#706: Voles

From the recent newsletter from the Norfolk Wildlife Trust.

"Thanks to £25,000 funding from Natural England, we’re embarking on a research project in partnership with Norfolk Rivers Trust that holds the key to a brighter future for Norfolk’s water voles."

Water voles were once commonplace throughout Norfolk’s waterways but suffered a dramatic decline in the last half of the twentieth century. A major factor in this was predation by mink, a species which has now largely disappeared across Norfolk. This gives us a unique opportunity to return the species to its former glory throughout Norfolk’s waterways.

After first discovering where small populations of these furry, river-dwelling species currently live within the Wensum and Yare rivers, we’ll identify where new water vole habitat can be created to help the isolated populations reconnect with each other.

Our research will inform a series of actions for land managers and decision-makers living and working along the rivers. We’ll offer guidance and workshops, bringing communities together to help the charismatic species flourish throughout the county once again.

#674: Who owns Norfolk?

I'm going to be using Norfolk as a located example for quite a few elements of the course, including some of the habitats and flora and fauna along with other elements of the subject content. 

I've already started creating some of those. Some of them will take the form of StoryMaps.

Who owns Norfolk? is a valuable website to explore the ownership of land in the county.

Details:

Who Owns Norfolk? This project sought to provide more detailed local landownership data in Norfolk in support of Who Owns England? Particular focus was given to Norfolk's large land estates, and how these were managing their environmental and social responsibilities.

The landownership research started in 2020 and concluded in 2024. Part way through the project, due to time and resource constraints, it shifted to focusing on the West Norfolk district only. At the time of its conclusion, the project had mapped the owners of 70% of West Norfolk's land area.

From 2024 onwards, the project is seeking to map the areas of Norfolk that have been protected for nature - see Rewilding Norfolk.

#653: Getting down to earth

Great Soils is a web page developed by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), the independent, impartial public body that unlocks success in British agriculture.

They have developed a soil health scorecard with videos to help.

Image: Alan Parkinson, shared on Flickr under CC license.

#652: Stone Curlew habitats and new housing

This story from the BBC News had a headline which at first glance is the wrong way round surely...

It's since been changed.

Stone curlews are a protected species. I have seen them in the wild in a field which is part of a Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve.

I've visited Weeting Heath and seen the bird in the fields at the reserve. It's eye always draws the eye... it's a beautiful bird.

#651: Protection for forest warrens and lodges

Rare rabbit warrens and lodges in Thetford Forest - on the Norfolk/Suffolk border recently gained protected status.

#625: Angie Lewin: 'Plants and Places'

Angie Lewin's prints are usually of natural forms, particularly inspired by coastal locations. She has produced quite a lot of work over the years, and continues to be productive and creative, with prints, home furnishings and fabrics, greetings cards and other items. 

She has also been involved in the creation of a few books of her work. 

I have a copy of Angie's book 'Plants and Places' on my shelves, and other bits of her work.

I also own one of her limited edition etching prints. 

It's one of her sea plant prints and sits on the wall in my lounge. 

#624: Scolt Head Island

I recently spent an overnight at the White Horse at Brancaster Staithe. 

It's recommended as a hotel to stay in.

The pub has a marsh bar down by the salt marsh. From there you can see the low hills of Scolt Head Island.

Scolt Head Island lies just off the North Norfolk Coast.

This would make a great field study location for coastl ecosystems work and investigations.

Baz Scampion has created this website about the island.

The island is accessible by ferry.

The island is a National Nature Reserve, which limits the activity that can take place there. A good example of landscape management.

Image: Sea lavender on the salt marsh at Brancaster Staithe.

#579: Natural History Reading List #26: Fenland Nature

A cross-posting from my GeoLibrary blog, which currently features over 700 books.

This was picked up in Topping Books just before the summer 2025. It's a really detailed and comprehensive guide to the nature to be found in the Fens. It's a book to dip into rather than read cover to cover, with chapters exploring different aspects of the Fenland landscape.

There are lots of excellent photographs, mostly taken by the authors themselves, who have certainly put in the legwork and mileage to cover the region they are writing about.

