Back on the trail

With April quickly approaching there were still several tasks that needed seeing to before the Nature Trail opened again to the public. Also the dredging work was planned to finish around this time and restart in the winter, but the decision was made to let work continue as it was having little impact on the wildlife and it would always be better to finish the work early. Travelling across the Broad it was surprising to see how little the dredgers seemed to bother the birds that lived there, as I watched swans and ducks swimming right up to the platform completely unfazed, more concerned with the possibility of food. The birds on Salhouse and Hoveton Great Broad are very bold, especially around this time; waiting to be collected by boat on the shore of Salhouse Broad my boots were investigated by a couple of very curious mallards. In the springtime the instinct to mate and breed is strong and this means, especially for the egg-laying females, they are hungrier than ever. This explains why the birds' so readily approach people; not only do they associate people with food more than danger anyway but these Broads have so little plant life due to pollution, so being feed by visitors is an important source of energy for them.

The duck couple who kept me company and tried to eat my boots at Salhouse Broad

It was on the Monday that my luck ran out and it poured with rain. We only had one simple task to do that day - simple on paper at least - but the heavy downpour made sure we were soaked by the end of it nonetheless. Living out in the wilderness for several years, even the thick, heavy sleepers used for the trail don't last forever and some had finally become rotten enough to need replacing. The main problem the wood faces is excavation by ant colonies which hollow them out and give purchase for the fungi and moss to bury their roots in where we can't remove them. When the sleepers are compromised like this they become dangerous, but replacing them isn't easy when the new wood is extremely heavy and must travel across water and through wet woodland to reach their destination. It was during this task I realised the true cost of my little experience; I had nowhere near the upper body strength needed to move the sleepers. I helped how I could, holding bags and opening the boat shed door, but for the most part felt quite useless as I watched the other two wardens. To make the task easier, and less of a health and safety risk, they used strops; loops of thick material they slipped around each end of the sleepers so they could raise them without bending over or risk trapping their fingers underneath.

A section of replaced boardwalk

The second day was brighter, though still a little chilly, and we were joined by a couple more helping hands. While they continued with the task of replacing the sleepers and removing the old ones, I swept the boardwalk. The main purpose of keeping the trail clear of debris is to reveal areas where the chicken wire which covers the sleepers needs patching up, and preparing the sites for repairs. It also removes the moss which has grown on top of the wood, preventing their roots from weakening the wood. Also, on one side of the island some old trees had been removed because their hollow branches overhanging the path were dangerous. Not only was the path covered in sawdust but it also opened up a wide area next to the gate which now needed a fence - it was becoming clear that more than a degree in science what was really useful for nature wardens was a strong back and carpentry skills. On top of these tasks there was also a new tern raft to build; a wooden platform covered in gravel where terns and other birds nested and which had been destroyed by Storm Doris.

The new tern raft, under construction

The third and final day I worked at the trail that week I was back on sweeping and chicken wire duty - which while not exciting I did find oddly therapeutic - but before that we visited the cattle. The boys; Andrew, Manny, Duffy and Bobby had now made a friendly herd with the girls, Marie and Netta. They'd grown a lot since I'd last seen them a couple of months before; all the males now had horns sprouting from their fluffy heads, and had calmed down a lot. Instead of jostling and butting heads they were quite content to sit in their field and watch us approach, quickly loosing interest when it was clear we had no food. Duffy and Mani had formed a close bond and were often seen together. Unfortunately there were problems however; Marie had gotten arthritis in her old age which caused her to limp, and Andrew's intestine was having trouble adjusting to the new pasture - he was the youngest and only just weaned before coming to the Bure Marshes so the sudden change in diet was a shock to his system. But otherwise everyone looked in good condition; thick set with glossy coats. The wardens would continue to keep an eye on them and it would be a job for a volunteer to follow the cattle around for a day, collecting their cowpats for worm testing - time would tell who picked the short straw on that one.

