17.07.2025 - Indoor Meeting : George Baldock - Warden at NWT Cley and Salthouse Marshes

​Report by Steph Plaster
​
George Baldock is the Warden at the NWT’s flagship reserve of Cley and Salthouse Marshes and is also now temporarily looking after the NWT Holme reserve too. He’s been the warden at Cley for nearly nine years, and he kindly agreed to come and talk to the group about the vital work that is carried out there.

George gave a brief history of the reserve saying that his predecessors, Robert, Billy and Bernard Bishop were wardens at Cley since the inception of the reserve in 1926. Next year marks the 100th anniversary of Cley Marshes, the first nature reserve for the NWT (previously called The Norfolk Naturalist’s Trust). Interestingly David Attenborough will also be 100 years old next May and Cley has the ‘Attenborough Walk’ footpath which was opened by him in summer 2015 after the NWT purchased additional land at Salthouse to the East of the East bank.
The presentation began with George explaining about the nature and geography of the reserve, which consists of grazing marshes (formerly saltmarsh) reedbeds, shallow lagoon pools and wader scrapes, plus the shingle beach, drainage ditches and ‘cuts’ and a freshwater, spring-fed channel known as ‘Catchwater Drain’. This marks the southern boundary of the reserve (as seen below) and there is a large, modern visitor centre located just off the A149 coast road.
The area between the ‘Catchwater Drain’ (line of the footpath in blue) and the ‘New Cut’ (turquoise line parallel to the beach) is a freshwater habitat whilst the lagoons to the north of this zone are generally brackish and subject to tidal surges or over-topping on a fairly regular basis.
The site is managed for waders and wildfowl, and the Avocet is one of the important species to nest here - although George said the Avocets have not had a very good year as many of the chicks were predated by the resident Marsh Harriers or other predators. Consequently, many of the adult birds have moved further west towards the Stiffkey area. Other species that breed here include Lapwing, and there are good numbers here, including juveniles on the scrapes and grazing marshes. Other species found at Cley are Bitterns, Bearded tits (12 to 15 pairs) and Curlew, plus spring migrants such as Sedge, Reed and Cetti’s warblers. This year, a Marsh warbler was present for a few weeks which caused quite a stir!
George mentioned that the sea can inundate the reserve, and one serious flood in particular occurred in early January 2017 when a massive tidal surge flooded across the whole of freshwater zone right up to the main road. Inundation by seawater is a big problem as it can damage the delicate ecosystem and habitat which is of great importance for the birdlife that lives here.
George noted that according to the Environment Agency, the impact can be lessened substantially if the saltwater is drained from the land within nine days. As there are several drains and channels on the reserve to do this task it has been found that the plants, reeds and grasses can quickly recover if the seawater is removed within that time frame. Regularly testing and monitoring the salinity of the lagoons and wader scrapes is part of George’s job, and UCL also carry out a monitoring system and record the fish and other creatures found in the freshwater. They have found Pike, Perch and Rudd which will provide food for Grebes, Herons, Egrets and Bitterns. George thinks that the population of Great White egrets will expand here in the coming years. He also managed to get a good film of a female Bittern from a trail cam - this is on Facebook if anyone wants to see it.
Flooding can have some beneficial effects too according to George as he said that many of the mammalian predators such as rats, stoats and weasels were killed or displaced and the following breeding season was really good for waders, as of course there were fewer predators on the reserve - so in theory not all bad news, especially when you consider the extent of the inundation by seawater.
This was at the time devastating as even the coast road was flooded and all the freshwater lagoons and scrapes were affected. Luckily the area recovered, and the site is now providing the freshwater habitat required by the many species that thrive here. The Visitor Centre can be seen on the right above the triangular road sign and the wooded area is ‘North Foreland Wood’ which is privately owned (not NWT) but is of great importance to the reserve as this is where the heronry is located.
George showed us several aerial photos of this wood taken from a volunteer’s drone and we could see the nesting sites of Grey herons, Cattle and Little egrets and another wonderful shot taken showing a Spoonbill’s nest with an adult and three chicks, known as ‘teaspoons’. This was an amazing photo, and George explained how the egrets and spoonbills had gradually moved from the Holkham area to nest in the wood at Cley. There are at least ten spoonbills present on the reserve at the moment.
Although George’s presentation was brief as it was also the summer social, we were given a great insight into the day-to-day running of the reserve and all the essential work that is carried out to maintain the rich habitats there for wildlife.
There were plenty of before and after shots which showed how they maintain the scrapes and manage the water levels so that there are zones for all species. For example, he said that when North Scrape was dredged last year, some shingle islands were created for nesting waders and terns (several tonnes of shingle were brought in for this purpose, not taken from beach!), and that the periphery of the lagoon was made deeper to attract diving ducks. He also said the reedbeds were cut and managed and the reeds sold for thatching, whilst ditches and scrapes will be cleared with a brand new purpose-built machine that should make the job more manageable and quicker.
Another feature of the reserve is the many cattle that graze here, with one large group of black Aberdeen Angus who can be seen moving around the fresh marsh areas with the attendant Cattle egrets (large flocks of over twenty birds recorded recently) foraging around their hooves.

Overall it was a great evening (although attendance numbers seemed to be a little down this year). We all appreciated the informative presentation from George and the lovely food and drink provided by the club members. On a plus note George offered to take the group on a guided tour of the reserve next year sometime and hopefully this will be one of the outdoor field trips to look forward to in 2026, so keep an eye out for information regarding this.