Publisher's description:

This book showcases the natural history and landscape of the Fens, an area now responsible for a third of Britain’s food production and worth over £3 billion to the economy every year. It describes the geology and geography across the Fenland Basin over the last 14,000 years, a period dominated by the flux of wetlands and movement of water. The human relationship with this landscape is traced through history: from Mesolithic hunters to the prosperity of a medieval economy based on the currency of eels, through the taming and draining of the vast wetlands, to modern farming on an industrial scale.

While recognising that only a fraction of the Fens is left, Fenland Nature celebrates the breadth of wildlife still to be found in the region, from vast flocks of visiting wildfowl in the winter months, to rare and specialised plants and insects – all illustrated with detailed and evocative photographs.

The book concludes by contemplating an uncertain future where there are possibilities for a sustainable agricultural industry alongside increasing biodiversity, requiring new ways of thinking and working with the land. The fenland landscape is a microcosm of the huge global challenges caused by habitat loss, ecological degradation and climate change. If solutions can be found to these complex issues in the Fens, then there is hope that these can also apply to similar places across the world.

It's written by two local authors who really know their local patch well. A great coffee table / browsing book.

A good review by Mark Avery.

It sits nicely with my other Fenland books - dipped into to inform my teaching about the local area.

My copy was published by Pelagic Publishing.

Paperback, 376pp

ISBN: 9781784274108

#578: Deepdale Podcast

I am fortunate enough to live close to the North Norfolk coast. I used to live on the coast itself at Snettisham for 12 years which allowed me to cycle to the beach. 

On the edge of the village is Ken Hill, which has latterly become a venue for Springwatch and a regenerative farm.

The Deepdale Podcast is now live, and there are several posts which would be of interest.

#568: NWT Centenary event with Chris Packham

I've been a member of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust for over 25 years.

They are the oldest of the Wildlife Trusts in the UK and are celebrating their centenary.

Last week, I attended an event at UEA to celebrate the centenary of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust.  

Chris Packham was able to join us for a conversation with Patrick Barkham, followed by questions from the Youth Forum and the audience.

An audience of over 500 people was crowded into Lecture Theatre One for the talk and question session. The evening started with the film above, made to celebrate 100 years of conservation work within Norfolk, starting at Cley Marshes on the Norfolk coast. I have been a member of the NWT for over 30 years. Norfolk has a great many places to see wildlife.

Chris talked with candour and passion about the value of wildlife to him personally and to us all individuallly and collectively. It was a good evening.

The BBC News picked up what he had to say about young people and the impact of David Attenborough's work as we get closer to his 100th birthday.

"He is the greatest broadcaster the world has ever had and the greatest ambassador of life. He has entertained, engaged, enraptured people, he has taught generations of young people to have a deep-rooted affinity, a love, for the natural world".

#554: River Glaven

What is your local river? Can you get out to it to do fieldwork easily?

What fieldwork would be appropriate for the GCSE Natural History?

One river that I have completed fieldwork on most recently is the River Glaven.

This is a fairly short river which flows through North Norfolk.

Rising from tiny chalk headwaters in lower Bodham and Baconsthorpe, the River Glaven flows for approximately 17 km. Its main course begins just below Selbrigg Pond, where three tributaries combine at the outfall. From there, the river winds through wooded hills of glacial debris, traverses lush countryside, and meanders through picturesque flint villages, before meeting the sea behind Blakeney Point.

Image: Selbrigg Pond, where the Glaven comes to life.

I have followed the river for most of that route.

At Letheringsett mill there is a useful stretch where fieldwork can be carried out.

Image: Letheringsett

The River Glaven faces challenges from abstraction, climate change and development. These pressures affect water levels and temperatures, ultimately impacting the wildlife and communities that depend on this precious chalk stream.

The river has a Conservation Group.

Images by Alan Parkinson.

#543: Local case study suggestions: Wendling Beck, Norfolk

Wendling Beck is in Norfolk - my home county. It has undergone some regeneration recently. This video explores this idea of regenerating riparian environments.

