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Ashwellthorpe Woods

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 Our most recent field trip was to Ashwellthorpe Woods , a Norfolk Wildlife Trust nature reserve. This beautiful ancient woodland is noted for its large oak trees and stunning carpet of bluebells followed by wild garlic on the forest floor in the spring. Just some of the wild garlic carpeting the woodland floor The wood is also home to many other plant species which we observed, such as bugle and lesser celandine. These ground plants thrive here thanks to coppicing, the management practice employed by the NWT, involving cutting back young growth of trees to near the ground, allowing light in and a flush of fresh growth on the forest floor. The coppicing also supports many breeding birds, many of which we heard while on breeding bird survey transects, such as robin, wren, blackbird and blackcap. Some of the plants here are particularly special as they are ancient woodland indicators. These species require really healthy, old wooded areas to survive, and so their presence is in an in...
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Winterton Dunes NNR

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Wonderful Winterton Winterton is a National Nature Reserve on Norfolk's east coast, comprising acidic sand dune and dune heath ecosystems. The dunes demonstrate ecological succession, with a largely bare sand and shingle beach, gradually becoming colonised by grasses in the sand dunes and developing into heathland with scattered, shrubby areas, and wetter dune slacks. The dunes are home to many migrant and nesting birds, natterjack toads, and insects such as sand wasps, butterflies, and odonata species. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/norfolks-national-nature-reserves/norfolks-national-nature-reserves#winterton-dunes A view of Winterton sand dunes During our field trip here, we spent the morning exploring various patterns attributed to this succession, by walking a transect from the sea inland through the dunes. We threw quadrats randomly at regular intervals, and recorded the percentage vegetation cover, the number of plant species, and the maximum vegetation height. As...
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