After the heavy rain the weather quickly picked up again and it was lovely being back out on the Broad, watching the plants come to life after winter and seeing the grebes, tuffed ducks, swans and even a heron! Office work would always be an inevitable part of any job but at least my days on the Broad were just as assured as well.

Talks

Natural England is only one of several organisations across the country working to take care of the environment. As well as the Broads Authority and the Wildlife Trust there are independent ecological consultants as well. In our local area representatives of these groups and others regularly get together to form the Broads Biodiversity Partnership, where we listen to talks given by members on the work that they've been doing. It's an important way of keeping up to date with local projects and share expertise; it was here I was told about the PlantLife publication on eutrophication, the issue affecting Hoveton Great Broad.

The meeting started with a talk by a ecological consultant about fen monitoring, research and management - why it's important and how it can be done. He described surveillance monitoring as continuous work to identify long-term changes and requires permanent plots - somewhere you can return to exactly to reduce variation - with stratified coverage of the variation of vegetation and microhabitats in the area - this often requires collaboration between groups so that all bases are covered. Some variables can change very quickly, even weekly, which means monitoring like this should be done on a fortnightly basis; which requires a lot of work and, on top of all their other work, wouldn't be feasible without volunteers and collaboration.

Fens are a key habitat we're trying to recreate on our broad - if you compare Hoveton Great Broad with other water bodies in the area you can clearly see the difference in the amount of reed bed - but they haven't been well studied, simply because the spotlight has been on other habitats and few have considered researching it. Not to mention being a wetland habitat they can be a little more challenging to work in. But with conservation work going on in and around them, and the increasing affects of climate change we need to understand what a fen is besides a marshy, lowland area, how species depend on them and what impacts our work could have on them. Nothing lives in isolation and this is true of biomes more than anything else. Conservation can't be narrow minded, only focusing on the plot of land in front of them, because work in one area will inevitably impact adjacent and downstream habitats. Identifying the need for more understanding is a first step, hopefully next will be the research.

The day after, the Bat Conservation Trust held an update talk on their Bats in Churches Project. For daytime roosting bats rely on old church buildings because there are few natural habitats in the form of ancient woodland left due to logging and the felling of dangerous, hollow trees. Bats are driven out of other potentially suitable habitats due to nearby developments producing too much light and conversions of buildings such as barns into modern housing. Churches are ideal as they remain unchanged for many years so can be used by several generations of bats and the beams, timbers, nooks and crannies provide good perches.

But bat colonies, especially large maternity roosts, can make problems for the people who use the church. The main issue comes from their droppings which are not only unhygienic but also quite acidic so damage the brass and polished wood found in the church. This damage done to the building and artefacts needs to be repaired but often churches have to rely on money they raise themselves from donations - bids for grants are often unsuccessful because the chance of the repairs simply being damaged again is too high. Some congregations try to employ methods of getting rid of the bats such as floodlighting or acoustic deterrents but these are very dangerous to the bats as the light can confuse them so they don't leave the roosts at night and starve, and the noises emitted are usually very loud and painful. In other instances people try blocking the entrances that bats use in the hope that they'll move elsewhere, these are either ineffective since the bats push the blockades aside to return home or trap bats inside the building until they die.

All species of bat are protected in the UK, so it is a criminal offence to disturb or obstruct bat roosts. and we have to remember that it's us encroaching on the lives of wildlife not the other way around. As much as bat roosts do cause problems for the churches they inhabit it is their home and there are ways people can coexist. The Bats in Churches project is working to not only help churches achieve this but also to engage the congregation and change attitudes towards these mammals; they are incredible, fascinating creatures and nothing can compare to the experience of watching them fly around you. Bats are one of my favourite animals and I am very excited about this project, what it's already achieved and what it can still do for many other churches.

A Walk by the Coast

In an office like Dragonfly House where several people need access to the same file for work, files are kept on shared drives. Inevitably, as electronics advance, these shared drives systems need updating and all the files have to be moved onto something new before the old one is shut down and everything on it is lost forever. For us this 'something new' was TRIMM, a file system that prioritised security over usability. As comforting as the extra security is, the need for a full day of training on how to use the system was a strain on everyone so our team leader organised a day out on the seafront.

