Snowed under with work

The weather has been the main talking point over the past few days. It has disrupted the work on the lifeboat house, although as you can see from the image below the contractors have been doing their best in all weathers having to baton down the hatches in a howling blizzard. Their main problem has been getting staff onto the point due to the difficult travelling conditions. 

They are now stripping the old tin off the Lifeboat house and putting in insulation which they will then start to put the new tin sheeting back on, along with rebuilding the observation tower which had previously found to be rotten and beyond repair.

Some of the wildlife has been struggling in the conditions although the last known grey seal pup born on the Point this winter does not fall into this category. It has a good mum who is never far away and the perfect coat for surviving the snow. 

The English partridges mentioned in a previous blog are struggling to find food, a sure sign of this is that we were able to drive to within a few yards of one small covey which were feeding close to the track, see below. Although struggling a bit we are seeing anything up to thirty on an average visit with coveys up to sixteen and as low as three. The best recent count being forty five, which is a significant number these days!

This afternoon ITV Anglia did some filming with John, Property Manager for the Norfolk coast about the lifeboat house refurbishment works. It will be shown at 6pm tonight if the editing is completed on time. Here is a shot of the filming. 

 

We will post some more photos of the lifeboat house refurb shortly.

Graham, Coastal Ranger

16th of January: Snowy Hare today

15^th of January 2013: it had snowed overnight but the morning was bright and fresh. We had planned a trip up the Point to look into predator control measures for the coming season. As we passed the Lifeboat House we spotted a Brown Hare sheltering in the lee of a suaeda bush in full sun. Graham was able to photograph it without disturbing it, leaving it basking in the ephemeral sunshine. We then took a walk up Far Point to look for signs of rats around the colony. On the way we saw a Shorelark and a Skylark, some Snow Buntings, a Merlin and some coveys of English Partridges. There were very few Grey Seal pups left on the beach and Far Point and there haven't been any births since around the 7th of January. It seems likely that the pupping season is over for another year and that most seals have now dispursed into the North Sea. Viewers of the BBC's Winter Watch can still catch up with spectacular highlights from the peak of the pupping season by watching the programme, real time or on iplayer.

Right on the end of Far Point the weather started to change and the picture of Graham carrying a dead gull shows how black the sky had become. It was time to turn around, as we were presently in one of the most remote locations in Norfolk and a blizzard was approaching fast over the North Sea. As we walked back down Far Point the snow started, slowly at first but increasing to the point of snow storm by the time we reached shelter. On our way back we took a few more pictures of the Point in the storm.

            

 As Norfolk people say: 'was gorn on over Hare?'.

 

 Graham walking away from the approaching storm.

 

A panorama taken on Victoria's iphone.

 

The Watch House through the blizzard.

 

Back to safety. Photo taken down the Point from Cley Coast Guards, after the storm.

- Ed

Seal pups, scats, tags and a digger

Here is a quick summary of the various things that happened over the festive period, starting with seals.

The seal pups have virtually just finished with only 6 being born since Boxing Day, bringing the total count to 1220. Most have left the beach and have started to form the normal colony at the tip of the Point. Eddie counted dead pups which numbered 53 meaning that there has been just a 5% mortality rate.

Both seals we took before Christmas to RSPCA East Winch are faring well. Lion King (nasty gash) is still in isolation and Prince Albert despite having a bad eye is progressing well.

On the 4th Graham & Eddie spotted this bull seal adorned with a satellite tag. It was tagged in France last summer and although its the first time we have seen it amongst the hundreds out there, we have since found out it has been here since the 8th December.

Less glamorous, today Eddie & Graham collected seal scat at the request of the Sea Mammal Research Unit based in Scotland. This involves scanning above the high tide mark and when a collection is made, noting the date, grid reference and number. We will be able to provide an update about what the scats contain in March but today we collected 46.

 Any good captions?

