Hi everyone
It’s been a while! We have a lot to catch you up on with what has been happening on our reserves. First things first, there have been a few staff changes in the last few months – Lizzie the warden has gone on secondment for a year (until November – a see you later rather than goodbye!) to manage some beach-nesting bird projects with Life on the Edge. In the meantime, I have been appointed to warden to cover while Lizzie is away (I’m braced for many chats about water levels!) and I am loving it so far. Finally, we are delighted that our residential volunteer Louisa Claxton has been appointed as our new assistant warden. We also have Elizabeth working with us as our new(ish!) residential volunteer.
Elizabeth and Louisa – say hello if you see them out on the reserve (Louisa Claxton)
So, what have we been up to? It’s been all go for the reserve team this winter, between planning for upcoming work, to ploughing through the winter work program of habitat management to help ready the reserve for the spring and the beginning of the rapidly approaching breeding season.
Woodland coppicing
Those who have visited the reserve recently will have seen that we have completed a new section of woodland coppicing on Meadow Trail. This is part of our ten-year rotational plan for the woodland, which involves cutting back small sections of the woodland each year in order to end up with a woodland that is full of areas of different ages and structure. This helps provide a wider range of woodland habitat, both for nesting and feeding, as well as allowing better views into the woodland. In previous years, come springtime the recently coppiced areas have been real hotspots for passing migrants, including pied flycatchers, willow warblers and redstarts as they take advantage of the open glades that we have created. So keep your eyes out!
New woodland coppice – excited for springtime! (Ryan Doggart)
Reedbed cutting
We have had the Truxor (incredible amphibious reed cutter!) in for a week in December, to keep the channels clear in the reedbed. We also had them cut several new areas, most excitingly a large section in the south-west corner of the reedbed, which has opened up some amazing views into some of the newly created pools from the Freshwater Habitats Project. Since this work has taken place, up to two bitterns have been seen using those new pools – including two seen ice-skating during the recent cold snap, what a treat that would have been to see!
Bittern in the reedbed (Ryan Doggart)
Scrub removal
To go alongside the recent Truxor cutting in the south-west reedbed, the reserve team has been in removing several large clumps of willow growing along the banks through the area. Not only does this help keep the reedbed healthy (willows are very thirsty and if left unchecked can completely dry out areas of reedbeds), it has also opened up the views even more. We have not removed every single willow, as they do provide important habitat for species like Cetti’s warbler, sedge warbler and water vole – As in life, everything in moderation.
Cutting fresh marsh islands
This week we have begun cutting the new islands on fresh marsh, to ensure there is plenty of bare ground for our breeding ground-nesting birds including avocet, common tern and black-headed gulls.
Hope to see you out on the reserve soon!
Cheers
Ryan
Warden – NW Norfolk Reserves