Natural Environment Award for Trinity Broads
Fifteen years of hard work to transform part of the Broads has been rewarded with a prestigious national environment award.
The Trinity Broads, near Great Yarmouth, has won the category for Natural Environment at the Waterways Renaissance Awards.
The Broads Authority, Essex & Suffolk Water, Natural England and the Environment Agency have been in partnership since 1995 to improve water quality and people’s enjoyment of the area by activities including mud-pumping, scrub removal and managing non-native species such as mink.
The majority of the Trinity Broads area, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Area of Conservation and provides drinking water for Great Yarmouth, now has clear water, a profusion of water plants, an improved fishery and a return of rare wildlife such as the water vole.
Andrea Kelly, Head of Conservation at the Broads Authority, said: “This is wonderful news. We’ve worked really hard for over 20 years to make the Trinities one of the premier sites in the UK for seeing water plants and wintering wildfowl and now that’s been recognised. By investing in the broad we are also investing in the health of communities and the vital water resources of Great Yarmouth.”
David Alborough, Property Manager for Essex and Suffolk Water, said: “This national recognition represents the culmination of many years hard work and sustained commitment from all the partners. The success of the Trinity Broads partnership shows how organisations from the private and public sector can work together with the local community to deliver innovative ecological restoration and management. The work at the Trinities has been crucial in protecting a major source of water for our customers."
An innovative technique was used at Ormesby Broad to encourage water fleas to thrive and clear the water of algae, encouraging aquatic plants to grow and a diverse fish community to develop. The resultant clear water has now permeated to the other broads in the group.
In the last few years rare plants such as the holly-leaved naiad and stoneworts , as well as molluscs such as the Desmoulin’s whorl snail, have reappeared. Bats are now a common sight, while bittern sightings are a weekly occurrence and otters make an appearance on average once a month.
Fishing was formerly limited to roach and bream but now pike, perch, tench and rudd are common, with one angler catching 70 pike in one day last June.
Andy Hindes, a senior environmental monitoring officer with the Environment Agency, said: “We are looking at how the system can continue to improve. Using innovative techniques to track fish movements within Ormesby Broad we will increase our understanding of fish distribution and how the complex Trinity system links together. This will help us to make future management decisions.”
Access has improved for people with limited mobility, with better parking, a new boardwalk to the broad’s edge, a bird hide, fishing platforms and a wheelchair accessible boat for fishing and wildlife trips.
A strong volunteer group as well as eight volunteer wardens, local farmers and landowners have also helped with the restoration.
The Waterways Renaissance awards, which recognize best practice in sustainable waterway regeneration throughout the UK, were held at the Lowry Gallery in Manchester.
Whitlingham Country Park, near Norwich, was also a Commended Project for its education activities on and off the water.
18/03/10
