10 ACT FOR NATURE


Nature rescue network needed now


Norfolk Wildlife Trust Ambassador Nick Acheson reflects on the changes and challenges of the times on its 95th anniversary


I


n March 1926 twelve men, led by Dr Sydney Long, purchased Cley Marshes, to be preserved ‘as a bird- breeding sanctuary for all time’. Later in the year the same men created what was then known as Norfolk Natural- ists Trust; initially


to manage Cley


Marshes, but with ambitious plans. Sydney Long and his friends kept the aims of their trust ‘wide and com- prehensive’,


understanding that the


face of Norfolk and the threats to its wildlife would change enor- mously with time. Thus the aims established in 1926 still underpin the work of Norfolk Wildlife Trust today. Since our earliest years we have purchased and maintained nature reserves, as our founders directed. We now manage sixty important sites for wildlife, and for people to explore and enjoy. We also help hundreds of other landowners to pro- tect wildlife and natural beauty on their own Norfolk properties, in a way our found- ers would emphatically support. But what would these bewhiskered men – peering at me from sepia photographs in the NWT archive – make of the modern organi- sation which has grown from the one they constituted in 1926? Above all they would be struck by the social and environmental context in which NWT now operates. Many farms which make up most of the Norfolk landscape, and which neighbour


almost all of our


reserves, have changed beyond recogni- tion.


Species which the founders would


have considered common have dras- tically declined or altogether disap- peared. Visiting today’s Norfolk, Sydney Long would lament the extinction of the red-backed shrike: a once-common bird which preyed on the abundance of


large insects found prior to the intro- duction of chemical pesticides and the relentless tidying-up of our landscape. He would be astounded by the decline in birds associated with old meadows, farm ponds, thick hedges, village com- mons and winter stubbles, including swallows, house martins, turtle doves, nightingales,


yellowhammers, corn


buntings, grey partridges and tree spar- rows.


Our founders would be still more


shocked by the changes which have taken place in our societal relationship with nature. In 1926 there was not a child in Norfolk, even in the very centre of Norwich, who did not play in the out- doors, who did not know the oak from the elm, the red admiral from the small tortoiseshell, and the swallow from the swift. Today entire generations of peo- ple have grown up with no personal relationship – of explo- ration and imagination – with nature; genera- tions who, to their own


detriment, have lost all ecolog- ical literacy.


These things, and many others, would trouble Sydney Long. But he would also be heartened – filled with pride – that these are the very trends which Norfolk Wild- life Trust, and Wildlife Trusts founded subsequently all across the UK, fight every day to reverse. The found- ers would enthusiastically embrace our campaign – alongside many part- ners,


including nationally protected landscapes like the Norfolk Coast area of outstanding natural beauty – for a Nature Recovery Network. This is a vision for a vibrant UK countryside, in which farms, gardens, parks and school grounds are all once again healthy habitat for both people and wildlife; in which nature reserves are connected by corridors of habitat, through which wild species and their genes flow freely. Cru-


Leave the car at home and save carbon and cash


Car park charges for some non-member visitors will be introduced at NWT Cley and Salthouse Marshes visitor centre and beach car parks, to help manage the site and balance the conservation needs of the nature reserve with use of the site by visitors. NWT said; “Coming into effect after the lockdown, the charges will not apply to NWT members and people who are visiting the nature reserve or attending our events. The money raised from the fee will contribute to the work required for the upkeep of car parks, footpaths and management of the reserve.” For further details see www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/cley


Be a climate champion – learn about the climate and use your voice to speak up to national government and local councils see the latest info at theccc.org.uk


CUT CARBON, SAVE OUR COAST


NORFOLK COAST GUARDIAN 2021


cially, in our Nature Recovery Network people are also personally connected to wildlife and wild landscape, for their own wellbeing and for the benefit of nature.


The need for a personal relationship with nature has never been clearer than over the past year. It is more than twelve months since the first cases of COVID- 19 were recorded in the UK, since which time our lives – our families, our work, our education and our pastimes — have been turned entirely on their heads. As has been widely reported, millions of us, everywhere, have taken refuge during this gruelling time in nature. The inter- net has lit up with creative responses to the natural world – photographs, drawings, poetry and podcasts – and our slowed-down, locally-limited lives have led to countless among us noticing nature’s species and cycles more keenly than ever before.


One other thing which has changed dramatically over the past 95 years is NWT’s membership. In 1926 Sydney Long and his colleagues agreed that the trust’s membership would not exceed 100. Today, having grown so much in scope, and with so much more to offer across the county, NWT is happy to count on the support and interest of more than 35,000 members. Some may rue the fact that life membership sub- scription has risen a touch from its original £10 but hopefully all will agree that it offers superb value to its mem- bers, and stayed true to the aims of its twelve founders in 1926.


Nick Acheson is Norfolk Wildlife Trust ambassador


Bring back our beavers, nature’s helpers


For thousands of years humans and beavers co-existed in Norfolk and signs of our shared heritage can still be seen, including beavers on village signs and the discovery of giant beaver fossils along the coast. Beavers were hunted to extinction here 400 years ago and with their disappearance we lost an important part of our natural heritage, alongside a species pivotal in maintaining the health of our freshwater ecosystems. Norfolk Rivers Trust are launching an exciting project to


reintroduce beavers into a fully secure six hectare enclosure within the upper reaches of the river Glaven. The Trust has already completed the majority of the initial work, including securing the land, completing a feasibility study, raising funding for fencing the enclosure and submitting the licence application to Natural England. They’re now looking to raise the final amount required


to secure a pair of UK health checked beavers, and to expand their research and maintenance programme. If you’d like to find out more and donate to the project, check out www.norfolkriverstrust.org/beavers


Nick Appleton


Ingo Arndt


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