Some recent media reports regarding the role of Natural England in the protection of a colony of Barbastelle Bats living on the route of a proposed road in Norfolk has been incorrect. This blog sets out what the law & government policies require us to do naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2024/04/16/pro…

Norfolk County Council take note of the words ‘statutory remit as established Parliament’ not as established by people with a vested interest in a particular route!

How ironic! Norfolk County Council and local Norfolk Conservatives MP tantrum when not getting their own way has helped to elevate to a national level the plight of the highly protected Norfolk based super colony of barbastelle bats.

Thanks to their 'own goal' more and more people are now…

How can a council Norfolk County Council which has openly attacked Natural England be trusted with the determination of its own planning application? Its attack on nature raises a massive question mark over its ability to undertake an independent assessment of the aspects of planning that…

Thrilled to announce that Nigel Middleton, naturalist, conservationist and British birds of prey specialist is joining Norfolk Notes!

New walks with Nigel and other special guests announced soon!

norfolknotes.co.uk/join-me/

Cloister love at Norwich Cathedral

Un Zen-like hail in the Japanese garden at Norwich Cathedral.

Norwich Cathedral against a deceptively blue spring sky. Shame about the rain…and the wind…and the thunder and lightning…

Everyone is out the front of the house being busy. I’ve nipped out the back, grabbed a cushion and am hidden listening to the birds whilst slumped on a bench. #lifegoals

Norfolk window evening light.

Test labs - Pagodas - an iconic image of the Cold War era on Orford Ness If you are interested in history (and nature, who now rule there) do visit. Fabulous, knowledgeable volunteer guides and a real sense of history and place.

Come and look out of the window in the Bomb Ballistic Building Orford Ness Hard to imagine this filled with equipment to record the flight of bombs - including the atomic bomb. The view now is peaceful and reclaimed by nature. Do visit - it’s fascinating.

Standing inside Laboratory 1, one of six atomic weapons test cells at Orford Ness, looking out over the shingle to the sea. It’s an odd place but a real jewel of the National Trust

The lunar-like landscape of Orford Ness. On top of a tower built for watching bombing runs, next to a concrete circle possibly for a mast as part of radar research, looking over laboratories and concrete pagodas used for nuclear research and testing. Hares have the shingle now.

Hare Grand National on Orford Ness this morning. No sound - but just imagine scurrying feet on shingle.

Orford Ness trials the new open air lavatories. No queue!

So @norfolkcc leader Kay Mason-Billig due on BBC East Sunday politics 2say Natural England work 'no real facts or evidence to back it up'

❌Outrageous attack on science &an individual researcher
❌Irony:elected MPs of her own party voted through the 25yr Env Plan
Andrew Sinclair

For all my dear Twitter pals who are stuck inside this evening, come and watch the tide coming on at Burnham Overy. A lone sail flaps in the wind, a Wren is serenading us and the water is rushing in. It’s beautiful.

Evening light at Burnham Overy

Beautiful evening in this corner of Norfolk. The moon is up, the birds are still singing their evening songs and the bats are whizzing over my head. Dusk is such a magical time.