Located in the beautiful Wensum Valley, Sculthorpe Moor Community Nature Reserve is nationally and internationally recognised for its wildlife being both a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation. The mixture of woodland, fen, fen meadow and reedbed habitats provided Alex, Graham and Rachel ample opportunity for botanising, fungus foraying, aphid hunting and small mammal trapping over the weekend.

Over the weekend, staff from The Ecology Consultancy’s Norfolk office were involved in a BioBlitz event at the Hawk & Owl Trust’s Community Nature Reserve at Sculthorpe Moor. A BioBlitz is a large scale event that aims to engage people with biodiversity by inviting them to get directly involved in surveying and monitoring their local wildlife and green spaces. During a BioBlitz event experts and members of the public work together to survey an area identifying and recording as many species as possible over 24 hours.

Our Norfolk team had their display available.

Located in the beautiful Wensum Valley, Sculthorpe Moor Community Nature Reserve is nationally and internationally recognised for its wildlife being both a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation. The mixture of woodland, fen, fen meadow and reedbed habitats provided Alex, Graham and Rachel ample opportunity for botanising, fungus foraying, aphid hunting and small mammal trapping over the weekend.

The collection of field signs and stuffed animals which graced our stand generated much interest and amusement from the public. Stars of the show included Marvin the Mink and Percy Polecat but the poo collection also went down a treat, especially with the younger participants.

Graham, our entomologist got the ball rolling on Saturday with a well attended aphid walk around the reserve.

First thing on Sunday morning, mammalogist Rachel led a small mammal walk. Approximately 40 Longworth traps had been set in woodland and fen habitats around the reserve the previous evening and were baited with casters (blowfly pupae) and seed with bedding for added comfort. The traps were collected and processed within the shade of the woodland at the aptly named ‘Old Gits Corner’. We had over 50% trap success with the majority of the usual suspects being found including wood mouse, bank vole, and common and pygmy shrews. The highlight was, however, not one but two water shrews, trapped within the sedge beds. Interestingly, both individuals were found within the same trap but, thankfully, were none the worse for it! Unfortunately, one bank vole found her trap so comfortable that she decided to give birth to five little pinkies overnight. Mother and babies were quickly moved, without handling, to a tank with the bedding and a food supply, and placed in a quiet location for later release.

Later that day, our botanist Alex led two enthusiastic groups recording plants and fungi. The fungus forays recorded over 70 fungus species such as the curious dark form of milking mycena, the intensely hot tasting firey milkcap and the sexual stage of Chalara ash dieback disease, which is now ubiquitous in Norfolk but previously unrecorded on the reserve. Alex recorded 187 plant taxa, the highlights including the nationally scarce hedgehog stonewort, long-stalked yellow-sedge and marsh fern.

Alex from our Norfolk office has been out moving crayfish over the weekend

Our crayfish expert Alex Prendergast took part in a translocation project yesterday, moving native white-clawed crayfish from a North Norfolk river to a safe receptor, or ark, site. Crayfish enthusiasts from across the region and beyond met at a section of river known to hold one of East Anglia’s best remaining natural populations of white-clawed crayfish. Unfortunately, as has been the case in most of England’s rivers, this population is now doomed due to the arrival of signal crayfish in the watercourse further upstream.To find out more about crayfish read the Norfolk Biodiversity Partnership Species Action plan

Suitably disinfected, we spent the morning in the river catching white-clawed crayfish. The target was 150 large healthy animals. Where there are no major stones or other refugia in the channel the largest crayfish are usually found in burrows in the bank. This gave us the opportunity to practise a technique known as ‘crayfish tickling’ which involves fumbling about the bank underwater until a burrow is located and sticking a hand in to see who’s at home. Crayfish were carefully extracted from the burrows, sometimes requiring a few strategic pokes to encourage them to vacate. Once caught the crayfish were screened for porcelain disease, measured and sexed. Only large, healthy animals and a roughly equal ratio of males to females were selected to start the new population at the ark site. A red kite cruised by, briefly distracting attention from our cold-numbed hands.

After lunch and a final push to meet our target ten people, lots of wet equipment and 150 crayfish squeezed into a few cars for the trip to the receptor site - a chain of three recently restored spring-fed ponds on a North Norfolk estate. Tests carried out the week before showed the water to have ideal chemistry for crayfish and the ponds with their crystal clear water and abundant plant and invertebrate life look like an ideal new home. As we released the crayfish, it was great to see them burrowing through the aquatic plants and investigating niches amongst tree roots. We are confident that the new population will succeed in this ark site and future monitoring is planned to check that they do.

Just one thing left to do: a trip to the pub to dry out, warm up, chat all things freshwater and enjoy a pint of cider.