St Andrew Church, Church Lane, Eccles-On-Sea

The coastal path from Eccles-On-Sea, through Happisburg to Walcott and ending at Bacton was chosen because work had recently been done to make it a part of the England Coastal Path by colleagues at Natural England, specifically in terms of signage. So we set off from our starting point at St Andrew Church for a very windy but sunny walk to unwind and critique the signage that outlined the walk.

The beach was a lovely sandy one, lined with stone sea walls and was surprisingly quiet considering the sunshine. Before we reached the beach we had to make our way through a small residential settlement whose roads had seen better days, not helped by the recent weather which had turned the pot holes into what felt like small ponds. After that though, the first leg was straight forward; simply head along the shoreline to the lighthouse at the end of the beach and you'd reach a grassy area with seating for a rest and a picnic before the second leg, which was less simple.

The Happisburgh Lighthouse

After the lighthouse we walked through Manor Caravan Site and, though we did get back down onto the beach eventually, we were filed along a narrow patch of grass squeezed between a ploughed field and the cliff edge. Though any fences or railings put along this section would have ruined the view the drop, while not life threatening, would still have done some damage to anyone who fell off it. On top of this the view was already marred by the old, eroded groynes which stuck out of the sand like gnarled fingers. But this was only one section of what was a lovely day by the coast; it was a really enjoyable walk and I saw much more of Norfolk's coast than I had done in my previous two years of being at university. Not to mention the pubs, cafés and fish and chip shops we could stop at along the way.

The beach from Eccles-On-Sea to Happisburgh

However, unfortunately, not all the aims of the walk had positive outcomes. The signage, such that is was, had room for improvement. Some signs were done well; noticeable without affecting the landscape and proving useful information about how far you were from settlements in each direction but overall the signs lacked consistency. Other signs were less detailed and a few were easy-to-miss posts in the ground offering even less information. And none of them paid tribute to the organisation who'd put them there.

Testing and collaboration are key parts of any project and even bad news, as unpleasant as it is to give it, can be helpful news. Be it in a team like the Hoveton Restoration Project or an organisation like Natural England, nobody works in isolation. I'd already learnt this in getting contacts for working with bats and it was a good opportunity to test my new way of looking at things and to help out how I could.

Opportunities

After visiting the fish survey team I was back in the office; unfortunately work was more than a lovely boat ride on a sunny day. Though as much as I loved being on the Broad, I was just as thankful for my time in the office. Having the opportunity to sit down with my supervisor and talk about what I wanted to get out of my placement was really helpful, not only in putting it into context of my future, but also in forcing me to plan out my weeks in a more productive way.


Suddenly I had a lot of mini projects of my own to work on and I had more balls to keep in the air than I'd ever done before. But I had a very supportive team around me and the work was something I could get excited about. If science writing was where I saw my future heading then I had many chances to build up my experience. Alongside the project updates on the website and a piece in the Broads Biodiversity Newsletter there were the educational resources I had to work on.


This involved researching a long list of species found on the Nature Trail, starting with moths and spiders - beetles proved a little more difficult to find species-specific information on as most books covered beetles in general, and there are a lot of beetles! This was something I'd always pictured myself doing; reading up on species so I could write something informative for the public about the fascinating lives of the creatures outside their front door. And the long list of invertebrate species promised to keep me busy for several weeks.


However behind this I had a few more opportunities ticking over in the background. While all species interest me, bats are a particular favourite and as part of Natural England I had access to several contacts who could help get me more involved with them. Winter couldn't offer me much but I was promised that the rapidly approaching Spring would provide me more close up experience. On top of that there was more excitement in the form of a potential visit to another LIFE project, much like Severn Rivers Trust had done. Searching the database on the LIFE website, there were so many great conservation projects going on across Europe - it was hard to narrow down the list. But there would be a lot of work to do before this possibility became a reality.


