{"id":747,"date":"2019-06-04T18:41:59","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T18:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southyarewildlifegroup.org\/?p=747"},"modified":"2019-06-04T18:43:40","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T18:43:40","slug":"an-evening-visit-to-nwt-thorpe-marshes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southyarewildlifegroup.org\/an-evening-visit-to-nwt-thorpe-marshes\/","title":{"rendered":"An evening visit to NWT Thorpe Marshes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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25 of us, most of whom were SYWG members,\u00a0were lucky to have fine weather for our visit to Thorpe Marshes which lies between the Norwich and Great Yarmouth railway line and the River Yare. <\/strong><\/p>\n Chris Durdin was our personable and knowledgeable guide for the evening.\u00a0 Chris began by giving us a succinct account of the marsh’s history. It is leased by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust from the Crown Point Estate, who manage it as their first urban nature reserve. The marshes are\u00a0a popular area for people to walk their dogs and the Trust has continued to encourage public access by providing reasonably hard surfaced paths.<\/p>\n Around sixty years ago though it was ploughed and sown with rye grass to provide pasture for 60 Friesan dairy cows.\u00a0Gravel extraction also occurred on part of the site and has created a large area which is now an open water broad while the intensively managed pasture has undergone a degree of re-wilding.\u00a0Fortunately the dairy farmer did not use herbicide and this has meant the wild seed bank was not completely destroyed. Part of the area is still grazed in the summer by cattle but at a lower intensity than formerly and with conservation as its primary aim. Another part has been left ungrazed and we could see the difference some grazing makes. The ungrazed part has more willow carr and reeds while in the grazed area the amount of sedge was very noticeable.<\/p>\n