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| 20220225 Little Owl Cockthorpe Airfield Turkey Shed. |
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| 20230207 Turkey shed netting The installation of netting over the air vents has wiped out a 4 pair colony of Little Owl. The wide ranging effects of bird flu... |
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| 20230207 Turkey shed netting The Owls have not shown interest in the nearby nest boxes. Again no evidence that wildlife is concidered in farming today... |
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| 20230210 Red-legged Partridge According to JF's 'Land Healer' They haven't established a resident population, and are almost all bred artificially... each year. This accounts for the crazy numbers seen in the Cley area at certain times of year, see below. It is high time bird field guides stated the situation with these and Pheasnt, highlighting the damage done to the environment in these Isles. Land Healer is well worth a read to firm up on all the 'old chestnuts' out there in the British countryside... But surely re-wild or wipe out...? |
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| 20230130 Whooper Swan Wing damaged bird about the Cley Reserve for most of the month. Most likely shot-gun... |
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| 20210423 Give Way to Re-wilding in Norfolk |
 Great illustration of how a dog on a lead would result in far less disturbance to wildlife. One study indicated that dog walking in woodland leads to a 35% reduction in bird diversity and 41% reduction in abundance.  Forseen result of permissive path campaigns nearby the reserve. Note each faction involved claims victory and say the others gave up...?? The true state of the countryside. I wonder what the Land Healer would make of this hedge fence?  20200521 The Hangs end. 10m metres of hedge removed leaving thin strip of Alexander. How many Whitethroat nest were wiped out? Lesser Whitethroat still in song at The Hangs end but how many territories were there in 1.5km of hedge?
20191109 4x4 on beach near pillbox NWT Cley.
The owner was questioned by the NWT warden but couldn't care less and stayed put.
20191002 Red Kite
Glandford area with damage to left wing primaries.
Probably shot at? Most damage raptors are seen during October and November each year.
Juvenile bird most likely of local origin. The same should apply to wildlife disturbance. 
20180528 Beachgoers Code Signage
Intended for use at Titchwell beach.
There are no undisturbed mainland stretches of beach left on the North Norfolk Coast.
Compared with a few colonies of ground nesters in the late 1970's.
Mainly the pressures of todays mass dog walking on the beaches has removed the concept of a 'home for wildlife' here.
A total restriction needs to be trialled on a long stretch of coast line and over several summers before there is nothing left to monitor....
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20180501 Pink-footed Goose
Two injured birds by the Parinder hide RSPB Titchwell.
The usual aftermath of winter wildfowling.
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20180501 Pink-footed Goose
Right birds left wing shot to bits.
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20171128 Wildfowling on Thornham Saltmarsh.
The neighbours right beside the Titchwell Reserve.
Said to be of some use in ground predator control by a previous warden...
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| 20170409 Overnight camping on Walsey Hills. A continual problem here and in the carparks. To date no action taken by NWT as far as we know. |
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| 20180106 High Tide wader roost on salt marsh near Morston Quay. Emptied by canoeist during mornings WeBS count. |
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| 20180106 Continual disturbance around the outer edge of the salt marsh by dog walkers on WeBS count mornings, section 2.17.20. Is the data consistent or valid? Signage from NT not forthcoming so far. The Salt Marsh management plan has yet to surface.... |
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20181012 Red-legged Partridge
Hundreds of Pheasant and Partridge along paths on farmland about the Cley Reserve at this time of year. |
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20130615 House Martin caught in netting.
Residents of Shaldon on the Teign Estuary attempt to stop the Martins nesting under their eves with fatal consequences.
Note the nests are being built below the netting this year...
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20130608 Hope's Nose SSSI sign.
The old patch site in Torbay.
Placed on the rocks by the sea fishing and illegal camping zone....
It had little effect at this un-manned site.
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Incident at Holme Dunes NNR on 3rd March 2018
At around 1330hrs my attention was drawn to an odd sound from outside, or as I thought at the time possibly a noise from living room television. The noise persisted for about 40 seconds before I decided to take a look in the car park. I was immediately drawn to a tangle of two animals in the south-west corner of the car park. Moments later one of the animals a black whippet like dog began running back to the beach, leaving a stricken muntjac deer.