Last night the Time Team dig that took place at Branodunum Roman Fort last August was aired on Channel 4. If you missed it here is the link:

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/time-team/4od

Everyone seemed super-impressed by the condition of the site and the amount of finds, and they were really pleased with the geophys that showed buildings we didn't even know were there. There is too much to mention here so do take a look!

Today on Blakeney Freshmarsh our annual ditch clearing work has started to de-silt them to enable water flow. We are working on a 10-year rotation to provide a range of different ditch conditions across the site. As well as clearing the ditches, the digger operator spreads the spoil as evenly as possible to allow our other management e.g. topping to take place. As we share boundaries between the 8 other landowners on Blakeney Freshes we share costs and time it to take place in one go.

 Lots of slubbings coming out of this ditch

 

Victoria, Countryside Manager

1st of January: Happy New Year

The National Trust would like to say a big HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone, and especially those that have followed our blog over the last nine months. We hope that you will continue to have an interest in the things we do along the coast and support (and enjoy) our important conservation work in 2013.

Here are a few photos from our first trip out to Blakeney Point this year:

Fat and Happy (Edward Stubbings)

This pup clearly has a bad hangover after a heavy night at probably the best new years party in the world! (Edward Stubbings)

A dead Porpoise calf found freshly dead on Blakeney Point today (Edward Stubbings)

- Ed

Gramborough Hill stonechat spotted in the Broads

Back in late-September we wrote about broods of stonechats that were ringed at NT Gramborough Hill, Salthouse and Arnolds Marsh, Cley, and gave the colour-ring combinations (click on the link below to show the table) that allow the identification of individuals.

http://www.norfolkcoastnationaltrust.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/25th-of-september-past-few-days-on-point.html

We have just received an update that the female of the pair that raised two broods earlier this year at Gramborough Hill has been spotted wintering at St. Olaves, about 14km south-east of Reedham. Her colour-ring combination is white over green; metal over green and she is currently residing alongside an un-ringed male which means this isn't her 2012 breeding partner.

 Smart male stonechat

It will be interesting to see if she returns to the North Norfolk Coast to breed in a few months time, and if so, who will be accompanying her?

If you spot a stonechat with colour-rings please let the BTO know the colour-combination and its location.

Thanks Noel for the update, it makes it so much more interesting when you can follow individuals!

Victoria, Countryside Manager

Merry Christmas to you all

From all of the Norfolk Coast National Trust team, we wish you all a very happy Christmas. Enjoy the festive period.

Herring soup for Christmas lunch, fit for a Prince?

Another day, another seal in need of a bit of tlc.

Yesterday I went out to assess a young 3 week old pup that had an infected eye but otherwise looked ok ie. it was fairly plump with no obvious signs of injury.

I spent some time near it looking out to sea for signs of its mother and talking to walkers about it and the colony in general as well as easy things people can do to not cause any disturbance e.g not walking through the colony as this can cause seals to enter the territories of others potentially leading to fights or pups being in danger of aggressive adults.

All things considered, I decided to monitor the pup over the next day. When we do this we put a bollard near it to let any walkers know that we are aware of it and also to give the pup some space.With an increasing population it is not unusual for a pup to turn up perfectly healthy in a location away from the main colony and rest on the beach whilst its mother is out feeding.

The pup is in the background in this pic

I went back to the check on the pup today and it was still in the same location without a mother and following the advice fo the RSPCA East Winch hospital staff I took it to them. As it is 3 weeks old it was in heavy moult (most of it in the landrover!) and I was amazed at how different the coat looked in just a few hours. Here it is in the bay ready to be checked by the vet.  

The pup has a companion, Queen Victoria (all pups are named with a royalty theme), that was brought into the hospital yesterday and was only a few days old as it still had its umbilical cord. Any guesses on what this one, that weighed 11.05kgs so about a third of the weight that is needed before release, will be called if it is a male?

Looks like it will be herring soup for Christmas lunch!

