Volunteering on the Broad

As with all wildlife conservation groups like Natural England the practical work relies on volunteers. The Nature Trail on Hoveton Great Broad has been looked after by wardens and groups of volunteers for years. One of these wardens was keen to enlist my help for some winter management, and I was keen to get back out on the Broad to gain as much experience as I could.


The Broad is cold. On a shady, wet woodland Nature Trail in Norfolk during January when the ground frozen and the sky has recently been trying to snow, this may sound like a redundant statement. None the less the team made a point of warning me and when I was waiting on the frozen and frosty ground for the other volunteers to break their way through the ice covered water of the opposite shore, I was glad that they did.


However fate did favour me as, despite the chill in the air, it was a bright day. I was even more lucky that this warm sunlight had landed a direct hit on the warden's hut that I was tasked with painting. However as much as I may have enjoyed the day out, not everyone appreciated what I was doing.


While the Nature Trail is closed for the winter the windows of the warden's hut are covered, providing shelters where the icy air doesn't reach; shelters for hibernating insects like Queen wasps and lacewings. Still part way through winter it was too early for them to reawaken but unfortunately, as gentle as we tried to be, we ended up disturbing a few. Lack of food, and the risk of frosts still to come, once disturbed hibernating insects often die. For Queen wasps this also means the death of next year's hive. I hope that the insects we woke returned once we replaced the shutters, or found alternative accommodation and will think of our sleep, overwintering species in future winters.


Meanwhile the other volunteers were employing chainsaws further down the trail on diseased ash trees. Ash Dieback has been a very efficiently deadly disease which has taken many victims by killing them from the inside out. Overlooking public footpaths; dead trees can be dangerous but also the fungus responsible can be spread by wind when it produces spores in early autumn so removing infected trunks helps contain the disease. For more on Ash Dieback please click the link.


There is some good news however as some of the uninfected twigs and branches from the trees can be piled, away from the path, to provide nesting sites for small birds. Then eventually, as natural processes take over, they will break down and be recycled into the ecosystem.


Walking around the Nature Trail once more, as chilly as it is in the shade, I'm happy to be in amongst it again. It may be wet and muddy and grey but for me the wet woodland has a unique beauty I can't explain. As we turn the corner we come across a small flock of Gadwall enjoying Hoveton Great Broad in front of the bird hide. A quieter, more timid species of duck, the females are often mistaken for Mallards. They're not a species I had come across before but watching them dabbling - flipping vertical to dunk their heads under the water to feed - I find their more reserved personality endearing. For more on Gadwall please click the link.


After that my day volunteering on the Hoveton Great Broad Nature Trail came to an end and, though not eager to leave the Broad, I was very happy to get into a warm car to head home - hoping all my visits could be as dry as my first two.