardworking staff and volunteers must feel empowered to bring their best to their work.

3 Leaders for nature

To deliver our ambitious Vision, we must be leaders for nature. Our talented, hardworking staff and volunteers must feel empowered to bring their best to their work. We will therefore invest in our people, listening carefully to what they tell us they need to unleash their full potential for nature.

Our strategy, A Wilder Norfolk, is the product of extensive consultation. With the agreement of our trustees, it is the framework for all our future work, through which we will deliver a better future for Norfolk’s wildlife, wild habitats and people.

In June 1931 — when Norfolk Wildlife Trust cared for only three reserves — Sir William Beach Thomas, a celebrated war correspondent and conservationist, wrote of us in The Spectator:

plan to work will local communities to develop plans for our recently aquired reserve, Sweet Briar Marshes

chalkhill blue butterfly

‘Characteristic areas — the Cley Marshes, Alderfen fen, the Starch grass marsh — have been acquired by acts of great faith and daring, for they were bought … before the money for the purchase was in sight. By no means all of it is even yet in sight. These places, we may hope, are only a beginning.’

For almost a century, with the unfailing support of our members, donors, volunteers, trustees and staff, we have taken acts of great faith and daring. Our new strategy A Wilder Norfolk is the next such act, and it will enable countless more. But it is only the next beginning. With your continued support, as Sydney Long wrote on our foundation, we have unlimited scope.

We

Above:

© Kerry Bensley, Richard Obsourne, Steve Evans

Tel: 01328 710810 info@therealaleshop.co.uk www.therealaleshop.co.uk

Fine Real Ale & Craft Beer

The shop is located on a family farm growing Award Winning Malting Barley. North Norfolk is steeped in a rich malting and brewing heritage and for over ten years we have built up an unparalleled bond with our local brewers, ensuring the strongest connection between the best malting barley and the finest real ales. This malting barley now also supplies our own new craft brewery, Malt Coast, located here on the farm.

Branthill Farm, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk NR23 1SB

Bird watching Open daily Shop & Café Trails, walks & activities rspb.org.uk/titchwell

Bird watching Open daily Shop & Café Trails, walks & activities rspb.org.uk/titchwell

Open daily

North Norfolk BIODIVERSITY

AUDIT

With quaint villages nestled between reedbeds and saltmarshes, it is no surprise that the area was designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in 1968. The AONB stretches for over 440 square kilometres, between the Wash in the west and the dunes of Winterton-on-Sea in the east. It covers a variety of coastal habitats and agricultural land, with most of the region also designated a Special Protection Area and Site of Special Scientific Interest.

There can be few people who, on visiting the North Norfolk coast, fail to marvel at its wide-open beaches and even wider skies.

David Tipling

Norfolk Wildlife Trust is proud of its contribution to the protection of this wonderful part of the British Isles. Our Cley Marshes reserve, the first of its kind in the UK, was purchased in 1926 by our founder Dr Sydney Long, to be kept ‘in perpetuity as a bird breeding sanctuary’. Since that time, along with other conservation bodies, we have purchased several important sites on this magnificent coastline, and we continue to manage them for their beauty and wildlife. However, the AONB is subject to many threats. Robust evidence is needed to inform decisionmakers of the impact of possible developments and to persuade them to take a sensitive approach to the needs of Norfolk’s wildlife. Up-to-date research also helps guide conservationists in

the better management, protection and expansion of habitats.

To gather the information required to develop better wildlife habitats, and to identify possible threats, a North Norfolk Biodiversity Audit was carried out last year, and its findings have now been published. The audit was undertaken by the research team at the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, and was initially developed in collaboration with the Norfolk Coast Partnership and the North Norfolk Coastal Group. More than 60 regional experts and several organisations, including NWT, combined their knowledge and resources to create this first comprehensive nature audit for North Norfolk.

© Neil Aldridge, Elizabeth Dack, Rob Coleman

Over 10,700 species were recorded, with 1,274 recognised as conservation priorities. The audit covered all habitats in the landscape, as Norfolk has some of the largest and most important saltmarshes, sand dunes, freshwater grazing marshes and reedbeds in the country. These habitats not only host a myriad of plants and animals, but also play a significant role in mitigation against climate change. The audit found that the area has more conservation priority species than any comparable habitat across England and Wales.