Finally, to help spread the word about our beautiful Broad I was given a small peer group to engage with on my own. Our Access and Engagement Officer - who'd recently organised a very successful press day, despite Storm Doris - would always have my back but inviting student societies at the University of East Anglia to our Broad, was my responsibility. I knew who to contact, I'd been a part of some of them during my first two years, and I had a few ideas of my own for the actual visit. Though as luck would have it our HLF monitor was visiting that week so I saw one of the ideas my supervisor had for what a visit like that could look like.


Before a meeting with our Heritage Lottery Fund monitor on how the project was progressing, we had a little walk around the Nature Trail. The task we were given was a simple one; take the selection of colour cards you've been given and search the Nature Trail for them. It was very effective. For one it slowed us down a lot; you could easily walk round the trail in only a few minutes if you wanted to, and made us really pay attention to the habitat around us. At first glance the winter scene might look drab but it's actually made up of a huge variety of colour; a tree trunk isn't simply 'brown'. Furthermore our preconceptions of what colours we would find were challenged; for a wetland habitat surrounded by water, we found very little 'blue'.


My life wasn't accustomed to being busy but I surprised myself with how much I looked forward to tackling each task and the structured days working in an office like an adult were starting to feel less alien, and more comfortable.

Fish Surveys

For a project like this one it's not just the physical environment that needs monitoring. Surveying the fish populations not only allows us to see how our project is affecting the living organisms that use Hoveton Great Broad but also gives us insight into how they use not only our Broad but the connecting water bodies as well.


Sonar cameras use sound to create a picture instead of light. Sound waves aren't affected by turbidity and can create a very similar picture to light; bouncing off obstructions such as fish and casting shadows. These sorts of cameras are also used offshore to provide information on the sea bed and finding shipwrecks. We use this technology to find out how large the fish populations are and where they are at different times of the day.


Bream, pike and perch are all found in the Broad, though the most common is bream. It takes experience to be able to identify the different shapes and shadows in the picture, but it can provide us with a lot of important information such as size and behaviour. Useful for our project we've been able to highlight how the fish use the water ways. For example in the neighbouring Hoveton Little Broad - or Black Horse Broad - we found bream sleeping there during the day and leaving to feed in the river during the night. This highlights that the different areas are important for the fish for different reasons and the health of each one can affect whole populations.


Usefully for our project these surveys also found a 'fish motorway' at one of the openings to Hoveton Great Broad where there were two lanes of traffic; the large and the small fish either leaving or entering the Broad and different times of day. This information can be used for the bio-manipulation part of the project as we can wait until all the large fish leave; placing a barrier to prevent them from re-entering while allowing the small fish to pass through. Then when the small fish have left we can place the second barrier which keeps all fish species out. Other methods of fish removal will also be used to make sure they've all been removed, but this way we can make sure the majority are out of the Broad without having to catch them ourselves.


Furthermore this survey should highlight alternative water habitats for the fish to use instead of Hoveton Great Broad and make sure that the bio-manipulation, while important for the daphnia populations, doesn't impact the fish too severely.


These surveys are very extensive and take about two weeks. Other methods are used other than the sonar cameras such as electro fishing but I wasn't able to see those myself. The main reason for our visit on that day was to get the boat the surveying team lives in for two weeks, refilled with fresh water and have the toilets pumped. Living on a boat may sound glamorous but when that time is spent working - getting wet and muddy - it can be exhausting. Then it can be the little things that help a lot, such as having your groceries delivered to you by a helpful member of the team, or having someone else restock your boat with water so you don't have to take time out of your day to do it, extending the survey even longer.


It was another pleasant day out, not only did I get to see the sonar cameras in action but I got a tour of the section of the river alongside Horning and, yet again, I had lovely weather for it. Not to mention we also saw the wildlife that lives on the Hoveton Little Broad; mainly geese and swans - which I had never seen fly until that day - but also grebe who honoured us with a view of their courtship dance.

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.

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.