Family Fun Day celebrates new nature reserve
Families celebrated the creation of a Local Nature Reserve in a built up area of Norwich on its first fun day on Sunday 7 June.
A host of activities went on at Cary’s Meadow, beside the river on Thorpe Road. You could make bughouses, bird and bat boxes, butterfly feeders and paper pot plant holders, watch a bush craft demonstration, go pond dipping or on a guided walk.
Matthew Davies Norwich Fringe Project Officer said: “This is a great day out for all the family and an opportunity to learn more about the countryside right here on your door step and how we look after it.”
Nick Sanderson, Head Countryside Ranger at the Broads Authority, which owns Cary’s Meadow, said “this is a chance to celebrate the addition of this new Local Nature Reserve in the wonderful Yare Valley.”
In the 1970s the marsh at Cary’s Meadow was used as a tip for building rubble when terraced houses were demolished in West Norwich. In 1999 Norwich Fringe Project, which brings the countryside to people’s doorsteps, began managing it as a wildlife area.
It is now a haven for wildflowers, such as pyramid orchids, birds foot, trefoil and willow caps which thrive on poor nutrient and alkaline soils, as well as attracting birds such as Black Cap, White throat, Willow Warblers, Jays, and Kestrals. It is also home to foxes and rare water voles.
“It’s an amazing wildlife corridor because it is between the river and railway line, so animals can move around,” said Matthew.
02/06/09
