cover story

Mark Ollett (NWT)

It is the county’s newest broad and lies at the heart of Wildlife Trust’s first ‘urban’ nature reserve. Steve Snelling explores the natural wonder close to home that is Thorpe Marshes.

he sky’s pink blush is fast Wildlife Trust’s first ‘urban’ nature fading but lingers long reserve seems something of a misnomer, enough to cast a beguiling a trade description wonderfully at odds sheen across the darkening with reality. broad. A chill breeze shakes And therein lies its essential appeal and skeletal branches and combs particular charm. Thorpe Marshes, more It’s Tcoarse marshes sodden with water. In the than any other Broads’ nature reserve, dying light of a winter’s afternoon, there represents a rare, wildlife-rich piece of fantastic – is about this place a raw, almost eerie, protected countryside that’s not merely beauty. close to home for thousands of urbanites you can get Beyond broad dykes brimming with but spread out before them - in their own water and teeming with plant life you backyard. could be forgiven for thinking yourself Kevin Hart is in no doubt about the out on to lost in some wetland wilderness faraway reserve’s special qualities. “It’s fantastic,” from the maelstrom of modern life. he says in the course of a leisurely guided the It’s hard to imagine these saturated tour. “You can get out on to the marshes, acres just a few years ago when industrial- walk around the broad and get close to the marshes, scale quarrying transfigured an age-old river and it feels as though you’re in the pastoral scene. Harder still to credit that middle of the countryside. You could have walk this bewitching landscape is barely a five- driven for an hour to find a similar kind minute walk away from an escarpment of setting and yet it’s right on ’s around the studded with hundreds of homes and a doorstep.” Our latest loca l natural wonder short bus ride from the throbbing heart As warden for the trust’s latest addition of Norwich. to its impressive list of wildlife havens, broad and only get from not having artificial interesting, learning more about what’s Of course, the clues are there, albeit Kevin fairly oozes enthusiasm for the fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides actually here and getting to know the site half-hidden by a natural screen of distant place. “The reserve’s proximity to so get close to put on the land. It means you have all more intimately.” vegetation. Look one way and you can many people is important, but it’s not the the natural building blocks from which A Norfolk man born and bred - his family just pick out the towering tip of Thorpe’s only thing that makes Thorpe Marshes the river everything else grows and it’s all within hale from around Happisburgh and he parish church peeping above twilight- such an exceptional site. easy walking distance of thousands of grew up in Stalham - he had been working darkened trees. Turn around and “There’s a wonderful range of and it feels people’s homes. with an environmental children’s charity you’ll notice fragments of buildings species and rare species at that. “Norwich is so lucky to have it and at Whitwell, educating youngsters about that mark the beginning of As well as a good population the wildlife trust is very lucky to be the countryside and the wild world. Business Park fringing of water vole, the dykes are as though in a position to maintain it and not so “Our objective there was to get children an invisible Dussindale with its floristically incredibly rich much improve it, as it’s already a lovely to engage with nature,” he explains. “We sprawling maze of residential which tells you all you need you are in environment, but to ensure that no had a lot of school parties come to stay avenues and cul-de-sacs. to know about the quality of harm comes to this habitat and that the and they’d enjoy some old-fashioned Listen and you’ll hear the swish the water. They are packed the middle management of it is appropriate for the camping. It was a way of introducing of traffic competing with the with water soldier and species that exist here.” them to the countryside. It’s amazing how cawing of gulls and the gusting that, in turn, has helped the of the Just what form that care and control will many people, not just children, feel quite wind as it hums a constant Norfolk Hawker, a rare take is as yet unclear. These are early days uncomfortable when they leave the urban refrain. and iconic species of country. for Kevin and Thorpe Marshes. The site, surroundings of towns and cities. It was Yet it is hard to shake those dragonfly, to flourish. dominated by the broad that grew out of matter of trying to put them at their ease, initial impressions. At “And then there a Lafarge gravel quarry, was only leased to feel comfortable in the countryside, so first glance and, are the marshes to the trust by Crown Point Estate in the that they might start to care for it and indeed, for much themselves. summer, just a matter of months after value it.” of my time spent They’ve been Kevin joined the trust with responsibility Such goals bear a striking similarity to wandering grazed for for managing 5,000 acres spread across the aims currently being energetically across this such a long nine Broads’ reserves. pursued at Thorpe Marshes, only here the slither of time that “Hopefully,” he says, “it’ll be a case of focus is not simply on involving children wetland there’s a us growing together. We both more or less but an entire community. sandwiched diversity started with the trust at the same time, so As well as a series of educational between i n t h e we’ll be developing as we go along and as initiatives with local schools, a host of railway line sward I get to know more about this and all the nature workshops are being planned and and river, that other reserves I am fortunate to work on. volunteers recruited to assist in managing Norfolk you “The next few years will be really the site and recording the myriad species

