Water Quality Sampling

Part of the restoration project involves monitoring of the physical environment in order to gauge what impact the project has had. At the end of January the dredging work was set to start and by this point hundreds of data points had already been collected, and hundreds more were still to be collected during and after the project.


This time I entered the Broad from the north side, through the Blofeld estate and got into the boat at the boat house - this time not frozen together. As part of Natural England using petrol fuelled engines to traverse the lake, dumping pollutants in it as we went, wouldn't be appropriate so instead we had an electric one; more environmentally friendly if painfully slow.


Sharing offices, and goals, with the Environment Agency while we were out collecting data for our project we also took samples for them; filling two 1L bottles right to the very top at a site in Hoveton Great Broad and Hudson bay. For our own surveying we had 5 sites on both water bodies at which we used a water quality probe to measure the pH, conductivity and dissolved oxygen levels. We also collected smaller water samples which all went into one bottle - for each water body - to provide an average sample more representative of the whole lake, and bay. These would be analysed by the Environment Agency to give us more detailed information about the water including the zooplankton and macrophyte (aquatic plants) populations. One finally recording we made at each site was the turbidity; using a secchi disc to measure how far down we could see and how deep the bottom was - for most of the sites these measurements were the same.


Quickly I learnt the ropes and the recordings at each site became quicker; the main reason we were out for as long as we were was because of the slow travelling speed of the boat, and waiting for the water probe to calibrate. While it wasn't a sunny day I was yet again lucky with the weather, though on the unsheltered Hoveton Great Broad it did get a little windy. The only problem I had was with my hands which, though gloved, got very wet and cold from collecting the water samples. As well as pulling the mudweight in and out of the boat - one important lesson I learnt was that the fact I was sat in a boat surrounded by water didn't mean I couldn't get very muddy, and I did.


After we'd finished our work on the water and warmed up in the car we visited the offices at Woodbastwick; a converted farm house where the wardens work from in the winter. There was still a little work that needed doing but eventually the Hoveton team would move out there as well. As I have mentioned Hoveton Great Broad sits in the National Nature Reserve of the Bure Marshes and the parts which aren't covered in water are managed by highland cattle.




From the left; Mani, Andrew, Duffy and Bobby

Currently the Bure Marshes are home to two mature female cattle - around 17 years old -  but recently they've acquired 4 juvenile males - between 1 and 3 years. Due to the age difference the boys were brought in as new recruits for nature reserve management, rather than potential mates and currently they are held in separate fields until they are used to each others' presence. The females have spent much of their lives on the marsh, looked after by the wardens and are very comfortable around people though they are still massive, muscular animals with long horns so it's always important to be careful around them, even when accompanied by a warden they know and respect.


The boys on the other hand are still cautious of us and, more importantly, still young and boisterous. We separated ourselves from them to avoid getting caught in the crossfire as they butted heads with each other. Cows may not be widely thought of as the cutest of animals but it was hard not to love these fluffy highlands, and as interesting as water quality monitoring was, seeing them was definitely the highlight of the trip.