Restoring the River Bure in Norfolk

2024

Reducing flooding and slowing the flow

Reducing flooding at Edgefield

Working with Norfolk Rivers Trust our Farmer Engagement team delivered a project near Edgefield to reduce flooding and stop run-off into the river. A design was drawn up to install ‘leaky dams’ and silt traps along the stream just before it reached the village.

In January 2024, over the course of a week we: created a track cross drain to capture silt laden water and re-direct it into a field corner silt trap, installed two leaky log dams in the stream, and created a second field corner silt trap to take water from the stream at times of high flow, to increase the water holding capacity of the area and re-connect the stream and flood plain in a controlled manner.

We also replaced the damaged bridge and culvert to provide a safe crossing point for walkers using the public right of way and the farmer.

Slowing the flow at Itteringham

Spring 2024 saw a three-phase project completed at Dairy Farm, Itteringham. The project focused on slowing and capturing run-off flows before they entered a pond (also to be restored) and subsequently the River Bure.

The first part of the project saw a series of swales dug into the track verge with accompanying ‘humps and gullies’ across the track to divert water into our new swales. This will direct all water currently running down the track, carrying all soil and sand with it, into these soak aways that can then be easily managed.

Cleaning the water

The second part of the project saw a formal silt trap constructed in a ditch running out from the farmyard. A silt trap was made by widening the ditch, creating a dam, and installing an outfall pipe. This will collect water and hold it long enough for all fine material (sands and soils) to drop out and clean water to enter the rest of the ditch. A series of log-dams were then installed as further ‘cleaning’ opportunities before the water reached an old pond.

Creating habitat for wildlife

The pond forms the third part of our plan. The old pond had become heavily silted and derelict with large amounts of submerged, dead wood. The deadwood was removed and some of the overhanging vegetation cut back and the pond de-silted back to its hard base. The banks were then re-shelved to allow good marginal habitat for invertebrates, amphibians and plants.

2023

Streams, eels, ponds, trees, schools, invasive species and hedges

Felbrigg stream restoration

Spring 2023 saw the completion of the restoration of the stream below Felbrigg lake. A project that has taken many design turns over the last few years finding a balance between current ecology, land management and archaeology. The final project has seen improvements to the footpath and field track, opening a new culvert alongside an older brick archway. This will help support access for both people, animals and our farmer, but also prevent soil from entering the stream from the previously boggy crossing.

It has also seen a full restoration of the valley floor. The channel has been blocked in places to raise the bed and encourage water to move through the valley floor more naturally than in one straight channel. This has been complimented by the creation of a series of scrapes and ponds through the floodplains to hold water in the winter, creating wetlands for invertebrates, amphibians and over wintering birds. We’re excited to see how the project develops through the next few seasons and what fauna and flora starts to call it home.

Protecting Eels in the Bure 

In August we learnt that our Riverlands Upper Bure Project had been successful in securing £258k  from the Species Recovery Program administered by Natural England to improve habitat for eels in the Upper Bure. Eels are an iconic species to our river systems but have suffered huge declines since the 1980s with an estimated 95-98% reduction in glass eel recruitment from pre-1980 levels. This has led to the species being classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN red lest species. Efforts to support the species have focused on reducing fishing pressure, restocking, restoring habitat connectivity and improving available habitat. This project focuses on the latter two elements looking to improve habitat connectivity and improving available in-channel and supporting floodplain habitats. Projects will largely be delivered in the Autumn of 2024.  

Pond creation and restoration

We have continued to work with Norfolk Ponds Project creating three new ponds and maintaining six previously restored ponds at Heydon, bringing the pondscape total of the area up to 28 ponds. Post restoration monitoring has revealed major increases in wetland plant diversity as well as the appearance of many rare species including Water Violet (Hottonia palustris), Grass-Poly (Lythrum hyssopifolia) and Clustered Stonewort (Tolypella glomerata). The protected Great Crested Newt is rapidly expanding its distribution in the project area and major significant increases in bat activity (amongst water-associated species) have been recorded. This work is supported by Riverlands, Natural England and University College London.