#515: Norfolk oysters and lobsters

Norfolk has some excellent seafood and some very good places to buy it.

Think Norfolk and you think of Cromer crabs, or brown shrimp caught by boats which head out from the Fisher Fleet in King's Lynn.

There are several projects aimed at developing 

Norfolk Oysters

Oysters are getting a new reef off the Norfolk coast where they can live and grow according to a report from September.

This is a man-made structure, but will help the oysters grow.

Norfolk Lobsters

This project is rearing lobsters and then releasing them when they are still very small, so that they can repopulate the Wash off the coast of Norfolk.

Discover the Wells Harbour Lobster Hatchery, where we’re dedicated to sustaining the local lobster population and preserving Wells’ rich fishing heritage. Through our innovative rearing practices, we boost lobster survival rates and support a sustainable fishery, benefiting both the marine ecosystem and local fishermen. Our hatchery is also a centre for research, education, and community engagement, offering tours that provide a unique glimpse into marine conservation. Join us in our mission to protect Wells Harbour’s marine life for future generations.

Both of these projects are aimed at increasing the sustainability of the local seafood industry. A whole variety of coastal pubs and restaurants are keen to secure fresh produce.

#487: Cley Spy

One of the aspects of the new draft specification is the suggestion that students are exposed to fieldwork which takes them to areas of interest locally. The cost of fieldwork visits will be one thing which potentially limits the uptake of the new specification. Locally based fieldwork, and on-site fieldwork guidance will be important here.

There are a number of excellent locations where students may be taken. 

If I was teaching in Norfolk again, I would aim to head for Cley Marsh reserve. We have previously taken students there from Ely to carry out GCSE fieldwork exploring the management of the land for habitats. The area has been expanded over the years with additional land purchases and they have an active education programme.

Cley Reserve has an important place in the history of conservation. This is partly explored in this article in KL Magazine (a local magazine that I read when it comes out).

A history by Kay Forbes explains how ther reserve started.

The Simon Aspinall Centre at the reserve was opened by Sir David Attenborough.

What other Norfolk locations would you recommend? 

And where are your own locations that you think would fit well with the subject?

Image: Alan Parkinson - shared on Flickr under CC license.

#416: Norfolk Wildlife Trust - case study

I think a useful focus for some of the work that goes on once the new course is taught will involve the work of the many Wildlife Trusts that there are in the UK.

These are often based on activity within counties. It may be worth checking whether you have a local Wildlife Trust.

I have put together a list of the Wildife Trusts - and a link through to a website where you can visit them easily. Along with that, I've put together a case study of my local Wildlife Trust.

I have just received my new membership card and parking permit for my local wildlife trust for 2024-5. I thought it might be worth adding a case study.

Case Study: Norfolk Wildlife Trust

I've got quite a few pictures of Norfolk Wildlife Trust locations as well, which will be in the Flickr folder of images I'm creating - all CC licensed for teachers who will perhaps need to create their own resources as they may not have the budget for class sets of any official textbook that emerges - and there is likely to be at least one of course.

The Norfolk Wildlife Trust's website is here.

The trust was actually the first local wildlife trust to be founded.

The original land was at Cley next the Sea in North Norfolk. This is the NWT Reserve I have visited the most over the years that I have lived in the county.

It had previously been used for wildfowling: the shooting of wild fowl such as geese.

Duck decoys can still be seen marked on local maps. Where is your nearest duck decoy?

Like all Trusts, they publish an annual Impact Report - these would make useful resources to interrogate to see the sort of work that is carried out to develop and protect habitats.

The most recent Imapct Report for the Norfolk Wildlife Trust is here.

Their 2023 strategy is called Wilder Norfolk for All.

#411: Encounter app - now available to download

I've been following the progress on Melissa Harrison's nature recording app since it was first announced. I was one of the beta testers of the app when it came out a month or so ago, and was excited at the features it offers and the ease of use and the opportunity to record encounters with nature easily, sitting alongside some of the other apps I have on my phone such as MerlinID to identify birdsong.

