Norfolk River Warbler twitch helps fund marshes project
 

The River Warbler in Norfolk last month raised nearly £2,000 for conservation, and half of that has just been presented to help kickstart a new appeal to buy marshland – in Norfolk. A cheque for £924 was presented to the Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT) this week by the landowners, Chris and Alison Allen, and twitch organiser, Dick Filby, founder of Rare Bird Alert. The money will be used by the NWT to launch their appeal to buy marshland in the Bure valley, near to where the River Warbler turned up. This project is part of the NWT Living Landscapes Campaign.

 

Cheque presentation - Chris and Alison Allen with Dick Filby in red and NWT fundraising manager Jonathan Leadley.
Front row: Millie Allen, Poppy Allen & Millie Jones
 

Fundraising manager for Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Jono Leadley, was one of the 250 birders who arrived on the first evening to see this rarity. He said: “This is a great story. A bird that inhabits the great wetlands of Eastern Europe has helped raise money for NWT’s wetland conservation work in Eastern Norfolk. We are very grateful to all the visiting birders who contributed and especially Chris and Alison who generously allowed people the chance to see the River Warbler, and were kind enough to donate half the money raised to Norfolk Wildlife Trust.”
 

Birders enjoying the River Warbler at Thorpe-next-Haddiscoe Marshes
 

In early August Norfolk Wildlife Trust launched the third appeal in its Living Landscape Campaign to raise £1 million. The aim of the campaign was to purchase three new sites which will be restored for wildlife. There was a terrific response to the first two appeals enabling NWT to purchase two sites; an area of former heathland next to NWT Grimston Warren/Roydon Common near King’s Lynn, which will be restored to wet and dry heath, providing habitat for nightjars, woodlarks and black darter dragonflies; and an area of fenland along the River Wissey near Downham Market, which will be a significant expansion to the Hilgay wetland project.

NWT has just launched its third appeal to secure the £150,000 needed to hit the target of £1 million and secure the purchase of land in the South Walsham Marshes. This land will form a buffer to the superb NWT Upton Broad and Doles nature reserve and connect Upton Marshes with Ranworth Marshes. This connectivity would provide a huge, continuous swathe of land in conservation management in the Bure Valley, providing a refuge for swallowtail butterflies, Norfolk hawker dragonflies, fen orchids, bitterns, cranes and otters, along with habitat for waders and wildfowl.

Jono Leadley of the NWT said “The money raised by the River Warbler twitch has got the appeal off to a great start!”

Dick Filby of RBA, who helped with the running of the twitch every day, commented “It was great that Chris and Alison were so enthusiastic about making this twitch happen despite the logistical issues that needing overcoming and that the end result was a lot of happy people, and money raised for conservation.”

If you would like to find out more about the NWT appeal, or make a donation, please visit NWT’s website http://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/Support-us/Appeals.aspx which will be updated as the campaign progresses.
 
 

Rare Bird Alert
5th Aug 2010