Work with Sidestrand school

This year our Felbrigg Children and Young People Hub has been working with Sidestrand School and local expert Martin Scaiff to get children connected to the landscape through environmental listening. With monthly visits to various locations, students have worked to record the nature sounds they have experienced. These have then been worked into podcasts by Martin which have been broadcast by Poppylands radio. Catch the show on Wednesday afternoon at 1pm, the live mics on Wednesday at 10pm on Riverlands (poppylandradio.co.uk) Or catch up on missed episodes at  HomeSounds Poppyland shows | Mixcloud

Planting 13,000 trees at Blickling

During winter 2023, the team on the Blickling Estate planted over 13,000 trees which will support wildlife corridors, connect existing habitats, and improve water quality. Tree species were selected that are ecologically suited to the site and considering our changing climate. A mix of traditional whips or small trees were planted and an area next to the river was left for natural seeding and regeneration to take place. The trees were planted thanks to funding from the European Woodland Creation Offer.

Supporting school visits to Felbrigg and Sheringham

Working with Schools and engaging young people with nature has been a core part of the work at Sheringham since 2005. Before covid the site would see around 6000 educational visitors a year, each coming to take park in guided activities to learn about the natural world around us. The covid-19 pandemic changed this, like so many other things, stopping visits throughout 2020 and 2021. Supporting schools back to these visits has been a huge challenge which saw Sheringham seek funding from the HSBC ‘Access to Nature’ Project in 2022 which enabled us to pay for transport and additional equipment needed to support the sessions.  This was hugely successful and Riverlands was delighted to be able to continue this great initiative through 2023. With Riverlands support, over 800 pupils from 15 schools were able to take advantage of our skills and facilities to learn about nature.

70 tonnes of Himalayan Balsam removed 

Our continued efforts to control the Invasive species Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens glandulidera) are starting to pay off. Since expanding our program of works in 2021 to include contractor support as well as the tremendous efforts made by the Blickling Countryside Team and volunteers we have pulled an estimated 70 tonnes of balsam and are seeing dramatic declines in the density of the plant in areas along the river bank. Although manual and intensive, the process of hand pulling the plant allows us to sensitively and selectively remove it whilst protecting other native flora and reduces the disturbance on wildlife and nesting birds. As the team combed the banks for Himalayan Balsam, they encountered previously unknown populations of other invasive plants: the odorous Skunk Cabbage Symplocarpus foetidus, a towering Giant Hogweed Heracleum mantegazzianum, and the notorious perennial New Zealand Pigmyweed Crassula helmsii. All now formally recorded, and appropriate action taken.

At times, an unexpected chorus of Pelophylax frogs, an introduced bright green species, accompanied the work. Records like these are important, as little is known about their numbers, rate of spread and impact on native wildlife.

New farm hedges at Ingworth

Braving the cold and wet this winter, Norfolk Rivers Trust and their volunteers, supported by National Trust volunteers, planted 1500m of hedge on one of our tenant farms at Itteringham on the Blickling Estate. Planting over 8000 plants, the new hedge will provide habitat, link existing hedge and woodland habitat and protect the arable fields from windblown erosion. It will also provide a buffer against water run-off carrying a high soil load from entering the river. 

2022

Improving the Scarrow Beck, live audio streams and a Riffle

Health benefits

In February, the Greening Aldborough group helped to clear bankside vegetation ahead of work on the Scarrow Beck to improve the river channel and benefit invertebrate and fish communities. The stretch of river runs behind the doctors surgery in Aldborough and provides a great opportunity to create space for the community to spend time near water for their enjoyment and wellbeing. 

A more natural profile

During April we've been working on the Scarrow Beck at Aldborough to provide rivers and catchments that are healthy, clean and rich in wildlife. With help from The Water Management Alliance, the once incised river channel has now been opened out creating a more natural profile to the bank. The addition of wood into the river channel will help scour and clean the gravel bed, improving habitat for invertebrate and fish communities, including the brook lamprey seen along the reach.

