Our TAPS Wildlife Watchers celebrate our county ahead of Norfolk Day

Hi everyone as you may know Norfolk Day is fast approaching so we thought it would be a good idea to do a mini blog to celebrate all the wonderful wildlife and nature reserves in our beautiful county.

I think we often take for granted what great places we have in Norfolk, so let's celebrate how lucky  we are. Did you know there's over 40 nature reserves here in Norfolk?

32 are cared for by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust and 8 by the RSPB as well as Sculthorpe Hawk and Owl Trust. Some of these are on our beautiful Norfolk Broads like Hickling and Ranworth, and others on our wonderful coastline, including Cley and Salhouse Marshes which boasts one of the best places to see wildlife in the UK.

Salhouse Marshes

As you may know the Norfolk Broads is the only place you can see the rare and magnificent swallowtail butterfly, although migrants can sometimes be spotted elsewhere. The swallowtail is also the UK's largest and rarest butterfly. Another insect that we mentioned in our last blog is the  rare Norfolk hawker dragonfly, who also calls the Broads its home.

We are so lucky in Norfolk for our wonderful countryside, which can also boast high numbers of the following: brown hare, marsh harrier, crested grebe, kingfisher and the elusive nightjar, as well as otters, stoats, weasels, the cuckoo, slow worm and adder. It's no wonder thousands of people flock to our county to see wildlife. 

So if you're looking for somewhere to celebrate Norfolk Day, pay a visit to one of our beautiful reserves and don't forget to let us know what you see. We would like to say how very sad we are to hear of the fire that spread through Wild Ken Hill this week with so many of its wildlife losing its life. We all hope that some of the wildlife managed to escape, our thoughts are with all that have been affected and those who also lost their homes in local fires, we hope they can all recover. 

On a brighter note have a great Norfolk Day! 

Until next time, Helen, Tim, Lucie, Justin, Jasmine, Craig, Mark, Stephen and Claire