 

Victoria 

Countryside Manager

Seal of approval from a rescue

Back at the end of July we blogged about a young common seal that we rescued and took to the RSPCA East Winch hospital that was suffering from Lungworm.

http://www.norfolkcoastnationaltrust.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/31st-of-july-seal-rescue.html

The RSPCA have provided us with an update about the little seal who was named Chris Acabussi (can you guess the theme this summer?). When we took it in on 30th July it only weighed 10.6kgs. It has been fed up in a good way over the months and reached a weight of 35kgs on the 5th November when it was released back into the wild. Before releasing the RSPCA put an orange tag on the flipper to identify it. Chris's number is 62295 so keep a look out for him and let us know if you spot him.

Despite the name, this species of seal isn't actually that common and is protected under European nature conservation legislation and it really is that everyone counts!

Victoria
Countryside Manager

Rot-ten day for seals and lifeboat house!

Cast your mind back in the mists of time 8 days ago when we wrote a post about a visit from staff from the RSPCA wildlife hospital at East Winch. We mentioned that on occasions we call on their excellent facilities and expertises when we get a sick or injured seal. Until yesterday all was reasonably quiet in the seal colony but whilst doing our twice weekly count George came across this little pup.  

It had either approached the wrong mum for food or got in the way of a Bull seal defending an area of beach. Whichever, it definitely came off worst in the encounter! This picture was sent to East Winch and few minutes later came the response 'Please could you get it here ASAP?'. I called up Elaine one of our Volunteer Seal Rangers and we set off complete with our stretcher. We found the pup and carried it the half mile back to the nearest vehicle pick-up point. Then it was off to East Winch to deliver it. First thing on arrival is to get the pup weighed and give it a name. This one was 14.8Kgs and as it is Jubilee year the theme is Royalty so he got the name Lion King (must have run out of monarchs names as they are already nearly full). This little pup will stay with them now until he reaches the required release weight of 45Kgs. He will be living on a diet of fish soup, basically herring put through a blender, until he can eat whole fish. Females are released at 40Kgs. The actual count of new borns added another 32 to the running total making an incredible 1197. 

The builders refurbishing the Lifeboat House had an extra helping hand as one of the pups decided to move under one of the vehicles. Not happy with the hundreds and hundreds of acres of space, this one put itself in the middle of the works.

Speaking of the Lifeboat house works, the more they undercover the more the problems mount including rusty steel girders, holes in the chimney breast and rotten windows. Looks like the works are timely!

Graham
Coastal Ranger

Update from Brancaster Millenium Activity Centre

Here at BMAC we are now deep into our Winter mode – decorating and maintenance, updating Risk Assessments, training and Winter tidying of the garden. We saw the last of our adult special interest birdwatching week-ends (no snow this time, thankfully, and thousands of pink-footed geese obliging at Holkham) and Alex now has the full 2013 programme drawn up.

We have a very few residential slots left next year – mostly in the early months – so I am working hard on marketing these late vacancies.  Our website is now all up to date with booking information and forms so if you are interested please find out more at www.nationaltrust.org.uk/brancaster or contact me at the office. We can take bookings for conferences, meetings etc throughout the year except January (you’d have to avoid the wet paintwork).  We have recently taken our first hen-weekend booking.

Next year sees a lot more of our taster sessions, kayaking, rafting and sailing, after their growing popularity, these can be booked via the central box office on 0844 249 1895.  We’ve put these through the box office to allow staff to be available to put on the greater number of sessions as the administration was becoming considerable.  It is still possible for groups to get enough people together to book their own day doing one or more of our taster activities – we had a group of choirboys on a camp last year, and a large extended family. If you are interested please contact the centre directly on 01485 210719.

We say goodbye to our Long Term Volunteer Lizzie before Christmas and welcome Annie in mid January to join Jo who is staying on, and a third volunteer yet to be recruited.  If you are interested in supporting our work please get in contact!

From all of the team at Brancaster we would like to wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Nita Jackman

Learning officer