A Little Known Norfolk Gem

Many wildlife watchers pay a visit to Strumpshaw Fen while in Norfolk. This large RSPB reserve lies alongside the River Yare between Norwich and Great Yarmouth. I paid a return visit this week and, as always, had the usual dialogue with the volunteer manning the entrance.  "Why don't you join?" she asked innocently. "Because I don't agree with the RSPB's political stance" I replied. She looked puzzled .. a mere foot soldier unaware of the foibles and faults of the RSPB's executives. I was about to say "I won't join until you stop blaming gamekeepers for raptor deaths and recognise the need for predator control to protect birds". My wife dragged me away before I started my lecture and we enjoyed a few hours rambling about, photographing insect and birdlife.
 

 A wonderful reserve for those who enjoy close access to nature .. but this article is about another reserve, nearby. One of the most magical places in Norfolk. And it isn't run by the RSPB.
The Ted Ellis Wheatfen nature reserve is on the opposite side of the River Yare to Strumpshaw, near a village called Surlingham. It is managed by the Ted Ellis Trust. Wheatfen Broad and its surrounding 130 acre reserve is the legacy of Ted Ellis, a wildlife writer and broadcaster who lived in a cottage on the reserve for forty years until his death in 1986. This is a much more intimate reserve than Strumpshaw. A maze of narrow, moist paths weaving amongst deep dykes and through acres of sedge and fen. Each corner you turn brings a new surprise. On a warm summers day like today, the air is brimming with insect life.

 

The paths are rich with wildflowers such as orange balsam, hemp agrimony, yellow iris, ragged robin and meadowsweet. These attract an array of butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies. The latter two alighting on the posts and rails of the many bridges carrying the visitor over the dykes and lokes.

Birdlife is rich if you pick the right time of day. Heron, kingfisher, cormorant, reed bunting, reed warbler, cettis warbler, sedge warbler. King of the sky .. and abundant in this area .. is the marsh harrier. In July, the swallowtail butterfly (one of Britains rarities) is prolific here. As well as the fen, the walks here take you through some typical alder carr, in Surlingham Wood .. a carr being, basically, a wood with its roots largely under water!

 

 

If you pay a visit to Wheatfen, I would recommend good walking boots. The ground is lush, peaty and soft. Take a pair of binoculars and definitely take a camera. Sit for a while on one of the many benches and just listen to the sound of pure tranquility. If you're very lucky (as happened to us on a previous visit) a family of weasels may pass by. As we left today, the warden David Nobbs told us that an osprey paid a passing visit last week for a few days. That, I would love to have seen. No wonder this one of David Bellamys favourite spots! And not an RSPB badge in sight.

 



Copyright Ian Barnett Sept 2013

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