NWT has also been working with the Norfolk Coast Partnership on a project funded by the Green Recovery Challenge Fund. We have run a series of bio-blitz events at NWT Cley Marshes, Winterton-on-Sea, Holme-next-theSea and Thornham. In each case, we invited the local community to join us in recording as many species as possible in five hours. Experts were on hand to lead guided walks and help with species identification.

NWT has run a series of bioblitz events along the Norfolk coast.

Left: grey seal, reed beetle, yellow-horned poppy

Gemma Walker, NWT Senior Community Officer said, ‘The Winterton-on-Sea bio-blitz saw us record over 600 species in the allocated time. We, of course, expected to record grey seals in the parish, but a swallowtail butterfly on the beach was a real surprise! Over 100 people took part, and we were delighted to be joined by the Norfolk Coast Partnership, the RSPB and Natural England.’

The Norfolk coast faces many threats, from development, pollution, modern farming, coastal erosion and the large number of people who visit. Nature is dynamic and ever moving, and habitats are in constant transition, but among the most important findings of the audit were that nature needs to be given undisturbed space to thrive, and that the more habitats are interwoven through the landscape, the higher the biodiversity found.

Over 10,700 species were recorded, with 1,274 recognised as conservation priorities.

Among the most important findings of the audit were that nature needs to be given undisturbed space to thrive.

Discover

Mistletoe

Mistletoe is best known for the custom of kissing under a sprig at Christmas. One of our most venerated wild plants, mistletoe was said to be the most important of the seven sacred herbs of the druids. Today, perhaps unwittingly, we continue the symbolism of mistletoe as a magical sign of new life in midwinter, by bringing it into our houses at Christmas.

Mistletoe is linked both by name and natural history to the mistle thrush. This bird is fond of feeding on mistletoe berries, a habit reflected in its scientific name Turdus viscivorus from viscum meaning mistletoe and vorare meaning to devour. This is vital to the mistletoe as, after feeding, birds wipe their bills on a convenient branch to discard the sticky seeds. In so doing, they disperse mistletoe from tree to tree.

How to recognise mistletoe

Rounded clumps of mistletoe are easiest to spot in winter, when they stand out on bare trees. Mistletoe is an evergreen, semi-parasitic shrub that grows on trees’ branches, often high in the canopy. Its narrow, leathery leaves are sickle-shaped and, like its branching stems, are greenish-yellow in colour.

Between December and February white, semi-transparent, sticky berries adorn female plants. No other flowering plant is similar in form or habit to mistletoe.

Where to see mistletoe

Mistletoe is not common in Norfolk. There are scattered records from all quarters of the county but it probably occurs most frequently south of Norwich. Most records in Norfolk are of mistletoe growing on lime trees, though it has also been recorded on poplar, apple, almond, hawthorn, field maple and willow. It does not appear to have been found on oak in the county since 1866.

The best time to look for mistletoe bunches is between November and March when trees are bare of leaves.

What’s happening to mistletoe?

The grubbing up of traditional apple and pear orchards has destroyed one of the most important habitats for this plant. Mistletoe appears to be less common now than in the past and may be adversely affected by climate change.

Help record mistletoe

Make your records count this December, January and February by sending your mistletoe sightings to our online Spotter Survey: www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/ spottersurvey

© David North

NWT Salthouse Marshes

1. Leave Salthouse village green and walk east along the footpath on the inland side of the coast road for around 100 metres until you see a public footpath sign on the other side of the road.

2. Cross the road and follow the public footpath heading north across the marshes. At the start of this path, you cross the Catchwater Drain; then follow a narrow path between reeds with freshwater grazing marshes on both sides. Continue along the path, crossing the New Cut drain via a wooden footbridge that has handrails. The path ends where it meets the coastal shingle.

4. Now head westwards along the top to the shingle ridge with the sea on your right and a view over brackish pools and grazing marsh on your left. Continue for approximately 650 metres, passing sections of distinctive rusty metal posts protruding from the shingle; these are the remains of former sea-defences.

