National
Trust Ranger Academy
My
name is Pete and I work as an academy ranger for the Trust in the
Lake District. The academy scheme provides training, both theoretical
and practical, to those with passion but without the background
skills or knowledge. Myself and Bruna – an academy ranger
based in Snowdonia – have just spent a week at Blakeney Point in
North Norfolk to help the team monitor a variety of sea birds and
learn from them.
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| The A-team: from left Josh, Paul, Sarah, Bruna, Pete and Ajay |
The
ability to work between sites is one of the key strengths of the
academy programme. Sharing best practice not only saves the time of
wheels being reinvented, but is also a great way to be re-inspired
and share time with like-minded people. Preserving areas for the next
generation is not always an easy task, especially when in can mean
change for the current generation, and the challenges that this
change brings. However, we share the belief that conservation is
worthwhile. We have been gifted with a glorious planet and so of
course we want to share it with others – a little compassion goes a
long way.
The
ability to engage, educate and inspire is just as important as
practical skills, as we need future supporters, members and
volunteers to continue our work indefinitely. It turns out meeting
our core target of “for ever, for everyone” is quite a task!
Education and engagement can prevent misunderstandings occurring. For
example, the site of a tree being cut down can easily evoke mental
images of mass deforestation. But with vast timber imports from
Europe and further afield a sustainable wood industry is vital to
stop deforestation elsewhere, especially in countries with less
stringent controls. Conservation is a truly global concern and so it
is important not to become too fixated on making our grass green if
that comes at the expense of the metaphorical grass elsewhere. Wood
is often a bi-product of our core woodland aims of habitat
management, visitor safety and access. Having a varied age structure,
different light levels and allowing some trees to reach maturity of a
large girth (providing nesting holes/deadwood habitat) are important
for a valuable habitat, and as such some trees are removed.
Good
communication is key. With such a large organisation this can
occasionally be difficult but staff and volunteers are committed to
sharing our passion, knowledge and expertise. Here at Blakeney,
coastal ranger Ajay Tegala and the team do a fantastic job, speaking
to almost every visitor to the point. This not only helps to educate
and inspire the visitors but enables the rangers to point out safety
concerns and help protect the vulnerable ground-nesting birds and
fragile sand dune, salt marsh and shingle habitats. String fencing
and signage deters boats from mooring in the tern colony (sandwich,
common, little and arctic) and near other ground-nesting birds.
Our
time at Blakeney
We
were extremely lucky to be greeted on our very first evening by a
friendly visiting Bluethroat (Luscinia svecia).The
Bluethroat was once a regular migrant to Blakeney Point, sometimes in
numbers up to 25, but declined in the 60's and by the 80's were rare
visitors. There is now just one Bluethroat spotted almost annually,
and rarely two, so this was a great site to see. Another interesting
sighting during beach patrols and nest surveys was several Garden
Tiger (Arctia caja)
and Brown Tail (Euproctis chrysorrhoea)
moth caterpillars.
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| Bruna looking out for the Bluethroat |
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| Bluethroat (Luscinia svecia), a rare migrant |
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| Brown hare (Lepus europaeus), fairly common on the Point |
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| Caterpillar of the Brown-tail moth (Euproctis chrysorrhoea) |
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| Birds-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), one of many Spring flowers brightening up the dunes |
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| Pied wagtail (Motacilla alba) chicks using one of the nest boxes, - they have since fledged |
The
only access to Blakeney Point is by the seal boats (externally run
boat tours) or via a three-mile shingle walk from Cley beach –
suffice to say, the ridge between the boat landing and the Lifeboat
house (pictured at top of blog) is the busiest part of the Point! This also happens
to be where several Oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus)
choose to “nest”. I use the inverted comma's because their idea
of a nest is simply laying eggs on the floor into a small scrape in
sand, grass or shingle. They lay one egg a day to a total of four –
however, females will sometimes share nests, hence the five eggs we
found in one nest! This means they can share incubating duties and
have extra defence against gulls (particularly common and herring)
and other predators. In order to protect the eggs from accidental
damage, and minimise stress to the female, we erected temporary
fences around each new nest.
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| Bruna enjoys spotting her first (of many) Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) nest |
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| A rare five-egg osytercatcher nest, the result of two females sharing a nest |
On
Wednesday we were joined by two ecology consultants from ECON to
survey the local fish population in relation to the food supply for
little terns (Sternula
albifrons)
and sandwich terns (Thalasseus sandvicensis).
We used a 50m net in Pinchen's creek, using smaller nets and buckets
to remove the fish and crabs, take measurements and then return them
to the water. Species found included Bass, Herring, Lesser and
Greater sand eels, Flounder, Crangon and plenty of crabs. The plan is
to return to survey at different tide levels and build more robust
figures.
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| Pulling the net across to sample the local fish population |
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| Measuring the fish before returning them swiftly to the water |
Over at Blakeney Freshes, ranger George took us out to
monitor a variety of nesting birds. George was himself an academy
ranger at Blakeney before securing his permanent role. There were a
few Oystercatchers and lapwing still on nests but the avocets and a
pair of lapwing already had chicks, who seemed to be doing well.
Large drainage channels and sluices were dug out last year with the
help of the RSPB to help regulate water on the freshes, and new
scrapes dug out by digger with small islands. The avocets in
particular took well to this improved habitat. The spot of the day
was a pair of little ringed plovers with three chicks in tow, with a
third adult being chased away by the pair. This may mean there is a
second breeding pair – fantastic news for this schedule one
species, which has just 1,200-1,300 nesting pairs in the UK.
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| The stunning Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus), which has had breeding successes on Blakeney Freshes |
We both had a fantastic time and have learnt a huge amount - not least how to live for a week without running water or mains power - some of which we will be able to take back to our properties and use again in the future. Ten academy ranger positions are advertised near to the start of each year across England, Wales and Northern Ireland - please visit National Trust jobs for this and more.
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