The app is now available to download, free of charge from the various app stores. This is a soft launch for the app. There is more to come, but any use you can make of the app will help generate data.

It is called Encounter (Nature).

It is a useful companion piece to her recent book 'Homecoming'.

As Melissa said in a recent email to those involved in the testing:

It’s not perfect. We still need to build the search function (weirdly, far more complicated – and expensive – than you’d think); there are some UX (user experience) niggles I am itching to improve; we need to build relationships with nature charities and environmental NGOs so that we can feature their content; and it’ll take a while until the nature tips and information it contains can be properly targeted to users by location: we need to wait for good numbers of people to tag the things they see before we can start turning that data into useful content. But I think we’ve made a really good start, and I hope you’ll stick with us as the app grows and improves, bit by bit.

This is Encounter’s ‘soft launch’. We hope to build our user base over the winter, ahead of its formal launch in April. That’s when we’ll be trying to get press coverage: when Christmas is over, spring is happening, and people are going outdoors again. I’d be very grateful for any help with that when the time comes.

For now, please download the app, play around with it and most of all, enjoy using it: that’s what it’s for! 

I built it to help people notice nature, and to get into the habit of jotting down the things they encounter. The benefits that flow from that simple habit are hard to overestimate: both to us, as humans, and to the natural world itself.

#402: Norfolk's Deep History Coast

The Norfolk coast is also known as the Deep History Coast, partially as a result of the discovery of the skeleton of a mammoth at West Runton.

This book by John Davies and David Waterhouse looks useful.

Deep History is a term increasingly used in place of the term pre-history; and has been coined to reflect the idea that in general the deeper you delve the older things are!

North Norfolk's Deep History Coast is the 22-mile stretch of coastline between Weybourne and Cart Gap which has revealed the most spectacular finds. Happisburgh is the oldest archaeological site in northern Europe and West Runton yielded the oldest and largest fossilised mammoth skeleton ever found in the UK. 

Visit the website for the Deep History Coast for a range of additional resources which would be useful.

Why not visit Sheringham and the Mo museum.

#381: Broads Society Lecture - October 24th

If and when we are able to move to the next phase of this qualification, teachers will need training and will need to look for national and local organisations offering events which will be suitable for developing our skills in the field of Natural History.

The Broads Society calls itself "the voice for the Broads". 

It is a Society local to where I live in Norfolk, and to a landscape which I am sure I will be using to develop some resources when we get to that stage.

They also offer a series of events... and one sounds useful which is coming up in a few weeks' time.

One for Norfolk and similar folks really due to the location...

The Broads Society has a lecture which soulds like it will be useful.

24^th October  2024

‘Innovative Management of the Broads Landscape’

7.30 at Blake Studio, Norwich School.

If interested, please book through Broads Society website.  

This will be an important event looking at mitigation measures for the Broads in the face of the potentially dramatic changes ahead.

Image: On the Broads, by Alan Parkinson, shared on Flickr under CC license

#354: Saltmarshes

An interesting piece in Geographical magazine looked at the vital role that saltmarshes will play in mitigating sea level rise caused by Climate change.

I am fortunate to live in Norfolk and can be at a salt marsh within 25 minutes of leaving my home. They are wonderful places and last month came into bloom with sea lavender and other plants cloaking them in colour.

You can find their locations using the MAGIC application which I have blogged about here separately.

Image: Flowering plants on salt marsh in Norfolk, by Alan Parkinson, shared under CC license.

#330: Wildlife Trusts and Living Landscapes: Cley Marshes

Cley Marshes Reserve is managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. 

It is an important place in the history of British birdwatching and conservation.

Its education centre was opened by Sir David Attenborough, who described the place as being particularly significant in these respects.

It also has a rather wonderful view of the reserve and hides heading out to the shingle beach, which can be enjoyed with a cheese and tomato toastie if you're feeling peckish.

There's a good visitor centre space with a series of different art exhibitions and several purchasing opportunities.

The reserve talks about this landscape being a "living landscape" and "a living coast".

It changes twice a day with the tide.

Follow them on Twitter here.