Charlotte Lowry, Brecks Projects Manager writes...I’ve been working for the RSPB for nearly 3 years now and have the pleasure of coordinating our work in the Brecks, under the banner of the Brecks Futurescape. RSPB has been working in the Brecks for years, since the early 1980s, mainly working on the stone-curlew project but also doing some research in the forest on woodlark and nightjar. However, since 2011 we have been doing much more work with partners, communities and for other species as well as continuing our work with the stone-curlew. The past year has been particularly exciting as we’ve suddenly grown into a small team of five full-time staff, three seasonal fieldworkers and a group of volunteers. It’s amazing what you can achieve with a small team of enthusiastic, knowledgeable and dedicated people!Our work falls under four main themes; protection of designated sites, securing a sustainable stone-curlew population, raising the profile of the Brecks and land management. Our work is varied and includes responding to planning applications and ensuring any development that goes ahead does not harm wildlife, working with partners to achieve favourable condition on designated sites, monitoring and intervention work with partners and over 80 farmers to protect the stone-curlew, advisory work with farmers and landowners to increase the amount of ‘safe’ nesting habitat for stone-curlews, an array of events and activities aimed at increasing the profile of the Brecks and also managing land in the area.Why do we do all of this? Because the Brecks is such an incredibly important area for wildlife! There are three things that make the Brecks such a distinctive landscape; its sandy, flinty, nutrient-poor soil; its unique climate with bigger extremes in temperatures and very low rainfall and its interesting land-use history with various events such as flint mining, rabbit warrening, forest planting and changes in agricultural practises. The result is a varied landscape of wildlife-rich farmland, rare heathland, the largest lowland forest in the UK, unusual wetlands (such as pingos!) and an incredible array of wildlife. In fact, the Brecks is of outstanding importance for UK wildlife. 12,845 different species have been recorded here and of these 2,149 are priority species for conservation concern, some are even endemic to the Brecks.There’s a huge job to do on ensuring the Brecks delivers on making sure wildlife is thriving and is protected. If you live in the area, why not drop into our Big Garden Bird Watch event at the BTO reserve in Thetford in Norfolk on Saturday 25th January, you can find out more about what part you can play in achieving a thriving Brecks landscape.
Meet the Brecks Team (Left to right): Robert Hawkes, Tim Cowan, Charlotte Lowry, Sammy Fraser, and Andrew Holland.