5. Now walk inland taking the path heading south across the marshes. You will easily spot this pathway as it lies between two prominent parallel dykes. Follow this path (known as the Iron Road) across the marshes, crossing the

public footpath sign on the far side of the road. Take care crossing the coast road and then walk inland away from the main road along the public footpath crossing farmland. The path rises uphill from the main road. At the top of the field, don’t fork right but continue straight on the path which enters a tunnel of scrub and climbs steeply for 25 metres before becoming a well-marked and level path by which you can return to Salthouse village and your start point. There are two kissing gates as you approach Salthouse village.

Salthouse

Walk highlights

This varied walk takes you across coastal grazing marshes, past brackish pools and saline lagoons and along the top of the shingle ridge beside the sea. In contrast, the last part of the walk is over farmland and provides fabulous views across Salthouse Marshes. Salthouse village, where the walk starts, was once a thriving medieval port.

The marshes you walk across, now part of NWT’s Cley and Salthouse Marshes nature reserve, were originally all tidal saltmarsh but many were reclaimed in former centuries as grazing for sheep and cattle. Today the mix of habitats, with freshwater and brackish marshes,

teems with wildlife. In winter there is always the chance of one of Norfolk’s greatest wildlife spectacles: a sky full of geese. The resident greylag and Canada geese are joined in winter by pink-footed geese from Iceland and brent geese from the tundras of arctic Russia. The calls of wading birds echo the wildness of these coastal wetlands. Curlews, our largest wading birds, feed here, using their long down-curved bills to probe for worms.

As you return towards Salthouse along the Iron Road (so named because it was used for tank training during the Second World War) look for redshank, lapwing, curlew, shelduck, wigeon and teal.

Redshank

Teal

© Richard Osbourne, Nick Appleton, Steve Evans, Steve Thompson

Brent geese

Take action

Tech specialists sign in to help

connect The Claylands!

The multi-award-winning technology distributor Midwich joined NWT as a Gold ‘Investor in Wildlife’ earlier this year, and has already sent out a team of volunteers for a day helping our Woods & Heaths Reserves team at New Buckenham Common.

With their HQ and over 250 employees in Diss, Midwich has supported our Claylands – Wilder Connections project with a donation to fund the purchase of 600 new saplings for hedgerow restoration.

Furthermore, having caught the volunteering bug, Midwich staff took part in a woodland coppicing day at NWT Foxley Wood in October, with a team also visiting the Claylands in December, to plant the young trees funded by their employers.

Ben Thompson, Engagement Lead at Midwich told us: ‘Norfolk Wildlife Trust is doing an amazing job in creating a sustainable environment for people and wildlife in the county. We’ve been helping in whatever way we can, through donations for landscape conservation near us in Diss, and team volunteering. By the end of the year colleagues will have given over 250 volunteer hours to help NWT.

‘Staff have reported a positive impact on their mental wellbeing. They have enjoyed working as a team, and feel they are having a positive impact on the environment.’

James Hogg, Corporate Development Officer at NWT added: ‘To help save Norfolk’s wildlife for the future, it is vital that we reach beyond our reserve

network and encourage conservation and habitat restoration across the wider landscape. Midwich’s support in South Norfolk will make a real difference.’

Claylands Tree Pack Giveaway

NWT has teamed up with the Woodland Trust to offer free trees to people in the Claylands. Anyone can apply for 50 or 100 native trees and communities can arrange to split packs between several locations. For more information visit: www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/ freetrees

Midwich staff work party at NWT New Buckenham Common

© NWT, Ross

Following a successful £4.5 million funding bid from EU LIFE and National Heritage Lottery Funds, Natural England has been leading a project to restore Hoveton Great Broad and Hudson’s Bay.

Decades of pollution have created an unhealthy, algal dominated environment that deprives the aquatic plants of sunlight. To restore a healthy ecosystem with crystal clear waters and diverse

plant and fish communities, an innovative technique has been used.

Sediment removal returned the Broad to a depth better suited to the healthy ecosystem that used to exist. Head to our website to find out how we removed 55,000 m3 of highly nitrified sediment from the Broad, and how we used this sediment to create new wet fenland habitat.

Overlooking the Broad is the Hoveton Nature Trail, a magical oasis of wildlife and tranquillity away from the hustle and bustle of the river, giving you a chance to relax and immerse yourself in the restorative peace of nature.

