Wymondham Online | Clubs, Groups and Organisations

Wymondham Nature Group (WyNG)

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WyNG Logo

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Wymondham Nature Group

Wymondham Nature Group is a local group of Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT). The Trust, founded in 1926, is the oldest of a network of 47 Wildlife Trusts around the country, working to protect and enhance our wildlife and wild places. NWT cares for over 50 nature reserves and other protected sites in Norfolk including 10 kilometres of coastline, 9 Norfolk Broads, 9 National Nature Reserves and 5 ancient woodlands.

For more information about NWT please consult:

www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk

Norfolk Wildlife Trust,

Bewick House,

22 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1RY

Telephone 01603 625540

Water Vole at Tolls Meadow, Wymondham

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WYMONDHAM NATURE GROUP (WyNG) is one of eight local groups of NWT. We are a lively, informal group of volunteers, formed in 1990 to support the Trust in Wymondham and south Norfolk. We:

Run a busy programme of monthly talks (except for July and August);

Organise nature walks and other events;

Have a vital practical conservation role in helping to manage local nature reserves, including Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s ancient woodland, Lower Wood, Ashwellthorpe;

Provide information about local wildlife and the work of the Trust at public events in Wymondham and surrounding areas;

Hold fund-raising activities, including a stall selling donated goods in Wymondham Market Place two or three times a year;

Monitor local planning applications and, working with Trust staff, aim to make sure that local wildlife is safeguarded and protected in any plans for development in the area.

You don’t have to be a member of NWT to join in with any of our activities, and you don’t have to be a wildlife expert. Everyone is very welcome! WyNG is managed by a small Committee, comprised of Trust members, who are assisted with the running of the group by a team of dedicated helpers.

Contact

Secretary: Ann Carpenter: tel. 01508 488337

Chairman: Ann Roberts: tel. 01953 604311

PROGRAMME OF WILDLIFE TALKS

Enquiries to Ann Carpenter 01508 488337

We run a monthly programme of wildlife related talks, with invited speakers, throughout the year (except July and August). These illustrated talks take place at the Town Green Centre, behind the Methodist Church, Wymondham at 7.30pm on the second Thursday of the month. Parking is on-road or at the Town Green car park near the Feathers public house. Entrance is £2.00 including refreshments.

Spring/Summer 2010:

Thursday 8 April 2010:

A Hundred Years of Bird Ringing and Migration

by Mark Grantham of the BTO (preceded by a short Annual General Meeting)

Thursday 13 May 2010:

Wildlife and Conservation in the Norfolk Broads

by Nick Sanderson of the Broads Authority

Thursday 10 June 2010:

The Reserves of Norfolk Wildlife Trust

by Matt Bradbury – Head of Nature Reserves, Norfolk Wildlife Trust

(plus birthday cake to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the formation of WyNG)

NATURE WALKS WITH LEADER

Enquiries and bookings Ann Roberts 01953 604311.

OTHER EVENTS

Wild About Wymondham – Saturday 19 June 2010 – 10.30 am - 3.00 pm

Town Green Centre (behind the Methodist Church), Wymondham.

Help celebrate WyNG’s 20th Anniversary!

The WyNG stall, with displays and information about WyNG and NWT will be at:

Heavenly Earth Show, Jubilee Hall, Mattishall Road, East Tuddenham,

Sunday 11 April 2009, 10.00 am to 4.00 pm

WyNG Market Stall: WyNG will be having a stall at Wymondham Market on

Friday 23 April 2010, to raise funds for NWT.

PRACTICAL CONSERVATION

Tolls Meadow (Contact: voluntary warden Ann Roberts 01953 604311)

Tolls Meadow local nature reserve is a ‘wet’ or fen meadow astride the River Tiffey in Wymondham owned by Wymondham Town Council. In the past it would have been grazed, but now it has to be mown, raked by hand, and cleared of scrub so that invasive plants like nettles and brambles do not overwhelm delicate wild flowers like early and southern marsh orchids, marsh marigolds and meadow saxifrage – more than 100 flowering plants at the last count, with associated insect and bird life. Tolls Meadow is also a valuable habitat for water voles, which favour slow-flowing or still freshwater with lots of bank side plant cover.

Comma Butterfly

Comma Butterfly

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Marsh Marigold

The Town Council employs a conservation contractor to mow the meadow at the appropriate time to enhance the biodiversity of the site, but relies on volunteers from WyNG and the local community to rake up the mowings and undertake a range of other tasks, like scrub clearance, hedge/tree planting, pollarding and general maintenance of paths

Tolls Meadow Work Party dates:

Occasional Sundays during the autumn and winter months, from 1.30 pm to 3.30 pm. Work will resume in September/October 2010. Clearing scrub, raking up mowings, coppicing. Contact Ann Roberts on 01953 604311 for details.

We meet by the seats near the Cemetery Lane entrance to Tolls meadow at 1.30 pm and the session lasts until 4.00 pm, conditions permitting. Sessions will not take place if it is raining or snowing!

Please bring waterproof footwear and gloves, all other tools will be supplied. Refreshments are provided.

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Tolls Meadow in Summer

... and in Winter

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NWT Lower Wood, Ashwellthorpe (Contact: Anne Edwards on 01603 812309)

Each winter, members of WyNG’s practical conservation team undertake coppicing work in Ashwellthorpe Lower Wood, an ancient woodland owned by Norfolk Wildlife Trust. We are carrying on a tradition which dates from at least the Middle Ages right up to the 1970s. The aim then was to produce a renewable source of timber for building materials, tools, firewood and fencing. Now the main aim is to carry on this tradition for conservation reasons: coppicing the trees lets in the light and encourages the growth of ground flora, and the conditions for insects, birds, small mammals and other wildlife to flourish.