 EDP Weekend n January 14, 2012 Factfile

◆ Families are being invited to explore Thorpe Marshes next week as part of a free ‘discovery day’. The event, being staged by , takes place on Wednesday (11am-3pm). Wildlife to watch: Norfolk Hawker. Picture ◆ Other free workshops taking place on by Barry Madden (NWT). the nature reserve over the coming weeks include the following: ◆ January 22: practical volunteer habitat management day with Jerry Kinsley (10am- 3pm). appropriate management, but we’d have ◆ January 23: a winter bird walk with Chris a site that was both connected to the local Durdin (10-12 midday). community and loved by it.” ◆ February 4: an introduction to fungi and Broader appeal, however, brings with their identification with Dr Tony Leech it potential problems. And its unusual (10am-3pm). proximity to such a large conurbation means that Thorpe Marshes, more than ◆ February 5: a winter bird walk with Chris most nature reserves, will have to strike Durdin (10-12 midday). a careful balance between people and ◆ If you want to sign up for any of the free wildlife. workshops telephone 01603 598333. Just a stone’s throw away from Whitlingham Country Park and its people-focused leisure activities, Norfolk’s environmentally-sound management newest ‘urban’ reserve may share a of the site to the abundance of water common history that owes much to gravel soldier. workings but is poles apart in its ideals And as we walk and talk I can’t help and priorities. wonder whether he has any particular “As our name suggests, our main interest favourite aspects of the reserve. “I is conserving and making sure wildlife suppose,” he says, “I’m a bit of a sucker can survive,” says Kevin, “but this site for the marshes themselves. I think it’s got gives us a special opportunity. We want something to do with human links with to encourage more people to visit Thorpe the countryside and the fact that people Marshes to enjoy the species and the have had a hand in how it looks and how habitats that are there and it’s up to us to they manage it. get the balance right. “It’s in us all. It’s where we all came Our latest loca l natural wonder “Obviously, visitors do put a certain from. No one came from towns originally. amount of pressure on places such as this, And to see animals out there, grazing on that thrive there. Main picture, but then there are also certain invasive the marshes, is to see agriculture working Jerry Kinsley, the reserve’s recently Reeds blowing in species which can put pressure on native hand in hand with nature conservation. appointed community officer, hopes the wind at Thorpe species. It’s all about managing these That’s true sustainability. It’s the key to that local people will act as the trust’s Marshes. Far left, things. everything we’re trying to achieve and it’s ‘eyes and ears’, not only identifying Kevin Hart, “There may be times when we will a sight I never tire of.” potential problems but reporting wildlife reserves manager need to restrict access to certain areas He pauses for a moment as though sightings that will help shape the site’s for Norfolk Wildlife at certain times. For example, there’s a imagining the scene. The light has all management. Trust, at the possibility we could get ground nesting but vanished, swallowed by the oncoming “Sometimes when you take on a new reserve. Left, a birds such as terns settling here on the night, but the vision burns bright. site there are pressures to establish a swan on the new shingle banks and if that is the case we “When you can walk out and watch cattle management plan,” says Kevin, “but it’s broad. would have a responsibility to protect standing there with Norfolk Hawkers absolutely critical to have good quality Bill Smith them, but we also want to maintain and flying up and down beside them and hear baseline surveys, to pin down what’s increase the number of people coming out the plop of a water vole disappearing into there and which areas are most valuable here to explore and to enjoy free access to a dyke, I have to say that ticks a lot of in terms of bio-diversity. It’s important this wonderful piece of countryside.” boxes. to know what’s there first and to design And there is, indeed, much to enjoy. At “And all of that within walking distance management plans around the species different times of the year you might of the centre of Norwich…” and habitats, not the other way round. chance upon kingfishers and otters, Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Thorpe Marshes “That’s why I think one of the key things orange tip butterflies and reed buntings reserve can be accessed via a footbridge here is to engage the local community or even Chinese water deer and the over the railway line off Yarmouth with the marshes. Of course, we have to occasional elusive Cetti’s warbler. Road opposite Thunder Lane (NR7 0QA). make sure we move in the right direction, In the course of my wintry walk such Parking is limited and dogs are allowed maintain what’s there, what’s so special delights were unsurprisingly noticeable but should be kept on leads to avoid about it, and make sure that nothing only by their absence, but that hardly disturbing livestock and breeding birds. lapses. But I think what would be a great mattered. The bird-freckled broad with its If you are interested in volunteering outcome would be if in five years’ time, ring of dykes and watery marshes casts a to help manage and work on the reserve or even sooner, we had a network of local serenely hypnotic spell all of its own. or would like to know more details people involved with and caring for the Kevin was clearly hooked by it long ago. about future events and workshops you marshes. As we squelch along paths slippery with can contact community officer Jerry “That way we’d not only be able to mud, he revels in the natural wonders Kinsley by emailing him at jerryk@ develop really comprehensive lists that abound here, from the gin-clear water norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk or by calling of species to enable us to apply the that is a tribute to the gravel extractors’ him on 01603 625540 and leaving your

EDP Weekend n January 14, 2012