My first thought was to find the owners so I followed in the direction of the animal, arriving as it greeted it’s owners on the public footpath. I shouted to gain there attention and then when finally reaching them explained what the dog had done. The owner a lady was very upset at what I described, but admitted they had lost sight of the dog while on the beach. I asked them if they wanted to come and see the Muntjac as it was still present in the car park. The lady refused. I also warned the lady of the dog’s future taste for chasing and killing, and the threat a male Muntjac with prongs could inflict on her dog. I suggested from now on her dog must always be on a lead. During the conversation it seemed that they were continually making an excuse for losing sight of the dog “We were clearing the beach of rubbish for you” or “We didn’t want something like this to happen”.
I returned back to the car park to dispatch the injured animal, a very unpleasant task. Along with consoling a very upset partner, who had seen very close up what dogs can be capable of.
After dealing with this I made the decision to phone the police and ask for assistance in Thornham Harbour as this was the direction the owners and friends were heading. On arrival I spoke to the owners of the dog that I was waiting for the police to turn up, and could they wait so they could have a chat with them. They agreed to do this but were not happy. At this point I showed the lady’s husband images of the deer before I dispatched the animal. The police soon turned up and after calming the owner down, who at one point threatened to walk off, they took statements from the lady and her husband. In the main this was achieved the husband being the most understanding of the party. The lady was also told she would be receiving a letter explaining from now on her dog would need to be muzzled and on a lead at all times in a public place. The two other gentleman with the couple were much less understanding one felt it was “Treated like some major incident” and clearly a waste of police time, while the other at the end looked me in the eye and congratulated me on a job well done. He sounded so sincere I had to ask him if he was being genuine orsarcastic, he replied “Very, very sarcastic”. The gentleman turned and left leaving me and the two officers shaking our heads in disbelief! The whole interview in the harbour was recorded on camera by one of the officers.
Other notes
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At the point of attack the dog was completely
out of sight of the owners and a min of 120m from owners
For anyone under any illusions this incident is the minutest tip of the iceberg.
Thanks also to everyone who responded to the e-mail with support.
All the best
Gary Hibbard
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20181007/09 Tape lures?
At least 3 devices blasting out from Walsey hills this morning.
Surprisingly clear and loud from the East Bank, deafening in the Hills.
Spooked birds zipping about everywhere. Reminisent of a Calabrian wood. |
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| 20210420 Courtyard Farm signage. Unfortunately 'under strict control' is widely interpreted by all dog walkers and especially dog walking birders.....?? |
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| 20160704 Modern Art, The Gamekeepers Gibbet Was quickly taken down as to close to home for NWT... Was it really a social blunder? |
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| 20160801 NWT Cley Beach Dog Bin Overnight camping waste, fishing waste and general rubbish... No dogs on Nature Reserve?? Therefore no dog bin. Therefore new signage: No Dogs on Reserve. Take Your Litter Home. |
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| 20200831 Normal for Norfolk signage. Fence line of Waco Camp. |
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| 20170829 Common Seal loafing creek at RSPB Titchwell 4 seals were flushed into the water only to find more humanoids... Even within a nature reserve no action to protect the site is taken by the landowner. The beach here held a Little Tern colony each summer |
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| 20210706 The latest scourge inflicted on wildlife reserves and birders, The Dog Walker Birder. The sign on the right reads, 'Ground Nesting Birds Use This Beach'...&c Ignoratly ignored as ever. How can the NWT discourage the dog walking public from using the beach when they see this regularly all over the reserve... |
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| 20210506 The resulting dog walking park. An evening on the East Bank at Cley which runs through the middle of the Nature Reserve. |
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| 20201117 Visiting birders to the NNCoast now combine it with a dogcation...?? Nature Reserve just to the right of this shot and the dog was just run off the lead on the beach... Ref ' Gone to the Dogs' by Alex Lees July 2021. |
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| 20211029 Shooters by Cley Res, 1735hrs. Shot at Woodpigeon flushed our of NFWood, none hit...?? Then continued to shot at BHGull coming into roost over the wood, none hit...?? Suspect a set up job by landowners and gamekeeper 4knees as firing blanks. Submitted to CBC and NWT... |
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| 20220403 New upgraded signage Waco Camp, see above. |
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| 20220521 3 dog walking birders in one shot. Sunny day and easy twitch brings them out. |
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| 20230701 Beach Road Salthouse New signage with clear message! The KGB note that none of the actual landowners here have sponsored the sign...?? Yet more fractional NGO's and the NNorfolk DCouncil. |
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| 20230225 Grey Squirrel |
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| 20240507 Whooper Swan Franpton Marsh RSPB. Whooper with left primaries shot out.... yet agian. Why do wild species still get targeted by wildfowlers when the numbers of feral geese here is overwhelming. |
