National Marine Week activities Norfolk 2022

Revealed:
6:30 AM July 26, 2022

Countrywide Maritime Week (until finally August 8) is a celebration of the sea everyday living around the coastline of the Uk. During this time, Norfolk Wildlife Trust will be becoming a member of with other nationwide wildlife trusts to enable individuals uncover and examine the wonders of our seas, estuaries and shoreline habitats.

In the British Isles no a person is extra than 70 miles from the sea, and listed here in Norfolk we are lucky enough to be in quick access of sandy beaches, dunes, saltmarshes and mudflats. Remarkably, Norfolk’s 90 miles of coastline even boasts some extraordinary cliffs with Hunstanton’s amazing striped cliff-facial area of red and white chalk currently being a single of the UK’s most strange promontories.

It is also a nesting website for sand martin and fulmar. At reduced-tide, even with Norfolk missing the rugged rocky shoreline of the west coast, our county can nevertheless supply some excellent spots for rockpooling way too.

Typically overlooked and beneath-guarded, Norfolk’s seas are dwelling to fifty percent our wildlife, with over 35,000 species getting been recorded in our tidal waters.

Norfolk not only features some of the country’s most stunning seashores – attracting so numerous holiday makers the populace of the county practically doubles in the summer months – but we also have an extraordinary chalk reef that is residence to some of the most varied and magnificent sea everyday living observed in Uk waters.

Cromer Shoal chalk beds
– Credit score: Rob Spray

The Cromer Shoals chalk bed types unusual underwater chalk structures and chasms, and stretches for 20 miles together the North Norfolk coastline. Staying in a depth of just about 20ft of drinking water, and snorkelling length from the shore, it has been dubbed ‘Britain’s barrier reef’. The latest surveys have uncovered in excess of 250 different creatures residing on the reef, and a earlier unidentified species to science was found, with the new ‘red sponge’ appearing to be exceptional to this spot.

Norfolk’s vast tidal mudflats may look like lifeless sticky mud, but they teem with maritime invertebrates, and this supplies foods for tens of countless numbers of wading birds, specially in wintertime.

Normally observed along with the wide broad-open mudflats are the saltmarshes, a severe and hostile surroundings that types a hinterland concerning land and sea. None-the-considerably less, this habitat is even now comprehensive of everyday living and a variety of salt tolerant vegetation grow on the abundant sediment, with sea lavender coating the saltmarshes with a wonderful clean of vivid purple in July and August. The marshes also form an critical breeding web site for numerous species of bird. The winding creeks and channels often ringing out with the connect with of redshank, the wild audio of a Norfolk seaside summertime.

A fulmar on Hunstanton cliffs
– Credit: John Lincoln

At low tide in autumn and winter, vast flocks of Brent geese graze on the ample eel grass that grows in the saltmarshes’ muddy bays and expansive foreshore.

However, these maritime landscapes, and their wildlife, are less than continuous risk. Erosion, flooding and shingle beach displacement – whilst amplified by climate transform – are portion of the dynamic mother nature of the Norfolk coastline. Nonetheless, substantially of our coastal wildlife is now restricted to reserves and shielded regions.

In modern occasions the all-natural ebb and stream of shifting habitats has been curtailed by agricultural wants, sea defences and coastal developments and our shoreline wildlife is now remaining squeezed out of a property.

Numerous and numerous pollutants, over-fishing and some leisure pursuits are also putting stress on marine existence, resulting in the breakdown of the fragile eco-systems they rely on. Disturbance is significantly an challenge together our beaches as, understandably, so quite a few men and women are keen to delight in them.

The well-known Norfolk gray seal colonies call for the vigilance of volunteer wardens to guarantee individuals don’t get as well shut, particularly with their canines. Beach front-nesting birds these types of as ringed plover and small tern are often, in which possible, safeguarded inside marked and fenced places, and normal seashore cleaning events are necessary to assist obvious absent probable hazards.

A gray seal and sanderling at Horsey Hole
– Credit: Peter Dent

With some consideration we can share the wonderful landscapes of Norfolk’s coastline with the wildlife that relies on them, and all appreciate the gains of sand dunes and salty air. With a latest United Nations report suggesting that only 13 per cent of our seas and oceans have intact maritime ecosystems “untouched by the harming impacts of humanity,” it is higher time we all attempted to take into consideration how we can enable alleviate the pressures on our maritime daily life.

As well as currently being more thoughtful as people, our valuable maritime wildlife requirements our put together voices to affect determination makers. Norfolk Wildlife Belief will be holding events all around our coastline in the course of National Maritime Week, which will provide chances to uncover and discover about our marine wildlife. 

We invite you to be part of us in rummaging in rock-swimming pools in West Runton, fossil looking and sea dipping at NWT Holme Dunes, and beachcombing at NWT Cley Marshes to build maritime art. For far more facts and to reserve, check out norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk