All blog posts for Norfolk Wildlife Trust are now published on the NWT website. Please come and visit us there to continue reading about conservation in Norfolk, our landscape-scale work to help wildlife thrive in the face of climate change, and ways that local people can get involved learning about and protecting wildlife! https://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/News-and-Articles/Blog We're on the move! Come and visit us on the NWT website, photo by Annette Traverse-Healy ..read more

By Dr Ben Garrod, Ambassador of Norfolk Wildlife Trust  Grey seal, photo by Colin Eve I have been lucky enough to have lived with wild chimpanzees in Uganda, followed walruses in Svalbard and surveyed humpback whales around Madagascar but there has always been a bit of an argument within the circles of biologists and conservations. The argument arises when many of us refer to ‘our’ animals when we work with them. Many say that they are wild and nobody should lay claim to them but I’d argue the opposite. By saying ‘my’ chimpanzees, I did see them as mine. And also belonging to ..read more

Chris Durdin, NWT Volunteer and naturalist John Rushmer, now aged 93, farmed what is now NWT Thorpe Marshes in the 1960s. His memories were crystal clear when I went to see him to pick his brains about the recent history of my local nature reserve. Marshland plants including yellow flag irises have returned to Thorpe Marshes (Chris Durdin) As a tenant elsewhere of landowners Crown Point Estate, John was offered the chance to put the unmanaged ‘Whitlingham Marshes’, as he knew them, into productive grazing. They were a mix of willowherb, sedge and other rough vegetation, plus reed ..read more

As Norfolk Wildlife Trust's 2017 events programme comes to an end, Bayley Wooldridge looks back at this year’s event highlights: the four Cley Calling festivals.   To begin our celebrations for the year we had our first Cley Calling festival, Spring Song, tie in with International Dawn Chorus day.  The aim of the festival was to link the natural music and wildlife of the marsh to music and art that has been inspired by the marshes. On Friday night two sound artists spent the night in one of the hides in order to record the dawn chorus, which was broadcast live on the Inte ..read more

Norfolk’s roadside verges stretch for literally thousands of miles and are such an integral part of the landscape for many wildflowers, insects and small mammals that it is easy to take them for granted. Some verges contain plant species that, although once common, are now rare or scarce in Norfolk to include sulphur clover (Trifolium ochroleucon) and crested cow-wheat (Melampyrum cristatum). To help to protect them, these special verges are designated as Roadside Nature Reserves (RNRs). Under the RNR Scheme, they are managed to benefit the plants and animals that live there. There are current ..read more

Tom Williamson and Rachel Savage Everybody seems to love an orchard: they tick all the boxes in terms of conservation. Like ancient woods or hedges, orchards lie at that fascinating interface of history and natural history, of nature and culture. And, whether laden with fruit in late summer, or bright with blossom in the spring, they have a strong aesthetic appeal. Orchards, and especially those managed on more ‘traditional’ lines - with tall trees and minimal use of herbicides - are an important wildlife habitat, a fact recognised by their definition in 2008 as a UK BAP (Biodiversity Acti ..read more

Hedgehog, photo by Peter Mallett This time of year you may see hedgehogs and be concerned if they need help and if so what to do. Time is of the essence – little hogs can die very quickly of hypothermia, so action is needed straight away. Any hog under 600g will not make it through the winter – they are too small to hibernate, so will starve or freeze. Little ones, roughly the size of a tennis ball or just bigger are especially vulnerable. Here is what to do: Put the hedgehog in a high sided box or small animal carrier Give it a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel – if you don’t ha ..read more

Old railway lines in Norfolk can be fantastic havens for wildlife, according to project officer Mark Webster. As part of the County Wildlife Action project, the trust has been surveying a number of them for wildflowers, and we have been ‘chuffed’ to discover some real rarities at sites where steam trains used to rush past! So why not muddle along and go somewhere along the Norfolk Trails long-distance paths?   It can be a bit of a strange experience walking along the old railway lines that criss-cross the county. You can be feeling how tranquil the area is, far from the sound of traffic ..read more

John Hiskett, Senior Conservation Officer Rewilding. The term is often used but the practice varies from less intensive management of existing nature reserves to George Monbiot’s vison of uplands and the large scale projects in continental Europe where whole landscapes are being returned to a pre-industrial farming model. One model, closer to home, is that followed by the Knepp Estate in Sussex which I had the opportunity to visit in early September. Knepp covers 3,500 acres set in rolling countryside between The Weald and South Downs and has been developing as a rewilding project since 200 ..read more

Fiona Roat, Breckland Local Group The Breckland Local Group had a wonderful morning with Dr Tony Leech. he is a very enthusiastic, generous and knowledgeable guide. On the day 32 species were found which included six new ones to the site records, bringing the site total to 208. Although not new to the site or in any way rare, the Orange Mosscap (Rickenella fibula), pictured, is not easy to find at 1cm across, especially when there’s only one on it’s own! We are already hoping to get Tony to guide us on a different site next autumn ..read more