Come visit and experience it for yourself!

See the website and events pages at: www.hovetongreatbroad.org.uk or email us at: info@hovetongreatbroad.org.uk

@hoveton_broad_project

@Hoveton_Broad

Discover how we are putting the sparkle back in Hoveton Great Broads murky waters!

Thorpe Marshes

Thorpe Marshes is Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s first urban nature reserve. Managed by the Trust and owned by the Arminghall Settlement, the site has been an integral part of the five-year Water, Mills and Marshes: Broads Landscape Partnership, led by the Broads Authority.

One of the aims of the programme, which received a grant of £2.6 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, has been to encourage people to get out into the landscape. The focus at Thorpe Marshes has been on connecting the local community with the reserve and all it has to offer. Over the past five years, as far as possible given the pandemic, we have organised monthly guided walks, volunteer work parties, local community days, pond-dipping sessions, and work with local schools.

We have celebrated this final year at Thorpe Marshes with a successful week-long Walks Festival, which took place in May, and a very well attended Family Fun Day at the end of June.

to undertake a hobby or just because we can. For some children, however, nature is not always easily accessible.

With this in mind, NWT has explored alternative ways of engaging with schoolchildren, providing opportunities for Hillside Avenue students and teachers to get to know Thorpe Marshes via school assemblies and reserve visits. Each on-site session has had a specific wildlife theme, including birds, mammals, plant life and freshwater invertebrates.

As a result of the project, we have developed a key partnership with Hillside Avenue Primary School, which is within walking distance of the reserve. As adults, we can choose to spend time in nature: for enjoyment, to boost wellbeing,

We have also worked closely with several teachers at the school to organise a Wildlife Wellbeing group for children from Years 1 to 6, at an afterschool club held twice a month.

This is the first time NWT has worked with a school in this way. There have

Connecting with the local community

The children are calmer, engaged and focussed when on our trips to the marshes.

© NWT, Richard Osbourne

NWT has also led two projects at Upton Marshes as part of the Water, Mills and Marshes programme. The first, called Wild Walks, has encouraged volunteers to record any species observed on their walks around Upton Marshes. Training has also been given on surveying techniques and species identification.

At Thorpe Marshes, we have been connecting the local community with the reserve and all it has to offer

It has also been a great opportunity for teachers to take a moment out of the classroom and experience some of the benefits of spending time in a green space.

The second project at Upton has been to aid the spread of grass-wrack pondweed, a nationally scarce species. The plant’s presence at Upton’s grazing marshes is evidence of a healthy water environment. NWT has restored 7.2km of dykes to their early successional stage to create conditions for grass-wrack pondweed and other scarce species to thrive. been clear benefits experienced by the children, their families and the teachers. ‘The children are calmer, engaged and focussed when on our trips to the marshes. They have developed team working skills and it has been great to see the older children supporting the younger ones with sensitivity and compassion,’ commented teacher Nicole King.

Parents have also noticed the positive effects of this new way of working, as one parent noted: ‘The Wellbeing and Wildlife club has been a brilliant opportunity for my child. They have thrived being in the smaller group setting and gained confidence and a lot of insect knowledge whilst having the freedom to explore and question.’

‘The experience of working with Hillside Avenue Primary School at Thorpe Marshes this year has been truly inspiring,’ said Isabelle Mudge, NWT Senior Education Officer. ‘The school has been very supportive of our work and enthusiastic about providing students with access to nature.’ Hillside Avenue aims to include greater opportunities for outdoor learning in the curriculum in the future, making the most of the unique marshes on their doorstep.

Learn Tern with

This issue of Tern is full of partnerships, teamwork and collaboration. In the natural world, this is nothing new. Everywhere in ecosystems there are relationships.

Biologists describe relationships between species as symbiosis, from the Greek meaning ‘living together’. In the real world nature is endlessly complex, but to understand relationships conceptually, a number of types of symbiosis are described.

In parasitism, one organism benefits at the expense of another. Fleas and ticks, feeding on the blood of vertebrates, are obvious examples of external parasites, while tapeworms live inside their hosts’ digestive tracts, stealing nutrients. Yellow rattle, red bartsia, eyebrights and mistletoe are all Norfolk plants which steal some nutrients from other

plants, while also photosynthesising. Dodder and the various broomrapes have gone a stage further, giving up photosynthesis altogether and deriving all their nutrition from a host plant.

