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Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society Broadland Country Park Group – NBN Group Award
Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society Broadland Country Park Group is based in various locations in Norfolk.
What excites the group about recording wildlife and what motivates them to get involved?
“The Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society Broadland Country Park Group consists of an estimated 150 people, including four dozen or so expert County Recorders supported by additional volunteers. We spent about 750 person-days over three years of fieldwork and two further years of analysis and reporting to achieve what is probably the most intensive and structured biodiversity survey ever undertaken in Norfolk. A small working group managed the project to a highly successful conclusion, dividing the Country Park into 16 ecological compartments, installing structured sampling and recording programmes and verifying the identity of more than 3,200 species. We also successfully reintroduced an endangered butterfly, the Silver-Studded Blue, which was previously extinct in the area.
Most group members are motivated by a deep passion for particular animals or plants, be they spiders, beetles, mosses, fungi, flowering plants, or other specialisms. All, however, were united in the excitement of sharing their data with the Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service and building a detailed picture of species and their habitats within a complex ecological environment that requires careful management to sustain its diversity in the context of an amenity park open to all. The unique database is now available to park managers to monitor climate change and other impacts, interpret the findings for visitors from far and wide, and influence local policies for conservation and sustainable development. In addition to publishing a full-colour 220-page report, the group held a post-project conference and has published clear recommendations for management decisions going forward.”
You can find out more about the group on: