Speaker: Matt Wickens Reporter: Cath Robinson Matt is in the relatively new post of Urban Reserve Manager of the NWT and gave us a history and description of the new Sweet Briar Marshes reserve close to the centre of Norwich. It comprises 90 acres of fen, rough meadows, grazing marsh, young hedgerows and young woodland. One third is an SSSI on the basis of species rich grassland and the rest is designated as a County Wildlife Site. It was purchased recently (2022) by NWT following a public appeal. £600,000 was raised in only 4 months. There were 4 main aims behind the purchase:
1) Protection ... from a change in land use 2) Connection... linking up green sites along the Wensum 3) Community... working with local people to determine site use including involving local schools 4) Collaboration... with new partners eg the Norfolk and Norwich Festival, neighbouring Anglian water sites and the City Council. Before coming up for sale the site was owned by the Gurneys and was farmed with beef cattle by a tenant farmer. So, the habitat mix on purchase was • Dry sandy grassland rich in butterflies and flora • Wet grasslands: the Wensum flushed floodplain rich in wetland flora. Also, a possible introduction site for the Large Copper butterfly. • Former arable fields (the beef cattle) now managed as species rich grassland and dense scrub • Mature woodland with ponds There is a significant (for Norfolk) gradient on the site: the Norfolk upland part (along Marriotts Way) is 8m above water level! There is a mixed area with hollows and islands (as a result of periglacial ground ice depressions) and then the lower flood plain which still forms part of the flood defences. The initial plan on purchase was to create an ecological baseline: so a plant survey, bat (9 species), Invertebrate (some great beetles and flies and 22 species of butterfly)and breeding birds. NNNS has taken on a 3-year project to build a baseline dataset. WVBS is involved in doing regular bird counts to contribute to this. The 2023 survey (not all breeding) had 6 Red-listed birds including Linnet, Greenfinch, Grasshopper warbler and Nightingale, and 16 amber rated. Particularly notable breeders were Lesser Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Garden warbler. The list of former breeding birds is rather tempting including Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (last in 2004), Turtle Dove (last in 1990) and rather shockingly 40 Chaffinch were recorded in 2004: none now. Historically migratory fly throughs include Short-eared Owl and Long-eared Owl, Wood Warbler, Corncrake, Waxwing and Pied Flycatcher. Mallard is a previous breeder: seen on site now but there is not much open water as the ditches were last cleared in 2005. One of the tasks to be done. Work to date has been focussed on clearance of old fencing (a real jumble of rubbish) and litter, clearing Himalayan Balsam and beginning ditch clearance. As well as opening up the ditches the idea is to create more ponds in the floodplain; manage the bracken to create more bare earth areas and manage the scrub block: removing the bigger trees to stop the natural progression to woodland. Some of the main workers in this programme (apart from the many volunteers) are a small herd of British White cattle. Conservation grazing by these large herbivores with the natural disturbance and clearance it creates is beneficial for wildlife in many ways. These cows have a high-tech management tool: No Fence Collars. With these collars it’s possible to track each cow and contain them in whichever area you want. As they approach the virtual boundary you’ve set, they get an increasingly higher pitch beep until eventually they get a short shock (less than 1/3 of an electric fence). On the cow’s training programme, they rapidly learn this and so easily you can select areas for them to avoid or to focus on. Magic. Matt gave an excellent presentation of this urban wildlife site and a hint of what might be achieved over the coming years. Our outdoor excursion to the site has already got 20 names signed up showing how interested members were. Although I suspect a number just want to check out the cows! Many thanks to Matt and I’m looking forward to the trip.
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November 2024
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