WORDS BY NICK ACHESON, NWT AMBASSADOR

In commensalism, one species benefits while the other is essentially unaffected. The large hoverfly Volucella bombylans develops inside a bumblebee nest. The larva eats nest debris and is thought to have no impact on its bumblebee hosts.

The word symbiosis is most commonly used to mean mutualism, in which both species (or multiple species) benefit from their relationship. We all witness (and benefit from) mutualism all the time. Spend time in a flower-rich garden in spring or summer and you will see mutualism all around you. Flowers come in a range of shapes and sizes, each designed to attract a particular

set of pollinators. When a pollinator with the right body or head shape arrives, it is anointed by the flower with pollen in such a way as to pollinate the next flower it visits. The insect is rewarded with nectar, which is often available only to species with the right tongue shape.

These mutualistic relationships are fairly brief and well-defined. Some, however, persist for as long as an organism lives. Within your digestive tract, as you read Tern, billions of benign bacteria are helping you digest your last meal. In your nearest wood, what has recently become known as the ‘wood wide web’ is at work. A network of mycorrhizal fungi and other microorganisms surrounds and interpenetrates tree roots, aiding nutrient transfer (in return for sugars), sharing nutrients between related trees and even — astonishing as it may seem — passing warnings of danger between them.

Some organisms have gone a stage further still, co-existing within the same bodies. On tree bark and churchyard headstones lichens are readily found. A lichen is a stable symbiotic relationship between a fungus and one or more photobionts (which provide energy in the form of sugars through photosynthesis). Photobionts are usually algae or cyanobacteria. Though some scientists propose that this is a highly-orchestrated example of parasitism, in which a fungus farms algae or cyanobacteria internally, most believe that lichens are the ultimate mutualists, with fungi providing perfect growing conditions (often in places where algae could not grow on their own) while algae and cyanobacteria provide food.

Collaboration is fundamental to good conservation, but in the natural world it is absolutely nothing new.

©

Ian Dive, Nick Upton/2020VISION

GET INVOLVED

News from NWT local groups

At a meeting on 14 July 2022 the Norwich Local Group elected a new committee. Chairman Richard Fair said, ‘I’m delighted that the NWT Norwich Local Group has reformed, giving people the opportunity to discover nature on their own doorstep.

‘This is a particularly exciting time for Norwich. With NWT’s recent purchase of Sweet Briar Marshes, our local group will have an important role to play, supporting the Trust in making this a place where urban communities can get close to nature.

‘In the months and years ahead the Norwich Local Group plans to organise talks and walks appealing to all ages and interests. There will be opportunities to volunteer for NWT, supporting its work in the urban environment.’

We welcome the new committee and extend our profound thanks to outgoing Chairman Jon Shutes and committee members Hatty Aldridge, Roger and Jenny Jones, the late Philip Howard, Gordon Murray and everyone who has helped run the Norwich Local Group since its formation.

Our Fakenham and West Norfolk Local Groups currently lack active committees to organise events programmes. If you might like to be involved in reforming a committee in one of these areas, we would love to hear from you.

We are very grateful to the outgoing committee members whose long and dedicated service has kept these groups running: in Fakenham, Chairman Robin Parker and committee members Peter and Liz Stephens and Margaret Carter, and in West Norfolk, Chairman Geoff Randall and committee members Adrian Winnington and Joan Fox. Our thanks go equally to everyone who has helped organise these groups over the years.

Our local groups meet informally throughout the year for talks, walks and social occasions. To find out more, visit www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/ support-us/local-groups

Our 250 Club’s two prize draws for 2023 are scheduled for Friday 24 February and Friday 28 July 2023. These dates are subject to change, so please check our website nearer the time.

We wish good luck to all ticket holders, and we thank you for your support in 2022, which has seen over £12,000 donated to Norfolk Wildlife Trust projects.

To join the 250 Club please visit www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/ 250club. At £12 per ticket, and with odds of 1:15, you can secure your place in the 2023 prize draws. The top prize is £250 and over 100 further prizes are available in each draw.

