Hello
And welcome to another weekly round up from the North West Norfolk Reserve Team.
Having worked tirelessly throughout lockdown Hayley our Senior Sites Manager is taking a well-deserved two-week holiday. This leaves Jim and I to carry on with the reserve management across our four reserves.
The week started with our Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) at Titchwell. This is a great way to spend a couple of hours even if it was a bit windy. To discover what we recorded Click here
The howling wind and rain arrived on Tuesday, so I opted to work from home, catching up on admin tasks which at this time of year includes collating our breeding bird data and reflecting on how this compares with previous years. Although much of the season was lost in terms of monitoring as a result of COVID19 we were able to pick up some of the surveys towards the end of the season. I’ll report more on that in another blog. Jim on the other hand was Duty Manager at Titchwell supporting the visitor operations team.
With no rain forecast on Wednesday I made a start cutting our fen meadow. We cut the fen meadow at the end of August and rake off the arisings to reduce nutrient input to maintain botanical diversity. I carried on with this again on Thursday but there is still another day or two’s work to be done before it is finished.
Now that the breeding season is over and there was a gap in the high tides, we welcomed back the contractors to Knots Landing at Snettisham. Jim therefore spent Wednesday working with them as they make a start on the last few tasks that they couldn’t complete in the spring. We are getting ever close now to opening this amazing new hide.
Prior to cutting the fen on Thursday I had an early start at our Snettisham reserve to spray off the remaining vegetation on the roost bank. We spray the vegetation to kill it off and reduce its prevalence in future years to ensure the bank remains free of vegetation for the thousands of wading birds that roost within the pits at high tide.
To round off Thursday myself and Lucy spent time reviewing and planning our social media calendar for September which includes this blog. Do let us know if you enjoy, or otherwise, reading what we’ve been up to! We’ve got lots of posts planned across our social media channels so do make sure you’re following us for the latest news, sightings and updates from Titchwell and Snettisham. Search RSPB Titchwell Marsh on both twitter and Facebook to find us.
We also took the opportunity to review the reopening of Parrinder hide and rest assured we do have a plan of action to get the hide ready to be reopened. Whilst the hide is closed, we will take the opportunity to carry a host of maintenance work, therefore it will be at least a couple of weeks away before we have it reopened.
To end the week, I spent Friday as Duty Manager supporting the visitor operations team, writing several blog posts and catching up with emails and changing guidance around COVID working procedures. Jim, having worked the weekend as Duty Manager had today off.
I hope you have enjoyed reading what we have been up to.
Lizzie
North West Norfolk Reserves Warden