Bioblitz

Last year, with the help of the EDP, Norfolk Wildlife Trust invited the public to record wildlife on its nature reserves during a 24-hour burst of frenetic activity. Some 1,200 different species were recorded by just over 500 people, an amazing achievement.

Another 24-hour ‘bioblitz’ will happen in a week’s time, beginning at 12 noon on 4^th June. This time the focus will not be on nature reserves but on urban areas, specifically Norwich, Thetford, King’s Lynn and Great Yarmouth. As such, it has something of a more competitive edge, especially for those of us that happen to live in one of these four urban centres. Surely Thetford can pull more species out of the bag than King’s Lynn or Great Yarmouth but can it compete with the much larger Norwich?

At first glance, the choice of these urban habitats may seem a strange one; urban areas are not renowned for their wildlife value but, with many more of us living within urbanised landscapes than non-urbanised ones, they are where most of us interact with nature. If urban dwellers become more aware of the wildlife that lives alongside them then perhaps they will take greater ownership of it and make sure that it has space in which to live.

Of course, our urban centres do support some important species. Norwich has its breeding peregrines, Great Yarmouth its Mediterranean gulls, Thetford its otters and King’s Lynn its eels, the latter a species in serious decline. Then there are the more familiar but equally important species: things like song thrush, house sparrow and spotted flycatcher – all of which are flagged as being species of conservation concern. What will be of particular interest, however, are the overlooked species, the invertebrates and plants in particular. Work elsewhere in the UK has highlighted the importance of urban brownfield sites for rare bees, beetles and moths, and we have plenty of these sites in East Anglia.

Much of our urban biodiversity will be found in our gardens – in fact gardens are the biggest contributor to biodiversity in urban areas – so there is plenty of opportunity to spend an afternoon in your garden, searching for insects and other invertebrates. Alternatively, if you want to get out further afield, go along to one of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust events that are being held and discover more about the urban wildlife with which you share your town (details are on the Norfolk Wildlife Trust website).

The chances are that, if you look hard enough, you will turn up something that nobody else does. Don your sun hat, grab a cold drink and take a closer look at your garden – that’s what I’ll be doing!

The enthusiasm of naturalists

Nothing beats being out in the countryside with other naturalists, with people who are full of knowledge and able to deliver their enthusiasm for the natural world. There is so much going on in the natural world, so many different species that you always have a great deal to learn from others who have chosen to specialise on different groups to you.

Take botanists, for example; the other day I spent an afternoon at the Royal Horticultural Society garden at Wisley in Surrey. With me were Brett Westwood (a writer and BBC producer) and Paul Evans (a BBC presenter). Brett is an excellent all-round naturalist, but I suspect that plants are his true passion. Both men were positively bouncing around the garden, full of delight and comment at the range of ferns and plants that were now surviving out of doors, released from the glasshouse by a changing climate. Not only did they know the name of each of these objects of desire but they had a myriad of tales to tell about them. It was truly infectious and I kicked myself for never having got into plants; I have always preferred things that crawl, slide, hop or fly!

Brett gets out and about on a regular basis, turning up new records or rarely observed behaviours with a group of wildlife enthusiasts in the Wye Valley, and I have made similar outings around Norfolk from time to time. Bringing a group of naturalists to a site can reveal the presence of previously unrecorded creatures and the naturalists seem to feed off each other, sharing their collective knowledge in a truly practical way. This is an approach that has been put into practice by the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society (NNNS) on a regular basis, with field meetings arranged to increase our knowledge of sites across the county.

One thing that is often missing from such gatherings is the presence of a younger generation, the naturalists of tomorrow who will pick up our magnifying glasses and maintain the knowledge needed to underpin future conservation efforts. Both NNNS and Norfolk Wildlife Trust have been working to develop this new generation by holding events at which youngsters can engage with nature. My own interest, although initially developed alone, gained momentum by being taken to such events by my father; he still refers to the fungus study day where we spent hours wandering a heath in the pouring rain. I have never been so cold or so wet as that day, and I suspect that neither has he!

Being a naturalist is all about retaining that childhood enthusiasm, the desire to find, identify and be fascinated by wildlife; perhaps that is why we bounce about so enthusiastically.

The sound of the countryside

For me, being out and about in the countryside is not just about what you see. It is also about what you hear, feel, smell and taste. The churring of a nightjar in the still of the forest, the rough texture of bark or the scent of fungi on a damp autumn morning. You should be able to engage with nature and immerse yourself in the world around you through all of your senses. But what if you are unable to use one or more of your senses; does this diminish your experience of nature? For most of us the answer is unknown, although we may experience some degree of loss as we age and our eyesight and hearing begin to fail. It has been calculated that roughly one in every seven people suffers from some form of hearing loss and many older birdwatchers comment on how they can no longer hear the high pitched calls of goldcrests or the echolocation of feeding bats. As I age, I wonder if I too will reach a point where I can no longer hear (and enjoy) these subtle sounds.

In an attempt to help hearing-impaired visitors engage more fully with wildlife, Norfolk Wildlife Trust has recently added a ground breaking new hearing support system to one of the hides at its Cley Marshes reserve on the North Norfolk coast. Two microphones positioned on the reserve pick up the sounds of the waders and wildfowl that use the many pools. These sounds are then fed back to the hide, where they can either be heard on headphones or via a hearing loop. Although similar systems have been employed elsewhere, the one at Cley is unique in that it is powered entirely by a combination of solar and wind power; a suitably green solution.

The system was developed by Dennis Furnell, who was himself partially deafened as a result of a car accident. Thanks to a grant from The Heritage Lottery Fund, plus equipment donations, Dennis has been able to install the system as part of Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s “Access for All” project. This also involves the production of large print leaflets for all their major reserves and an audio trail around Cley Marshes itself. Such developments are a welcome addition to what is already one of the country’s premier places to engage with a diversity of wildlife. Wildfowl and waders can be noisy birds, particularly when present in flocks several hundred strong. More people will now be able to enjoy the sights and sounds of this part of the Norfolk coast and, hopefully, feel that they have truly engaged with the birds and other wildlife that make the countryside such a special experience.