© David North, Mike Dawson, Richard Osbourne, Frederic Landes

Volunteer at Holt Lowes

The Holt Lowes Volunteers have started running work parties again, helping keep Holt Lowes great for wildlife. On the first Friday of every month through the winter, sessions run from 10am to 12.30pm, though participants can leave whenever suits them.

The group meets at 10am in the Holt Country Park main car park (off Norwich Road), NR25 6SP. The car park charge of £2 can be refunded to volunteers.

Anyone wanting to come along should wear stout footwear and thorn-proof trousers and tops. Thick gardening gloves, loppers and secateurs are helpful, if you have them, though tools are available. Volunteers should also bring drinks.

For more information, please contact Fiona on 01263 713226/07768 717902 or Claire on 01263 713817/07760 462693.

Give a gift to Norfolk’s wildlife this Christmas

With the countdown to Christmas well and truly underway, many of us may have already turned our attention to the annual Christmas shopping spree. During this year’s season of goodwill,

Treat a loved one to a pack supporting one of Norfolk’s iconic species. Each wildlife gift pack includes your certificate, a factsheet on your chosen species, a Norfolk Wildlife Trust A6 notebook and a matching fridge magnet. Choose from otter or swallowtail butterfly. £25

why not consider putting something under the tree to benefit our wildlife too? If you need a little inspiration, here are our top ten nature-friendly stocking fillers and festive fundraising ideas:

Gift Membership packages

The perfect present for the nature-lover in your life. From £36 (just £3 per month)

NWT 2023 calendar £9

NWT Christmas cards From £3.50 (various designs available)

NWT wildlife notebook

From £8 (various designs available)

NWT wildlife soap £12 (set of 3)

Tickets to an event at your local NWT reserve. See website ‘What’s On’ for details.

Visit www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/ christmas or call 01603 625540 to order or for more details.

From the President

WORDS BY PATRICK BARKHAM, NATURAL HISTORY WRITER AND NWT PRESIDENT

My day-job as a journalist depends on avoiding management-speak. But sometimes David Brent or Alan Partridge or the nursery teacher charged with the awesome task of teaching toddlers to share has a point.

Teamwork does make the dream work. TEAM may just stand for Together Everyone Achieves More. There really is no ‘I’ in team (and no ‘I’ in nature either).

A lot of talk about ‘partnership work’ in conservation sounds like another cliché. Personally, I love the spark of individual inspiration that protects wildlife, from Sir David Attenborough’s inspiring words to the generous gift that enabled NWT to buy Mere Farm.

But what happens after this catalyst — the changes in behaviour that Sir David provokes, or the recreation of speciesrich ghost ponds in the Brecks — is created by a much wider community?

As NWT declares in its new strategy, drawn up after listening to many excellent suggestions from us members, it must collaborate to ensure that Norfolk’s wildlife and wild spaces become healthier, more abundant and better connected.

Bigger, better, and more joined up is the mantra of Professor John Lawton, whose government report back in

2010 laid the foundations for modern nature conservation in England. Conservationists now seek not merely to preserve fragments of wildlife habitat but create new spaces for nature, and link them so that wildlife can move and thrive in an era of global heating.

NWT is a small organisation with barely 70 staff and yet it owns and manages more than 60 nature reserves totalling around 5,000 hectares. It punches far above its weight because of the collective might of its 37,000 members and many volunteers.

I personally believe that NWT’s mission must always be to directly protect and restore more land. As the past century has demonstrated, nature reserves are the gift that keeps on giving as we continue to discover new and myriad benefits, from resilience to climate change to flood protection to enhancing our mental health.

But our cherished reserves currently make up just under 1% of Norfolk’s land area when our aim (also a government commitment) is to devote 30% of land and sea to the wild species on whom we ultimately depend. The need for collaboration is obvious.

NWT is working in partnership right now — from delivering a wilder South Norfolk via the Claylands project to teaming up with independent scientists to robustly oppose the destructive Western Link road. Now we must work even more with farmers, offering them expert advice and encouragement; as well as scientists, government agencies, other charities, councils and businesses. True collaboration is sometimes painfully slow — or just painful! — but it will deliver more land for nature and people. In turn, we become better connected with each other, our fellow species, and our places, which can only bring us more peace, good health and happiness.

