A new era begins
Welcome to the new blog by the volunteers who work on Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Southrepps Commons reserve. It succeeds the blog from the Southrepps Commons Trust, which managed the Commons on behalf of their then owners, Southrepps Parish Council.
In this first posting we describe what has been done since ownership was transferred to NWT in February.
On 7th March Pamela Abbott, Chief Executive of Norfolk Wildlife Trust, and Chairman of Trustees David Thompson came to Southrepps Commons to mark the transfer of ownership and responsibility for management of the site to NWT. Here Pamela is addressing some of the NWT staff, Chaiman of the NWT Council David Thompson, and some of the dedicated volunteers who have kept The Commons in such sparkling condition.
Southrepps Parish Council had owned The Commons for 30 years, for 13 of which Southrepps Commons Trust, comprised entirely of volunteers, had managed The Commons on the Parish Council’s behalf. It is hoped that many of those volunteers will continue to offer their time and expertise working with NWT to maintain a special place that they have contributed so much to.
The event was also attended by a journalist from the Eastern Daily Press. Click here for his article, photos and video. (https://www.edp24.co.uk/business/farming/norfolk-wildlife-trust-new-reserve-southrepps-commons-1-5927050) Also look out for the next edition of NWT’s Tern magazine, which will include an article about Southrepps Commons, and SCT Chairman John’s final ‘Common Man’ article in the next edition of The Mardler.
In essence, not much is expected to change. Certainly, a walk across the SSSI will show the same level of dog excrement that we have sadly become used to, despite constant reminders of the need for dog owners to clear up after their animals. The fact that this is a legal requirement as much as a moral one appears to have had no effect on some people, so we will see if NWT have any better success. We are in the “off season” at the moment, so far as major work is concerned, and have recently learned that Natural England’s prescription for how and when this should be carried out has changed a little, so we wait to hear when the next season starts, and how long we will have in order to complete the regular task of cutting the specified areas.
Nonetheless, small scale maintenance continues, with the first work being undertaken in this new era being the patching up of the wire mesh netting covering the boardwalk. Wear and tear has taken its toll, with the wire mesh having gone through in several places, sometimes quite extensively. This sort of work can go ahead whenever it is required, as it has no bearing on the ability of plants to grow or birds to nest. Speaking of which, now is an excellent time to visit the Common to enjoy the range of shades of green emerging, particularly on the central area. Before long the wild flowers which make this place so attractive will be showing themselves, and the summer migrant birds are beginning to arrive. Chiffchaffs have been singing since the middle of April, I recently heard three newly-arrived blackcaps, and today I saw my first swallow of the year. Here’s hoping for a cuckoo too! There is also good evidence of woodpigeon predation: I found signs of three separate kills on my walk round School Common recenly, and a sparrowhawk flew over the main SSSI area. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the Cromer peregrines helped themselves here too? (A peregrine has been seen flying across the Common on at least two occasions in the last few months, so it’s perfectly possible.)
Last year we started controlling the spread of the pernicious Himalayan Balsam earlier than usual, trying to remove plants as soon as they could be identified. This approach seemed to work well, so it will be repeated this year. Watch out for invitation to join in from May onwards! As can be seen, leaving the plants to grow creates quite a challenge:
One important change is in the organisation of the work. Previously, the responsibility for deciding what needed to be done, making it happen and being in charge of the working parties tended to fall to just two men; Johns Houlgate and Dowland. Under the new NWT arrangement, we volunteers form what is called a dependent group, working under our own steam, but as requested by our NWT reserves officer. The Trust requires that work is led by a team leader, who has undergone their training. The opportunity was therefore taken to open this up to more people, with obvious benefits all round. Accordingly, we now have six team leaders: John Houlgate; Margaret Dowland; Julie Swift; Kevin Wardle; Sue Parsons and Denise Walters.
With the transfer to the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, the need for the SCT website, with all its photos, information and blog has gone, and it will be closed shortly. Click here to visit the Southrepps Commons page on the NWT website. (https://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife-in-norfolk/nature-reserves/reserves/southrepps-commons). Photos of species found on the Commons can be found on the Gallery. Choose ‘Southrepps Commons’ from the drop-down list of Locations. Work is ongoing to add tags to our pictures so that filtering of ‘Interest’s will produce, for example, Invertebrates at Southrepps Common. All very whizzy!
If you would like to receive email notification of future blog postings and are not already on our list, please drop a message to scvolunteers@gmail.com.
