Despite the cold weather, going out on the Broad for the first time was a very special experience. I suddenly became very aware of how beautifully unique river habitats are, and how much I loved being on them. I do have some previous experience with water habitats, mainly in kayaks, from holidays across the Atlantic. However, coasting across the wintery Broad I realised that that same excitement sparked in the exotic mangrove swamps and fjords of Florida and Canada, could be felt here in my home country.
Being back in the office the day after may have seemed less exciting after that but there was still a lot in store for me to learn, not only about our own Broad but also the project that was visiting us - for more information on the Severn River Trust please click the link.
The Bure Marshes is a very special place for wildlife; designated a National Nature Reserve (NNR), a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSI), a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), a Special Protection Area (SPA), and a Ramsar site - a special designation for wetland protection. With all these EU designations Hoveton Great Broad has been highlighted as an important habitat for wildlife; if it wasn't so polluted.
As mentioned previously phase 1 of our project involves dredging. Sediment, once dredged from the water body, has to go somewhere and often this means bringing in a troop of lorries to cart it away for dumping elsewhere. Not only would this not be very pleasant for the quiet countryside community but the exhausts from all those lorries, and the use of landfill sites, is hardly very beneficial for the environment - as an organisation working to help the ecosystem of the Norfolk Broads, we had to find another solution. Habitat creation using dredged sediment is not a new idea, though it may not be as widely used as it should be.
Neighbouring Salhouse Broad has also been dredged and they used a similar method to the one we're employing to dispose of the sediment. Salhouse has the added problem of pollutants from boat exhausts contaminating the sediment making it unsuitable for spreading on farmland. Instead they pumped it back around the shoreline and within a year it had grown over with species-rich fen habitat. For another example please check out Wallasea Island.
While Hoveton Great Broad isn't open to navigation the adjoining Hudson Bay, also part of our project, is and so our sediment can't be used for crop growth either. But fen habitat is very valuable, not only as a home for invertebrates and small birds, but also sedges and rushes aid water quality, oxygen levels and sediment binding. A stark difference between Hoveton Great Broad and other Broads is a distinct lack of reed beds due to destruction by coypu, or nutria, (the swamp beaver) when they inhabited the area before eradication in 1989.
Being a part of a team meeting was a new experience in itself and though I didn't contribute much myself I learnt a lot from listening to the discussion. Not only did hearing our team leader explain the project teach me more than reading about it ever could but I heard about his experience of organising the work; what research they needed to prepare for it, the struggles of getting the work started and most importantly, the hidden pitfalls of applying for funding.
As a biologist fascinated by animals, plants and the natural world office work was something I'd never done, though I appreciate it is an inevitable part of any job. Outside is where my interest lies so outside is where I thought I'd end up, concerning myself with wildlife and its habitat. However listening to our Access and Engagement Officer speak that day started me thinking about the project in a way I'd never done before, and she would later build on that to get me involved with a part of the project I'd never expected to end up in.
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