Livestreams at Blickling and Felbrigg

As part of our work to bring the diverse acoustic habitats of the River Bure catchment to new audiences, live audio streams have been set up in woodland, close to the Scarrow beck on the Felbrigg Estate Norfolk, and on the Blickling Estate. You can listen live for free at any time of the day or night at https://bit.ly/RiverlandsFelbrigg and https://bit.ly/RiverlandsBlickling 

Riverlands Riffle Installation

Working with Sound Artist Mike Challis we’ve created Bure Riffle, an interactive, immersive sound and light installation in The Strong Room at Felbrigg Hall. Mike collected sounds from the Upper Bure River and its tributaries to celebrate the diversity of nature in the area, including birdsong, barking roe deer and rippling water. The room has a beautiful double curved ceiling and Mike was inspired to use this as a projection surface. Working with the assistance of Pam Harling-Challis he has built a structure that recreates the river in the room using running water. The bed of the ‘river’ is a mirror and, by shining lights on the water, reflections are projected on to the ceiling filling the room with moving light patterns. Using gravel on the mirrored riverbed the flows of the river can be altered by visitors, creating a ‘riffle’. In a flowing stream carrying gravel or coarser sediments, a sequence of features including pools and riffles can form. Riffles are shallow accumulations of gravel organised into ribs with fast-flowing water. Pools are deeper, calmer areas where the riverbed is often made up of finer material such as silt. 

New riverside walk at Blickling

A new 3km/1.9m riverside walk has opened at Blickling. The new walk is the first formal route we have connecting the precious River Bure to the estate to the south. Starting at the Great Wood, the walk takes you through the rural countryside and arable fields for a view of the river valley and connecting floodplain meadows before reaching the banks of the Bure at Blickling Mill. There are records of a mill at Blickling prior to 1559 as part of Norfolk’s industrial heritage and ties into Blickling’s close relationship with water which can be seen on several of our other routes including The Lake Walk and Silvergate-Brady’s Walk. Our new John’s Water Walk was designed, and access created by our Water Environment Worker Apprentice supported by our Countryside Team.

River restoration at Moorgate and Itteringham

We've restored 2km of the River Bure at the Blickling Estate this year, focusing on improving the form and function of the river through the use of berms and large wood. The practice of using large wood is well established as a way to kickstart naturally occurring processes by narrowing the channel, creating more energy and diversifying flows. This in turn can help to clean gravels, scour pools and naturally oxygenate the water. The wood itself also creates habitats for fish and invertebrates. And if that wasn’t enough, the wood also helps to slow the flow during high water events, acting as natural flood management whilst creating slack areas for fish refuges. We also used berms to help narrow over-wide sections and protect areas of the bank that have been eroded by cattle and signal crayfish. Using stakes to stabilise and smaller limbs of wood and faggot bundles to backfill, berms are constructed connected to the bank. They help to narrow the channel and speed flows whilst creating pockets of habitat.

2021

Habitat improvements

As restrictions eased we were back in the river for the long-awaited launch of the Stream Sleuths project. The project uses eDNA to determine shared catchment actions which is funded by a UKRI Citizen Science Exploration Grant.

Creating improved habitat at the stream edge

We started work to restore the Scarrow Beck. Funded by a Water Environment Grant we are working to re-shape the banks to create more habitat at the water’s edge for wildlife.

Trapping sediment

Bundles of twigs and wood have been placed to trap sediment and help stop erosion of the bank. These natural wood bundles are traditionally called faggots. Gravel was added to the river bed to benefit fish such as trench and perch to feed and breed. 

Community Engagement

In October, school children from Erpingham Primary school explored the newly restored reach of the Scarrow Beck and met some of the creatures that call the river their home. The children gently disturbed the bed of the stream with their feet and using pond dipping nets downstream collected the invertebrates that were living amongst the gravels and riverbed. The invertebrates were carefully moved into a pond dipping tray and the children attempted to identify the different species and learn more about them before returning them safely to the river.

2020

Mannington stream and a new apprentice

Sharon Reeves is the newest member of the Bure Riverlands team. Sharon joined the team in February 2020 on the new Water Environment Worker Apprentice scheme.  

Team placed on furlough

In response to Covid-19 the team were furloughed during March 2020 which stopped some of the work progressing.

Water Environment Grant funded first stage

Before we entered lock-down the first phase of our Water Environment Grant funded works at Mannington Hall began, as well as restoring some ponds on the coast.

2018

Starting the project

Work began on the £1.6 million restoration project for the River Bure that runs through the Blickling and Felbrigg estates.

Restoring three ponds

Working with the Norfolk Ponds Project and the Pond Restoration Research Group at University College London, we completed the first project to restore three previously in-filled ‘Ghost Ponds’.

Increasing the benefits to wildlife

We also created three more ponds in farmland on the Felbrigg Estate. This will increase the benefits to wildlife in the area and allow us to see the differences in how new and restored ponds colonise with species.