'Life on the Edge' was a popular subject and a keen audience came along for Dr Pam Merrick's beautifully illustrated talk on 25th April which helped us to identify some of the wildflowers to be seen on a Forncett verge.
Pam Merrick introducing Cuckcoo Pint. Photo: Carol Sharp Pam outlined the features that help to make road verges particularly diverse in plant life, which in turn provides food and habitat for insect, birds and small mammals. Road verges are important corridors for nature, helping to prevent small populations become isolated and in-bred. Factors which damage verges such as herbicide drift from adjoining fields and being driven over when passing places are not used, helped us to appreciate the fragility of these often overlooked environments. The array of examples of wayside plants which Pam provided gave us a wonderful insight into the finer features of many species. Pam has written an article giving the flavour of her presentation which you can read here, published in the Forncett Flyer. Such was the interest in the subject that several people volunteered to do their own surveys. To make this a community effort is the ideal way to gather valuable information and we welcome any of you to have a go. Please contact us via our
Pam has also surveyed St Edmunds Chuchyard and part of Common Road, whilst members of the FNM Steering Group have carried out surveys of Overwood Lane, part of Cheyney’s Lane and the ditches around Jubilee Green at Forncett Village Hall. Norfolk Wildlife Trust have undertaken a comprehensive Survey of St Peter’s Churchyard. Three other areas are being surveyed this year.
FNM is working closely with Norfolk County Council's Greenspaces initiative to survey and nominate some of Forncett's verges for special protection as Roadside Nature Reserves, which will be wonderful for our pollinating insects. The more data we have, the better. In June 2025 parts of Valley Farm Lane (Forncett) and Hurn Lane (Tacolneston) were designated as Roadside Nature Reserves.
If you missed Pam's talk or would like to pursue the subject further, the best place for information is the award winning information available through Plantlife.
This meeting is an essential one for everyone wanting to learn more about our main vision of creating Green Corridors throughout Forncett. Having mapped the many properties where people have pledged to care for their outdoor space with wildlife in mind, we can now see real potential for linking these valuable habitats via our verges. Our main speaker, botanist Pam Merrick, will give an illustrated talk, telling us how we can best care for 'Life on the Edge', to create pollinator pathways throughout the village - our very own B-Line.
- Details
- Written by: Christina Wakeford & Ally Rae
A mud-brown, snaking channel leads to a much larger and deeper scrape in the low-lying land in a green field beside the River Tas. This is the start of habitat enhancing work being carried out by Forncett Nature Matters supporters Justin, Steve and Mark. Members of the FNM Steering Group were delighted with an invitation to visit in November. Justin, Steve and Mark purchased 3.2 acres of land in Forncett about a year ago and are really interested in developing its wildlife potential. The land lies to the right of the River Tas on the downstream side just beyond the hump-back bridge on Long Stratton Road – you may have noticed a digger in action. The new owners have been busy working with the Environment Agency and other bodies, as well as making contact with neighbouring landowners, to take their plans forward.
FNM Steering Group with Steve & Justin on their land. Photo: A RaeThe large scrape, partially following a previous course of the Tas, aims to provide additional flood capacity in the water meadow. This will both alleviate flooding downstream and, it is hoped, hold water for part of the season, creating wetland habitat for wading birds and other wildlife. Justin and Steve will be eagerly awaiting the first snipe.
There are now several owners of small acreages alongside the Tas with a keen interest in nature – wonderful news in creating the connected habitats animals, insects and plants need. Owners of larger acreages, especially along the Tas Valley Way, have also maintained rich areas of rough pasture and hedgerows, including a Site of Special Scientific Interest, making the Tas Valley one of our best Green Corridors or B(iodiversity) Lines.
Following our invitation to Nathan Walker, Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group, to talk to FNM in October 2024, Nathan has shared with us news of an initiative for landowners along the Tas – one of Norfolks chalk streams.
“Water Resources East (WRE) has commissioned Norfolk FWAG to support farmers and landowners in the Tas Catchment to understand opportunities for Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and the funding available. The benefits of NbS could result in reduced pressure from abstraction, improved chalk stream habitat, natural flood management, increased biodiversity, improvements to green infrastructure and improved water quality/nutrient neutrality measures… To understand if you are eligible to receive free support, with a view to scheduling your walkover visit, please contact Henry Walker at Norfolk FWAG:
Email:
You can find out more about the project here
Thanks to Steve, Justin and Mark for a fascinating visit and to everyone who is doing their bit for nature.
Ally Rae
January 2025
- Details
- Written by: Ally Rae
Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) was introduced to Kew Gardens from Kashmir in 1839, brought as an ornamental plant and dispersed by gardeners and beekeepers who celebrated its nectar rich flowers.
It is indisputably a handsome plant with sweet, scented purple to pink flowers growing to at least two metres in height with hollow red stems. It is an annual plant, withering in the autumn, but its highly efficient seed dispersal means that it can colonise the damp places it favours, riverbanks, ditches and wet meadows, swiftly. Its seeds are spread by the extraordinary spring mechanism of its pods, scattering them up to seven metres from the parent plant.
Many groups of conservationists see it as a thug and a threat: choking waterways, eroding riverbanks and smothering native species.
"Himalayan balsam" by Ashley Basil is licensed under CC BY 2.0.The Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Organisation have adopted a best practice guide, RAPID, that stands for Reducing and Preventing Invasive Alien Species and Dispersal. They organised a Big Balsam Bash in 2021 where volunteers tore up Himalayan Balsam from riverbanks. It is in fact easy to pull up because it has very shallow roots and grows in soft ground.
As far as I could see on my internet search a lone voice speaks up for Himalayan Balsam – Chris Thomas, Professor of Conservation Biology at York University. He believes such species can add to biodiversity. He says that plants and animals are altering where they live because of climate change and because we human beings are steadily and relentlessly changing the world’s habitats. Professor Thomas’s message is that we should ‘attempt to embrace the new invaders’ and that there are more useful ways of helping wildlife and native plants than by bashing balsam.
Helen Baczkowska of NWT tells us that the Trust hand pulls Himalayan Balsam where it becomes dominant, especially on nature reserves where it is crowding out other plants. However she says that we live in such changing times that it is not easy to know what the best strategy is and “overall I suspect that trying to eradicate it is unlikely to succeed and so we need to live with it a lot of the time, but in certain cases we might need to monitor or control it, especially where it chokes water courses or crowds out orchids.”
Sources:
Guardian newspaper 7.6.21
You can read more about monitoring the spread of Himalayan Balsam here
Written October 2022
Published January 2025
- Details
- Written by: Hilary Hosea
Sunday 16th February 12 - 2pm.
This will be a lunchtime occasion (bring and share a dish) and will include a couple of inspirational 10 minute talks about what's happening nature-wise around our village - good news stories to cheer us on our way into 2025. Drinks provided.
Please reply to Christina on
- Details
- Written by: The Steering Group
Forncett Nature Matters recently welcomed Nathan Walker from the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) to talk to us about his role in helping farmers with the recent government-driven changes in agricultural policy. Our Green County Councillor, Catherine Rowett and a local small-scale farmer kindly volunteered to join Nathan, forming a panel afterwards which kickstarted a lively Q and A session.
Photo: Carol SharpIn his talk Nathan ran through the many reasons for the loss of biodiversity in recent history:
- Climate crisis -exacerbated by our use of fossil fuels
- Urbanisation - causing habitat loss and fragmentation
- Water management - wetlands drying out and disappearing
- Pollution - of air, soils, rivers and seas (eg chemicals/microplastics/waste management)
Government policy after WW2 encouraged agricultural intensification, with the aim of increasing yields to feed a rapidly growing population. Payments to farmers were linked to this policy. Many farmers had to turn from hay meadows and hay making to uniform grass meadows for silage, and from mixed farming to monoculture. There was a switch from spring- to autumn-sown cereals, leaving few overwintered stubbles that birds and small mammals had relied on. Pesticides, herbicides and fungicides were employed, along with artificial fertilisers. Hedgerows were taken out to accommodate larger machinery, and prairie-sized fields destroyed connectivity of habitats for nature.
We now know that the unintended consequence of all this was a devastating loss of biodiversity, and, with this crisis in mind, Government policies for farming have now changed radically. Alongside the production of high quality food, care of the environment is also recognised as essential. The Environment Act of 2021 laid out statutory targets for restoring biodiversity. It introduced Agri-Environment Schemes and Environmental Stewardship, which have now become Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS). Payments to farmers are to be linked accordingly. Our farmer panellist, who has taken advantage of the older Environment Schemes, told us the process with ELMS is quite a challenge and not always straightforward!
The Norfolk FWAG try to make sense of legislation for farmers. It is a charity created in 1969 and gives farmers help in managing their land with an environmental focus, and filling in paperwork to receive payment for it. Farmers look at the ways they can expand habitats for wildlife through buffer zones alongside their sown fields, maintaining, enhancing and restoring hedges and ditches, restoring ponds, fens, reedbeds and wetland and looking after sustainable, biodiverse woodland.
As Nathan said, the biggest asset on the farm is its soil. Well-managed soil produces good crops, retains water and reduces flooding in heavy rains. Healthy soil structure is good for roots, supports worms and other soil dwellers and has a rich microbiome of fungi and bacteria. Habitats around the farm are vital homes for diverse species. They provide shelter, warmth and nectar, nesting places and food such as wild plant seeds and hedgerow berries. The better connected the habitats, the more effective they are, and they need protection from intensive agricultural activities.
Field margin in Forncett Photo: Ally Rae
Many of our South Norfolk farmers already leave fallow plots for ground nesting birds such as skylarks and for the brown hare. Some are also supporting wildlife by adding networks of hedgerows and field margins for greater connectivity. Those on the old stewardship schemes have already got a head start. On awkwardly shaped bits of land winter bird seed mixes are appearing, and native wildflowers are sown. Margins and sometimes whole fields are being devoted to plants for pollinators, which often double as green manures to be incorporated later to help to improve soil structure.
Thank you to Nathan and the panel for a very stimulating and thought provoking meeting. Interesting discussions continued over refreshments. It made everyone aware of the importance of supporting our farmers as they come to terms with the changes the new legislation will bring.
What Can We do to Help?
- Be an informed consumer. Support your local farmers – short supply chains are best.
- Lobby your MP for sufficient financial support for conservation.
- Support the Norfolk Wildlife Trust and the Woodland Trust, all helping to support farmers in their task to restore biodiversity.
- Have a look at the work of Norfolk FWAG.
This event - a Talk and Q&A - will be an important one for farmers, other landowners, and gardeners wishing to keep up to date with environmental farming practices, so please put the date below in your diary (yes, it's Thursday for a change!) and share the information with anyone you know who would be interested, including those people who don't have access to technology and often miss out on publicity.
Speaker Nathan Walker is the Farming Conservation Advisor for FWAG, (Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group.)
The Association supports farmers in choosing some of the best ways to implement measures to enhance wildlife and landscape on farmland.
All are welcome - farmers especially; the rest of us will learn how to better understand and appreciate the life and work of the farmers who are at the heart of the communities of South Norfolk.
There will be a panel of down to earth people to discuss all your questions.
Free entry, but donations to cover costs are gratefully accepted.
Light refreshments will be served. Wine available.
- Details
- Written by: Hilary Hosea and Christina Wakeford