© Richard Osbourne

holidays for life

An initial payment from £5,000 and a quarterly fee of just over £30 (that is around £130 a year), linked to RPI, gives you access to all HPB’s holiday homes. For each HPB holiday, you will pay a no-profit user charge covering only property running and maintenance costs and use of on-site facilities. The charge is level throughout the year –there are no high season premiums. For a studio the charge averages about £315 a week, for a 2-bedroom property around £480 a week.

Larger properties are also available. After an initial charge of 25% your money is invested in a fund of holiday properties and securities. The fund itself meets annual charges of 2.5%. Your investment return is purely in the form of holidays and, as with most investments, your capital is at risk.

You can surrender your investment to the company after two years or more (subject to deferral in exceptional circumstances) but you will get back less than you invested because of the charges referred to above, as well as other overheads and changes in the value of the fund’s properties and securities.

This advertisement is issued by HPB Management Limited (HPBM) registered at HPB House, Newmarket, Suffolk, CB8 8EH. HPBM is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is the main UK agent and the property manager for HPB, issued by HPB Assurance Limited (HPBA) registered in the Isle of Man and authorised by the Financial Services Authority there. The Trustee of HPB is Equiom (Isle of Man) Limited, registered at Jubilee Buildings, Victoria Street, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 2SH. The Securities Manager is Stanhope Capital LLP of 35 Portman Square, London, W1H 6LR. No medical examination required. HPB is available exclusively through HPBM. HPBM promotes only HPB and is not independent of HPBA. Holders of policies issued by HPBA will not be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme if the company becomes unable to meet its liabilities to them but Isle of Man compensation arrangements apply to new policies. We are now unable to accept new applications from residents of EU countries and some other jurisdictions. HPB Assurance Limited reserves the right to decline an application at its sole discretion.

The Wildlife Trusts donation will only be made if: 1. You quote “Wildlife Trusts” when requesting further details; and 2. You have not previously requested or received information about the Holiday Property Bond from us; and 3. You invest in the Holiday Property Bond within 24 months of your initial enquiry and do not cancel that investment within the statutory 30 day cooling off period.

Enjoy exclusive holidays for life in some of the UK and Europe’s most unspoilt places

Scan to nd out how you could enjoy holidays in beautiful places, year after year after year

The Holiday Property Bond is a unique holiday investment, founded in the UK over 38 years ago. Its portfolio currently offers a range of more than 1,400 villas, cottages and apartments in over 30 exceptional locations across the UK and Europe. For an investment of as little as £5,000 (although the more you invest the more holidays you will be able to enjoy) you can holiday in any of these properties at any time of year throughout your lifetime and, in due course, pass the benefits on to your children or grandchildren.

Like The Wildlife Trusts, the Holiday Property Bond has always strived to protect our natural heritage, looking after the environment and working closely with nature. Today our ‘Greener Together’ philosophy is stronger than ever, whether it’s developing a new site or renovating an historic building. Many of our properties in the UK are situated in National Parks or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, with a number having achieved awards for their sympathetic architecture and natural landscaping. Both here and overseas HPB always seeks to find the most beautiful and unspoilt locations.

In the Scottish Highlands the grounds of our historic mansion attract both Red Deer and the elusive Pine Marten, whilst Osprey swooping over Loch Achray are also a common sight. And the woodland surrounding

our former Franciscan monastery on Anglesey is home to one of the UK’s largest Red Squirrel colonies.

From planting wild flower meadows at our home on the Purbeck coast, to looking after the ancient olive groves that grow amongst our Trulli in Puglia, HPB’s commitment to the environment is unwavering.

We wholeheartedly support The Wildlife Trusts in their aim to save and protect the UK’s wildlife and wild places. That’s why we will donate £300 for every Norfolk Wildlife Trust member who becomes a Bondholder. See summary of the terms and conditions alongside.

If you would like to find out more about HPB, please read the ‘Exclusive holidays for life’ section on the left and then request an information pack.

Scan the QR code or visit hpb.co.uk/nwt

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The Holiday Property Bond

Tigh Mor Trossachs; HPB's turreted mansion on the banks of Loch Achray in the Scottish Highlands

Ospreys over Loch Achray

Red squirrels at HPB’s Henllys on Anglesey

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