Pensthorpe Nature Park

Set in the Wensum Valley in Norfolk, Pensthorpe Nature Park was host to BBC Springwatch from 2008 – 2010, with the most important focus of the park being the conservation of wildlife and wildlife habitats.

Pensthorpe is nationally recognised as a breeding site for many species as well as haven for all wildlife.

 The Park is made up of lakeside environments, wildflower meadows, and structure gardens, a farm and farmland covering nearly 300 acres with 10% of the farm actively managed for wildlife. The River Wensum also recognised internationally and nationally as an important chalk river is a SSSI and SAC, it is also a priority habitat in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.

Pensthorpe has over 150 acres of woodland on the reserve with 60 acres of wet woodland which is also a priority habitat that has been in drastic decline. The woodlands at Pensthorpe are coppiced with fallen trees left to enrich the habitat, and scrub clearance is carried out to encourage a healthy woodland floor

Pensthorpe runs active breeding programmes one of which is the Red Squirrel with release programmes on Angelsey in North Wales. They also have an ongoing Great Crane Project that was started in 2006 along with the RSPB and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. Since 2009 healthy young birds bred at Pensthorpe have been released on the Somerset Levels and Moors, with the aim of releasing 100 birds by 2015.

Current projects also include a Corncrake reintroduction project and a Turtle Dove project.

I planned a  visit Pensthorpe to try to capture some close up images of wading birds, I knew from past visits that the reserve had biosecure enclosures where several bird species are in fairly close proximity. My main priority was wading birds, especially the Avocet and the Black-tailed Godwit  and I was not disappointed - it was fantastic to see these birds in closeup and  to be able to capture both detail and their behaviour. 

The black-tailed Godwit is an endangered species identified by the IUCN as a red list species, this wonderful bird only breeds in a couple of places in the UK, one area being the East Coast, along the Wash where conservation strategies are in place to protect their habitat. Although these birds migrate when they return to the same site to breed each year, they are monogamous and time meeting up with their partner to within 3 days of each other. Incubation is shared before the female leaves to migrate back to her winter home, the male remains with the hatchlings for a while longer before he too leaves.

    Black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa) in winter plumage

Black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa) in summer plumage

The Avocet is one of the UK's conservation successes, extinct in the UK for almost 100 years, it began breeding again at Minsmere and following a concentrated conservation effort is now increasing in population and has been adopted by the RSPB as their flagship bird. In contrast to the Godwit, the male and female Avocet only stay together for one breeding season, sharing responsibility for incubating their eggs before separating to migrate.

 Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) preening

Avocet Pair (Recurvirostra avosetta)

All images taken by Debra Burgess-Lim (Rights Reserved)