NWT Hickling Broad National Nature Reserve. Entrance panel. Common Crane

NWT Hickling Broad National Nature Reserve

NWT Hickling Broad Trail map panel

Exterior signage at NWT Hickling Broad National Nature Reserve.Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve

NWT Cley Marshes

Client Norfolk Wildlife Trust

Location NWT Cley Marshes Visitor Centre. Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk  

Cley & Salthouse Marshes Living Coast map. Visitor orientation from the National Trusts Blakeney Point to Salthouse.  

Cley Marshes

Client Norfolk Wildlife Trust

Location NWT Cley Marshes, Cley Next the Sea, NR25 7SA (A149 Coast Road, East of Cley village).

Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta. Detail from NWT Cley Marshes panogram


http://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife-in-norfolk/nature-reserves/reserves/cley-marshes 

Holme Dunes

Client Norfolk Wildlife Trust

Location Holme Dunes, Holme-next-the-Sea, Norfolk PE36 6LQ

Bar-tailed godwit Limosa lapponica

Reproduced with kind permission from Norfolk Wildlife Trust 

http://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife-in-norfolk/nature-reserves/reserves/holme-dunes

Ranworth Broad

Client Norfolk Wildlife Trust

Location Ranworth Broad, The Broads, Norwich, Norfolk NR13, UK

Great crested grebe Podiceps cristatus

Reproduced with kind permission from Norfolk Wildlife Trust 

http://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife-in-norfolk/nature-reserves/reserves/ranworth-broad 

Sowe Valley Project

Client Warwickshire Wildlife Trust

Location Stoke Floods Green, Billington Close, Coventry, West Midlands CV2 5NQ, UK

One of a series of external interpretation boards throughout the Sowe Valley, Coventry.

Co-designed with Steven Cheshire - Marketing and Media Officer, Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. Additional decorative graphics by Harkiran Kalsi, Coventry City Council.

http://www.warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/sowe-valley-project

Spring cleaning

This interpretation panel has been out in the field for over a decade and its beginning to show.

All glass reinforced plastic (GRP) panels can be easily maintained by washing off residue with warm water. Warning - don’t use any detergent, it will dissolve the finish.

Additionally, use a soft cloth or old cotton t-shirt to apply any silicon compound based polish, such as T-cut, over time this builds a protective waxy layer and makes cleaning even easier. 

St Mary's Land's, Warwick

Client: Warwick District Council

Walk out onto this large area of open land with its distant tree lined horizon stretching northward, and enjoy the sense of space. 

It’s ecological and historic interest are initially understated. Grassland wildlife maintain species from medieval agriculture into present day. Over the past 300 years, how many thousands of horses have raced around its perimeter, and continue to course by Victorian pleasure gardens and summer houses. This was once the towns common and despite such rights ceasing in the late 1940’s, public foot paths ensure continued access. In 1997, Warwick District Council began to develop an integrated strategy to balance the interests of the local community and a variety of private bodies and stakeholders, no mean feat. St. Mary’s Land’s is a significant landscape, ensuring the conservation of our cultural and environmental heritage. 

N.B. Always a good idea to check when there's a race on, especially if you'll be walking dogs. Go to http://www.warwickracecourse.co.uk/Fixture-List.htm 

  

 

Amethyst Deceiver - Laccaria amethystina

A recent illustration featured on a soon-to-be-installed interpretation board at Kenilworth Common Local Nature Reserve.

First described in 1778, this lovely fungi is often found in dark, damp leaf litter and is especially abundant under beech trees. The colour deepens when wet and particularly vivid when young. In dry conditions it fades to white. The cap starts off convexed becoming almost flat and pales as it matures. You'll find it between June and November.    

The Broads Wildlife Centre

Norfolk Wildlife Trust - Ranworth Broad

I have just returned from a visit to a outstanding nature reserve - Ranworth one of the most popular broads in Norfolk. An extraordinary site where on approach is quite unassuming. A grand 200 year old oak greets you before following an astounding board walk winding through a succession of woodland, swampy habitats and reedbed. Here you'll find the iconic swallowtail butterfly amongst a wonderful variety of wildlife. 

Yet it isn't until you reach the unique floating wildlife centre and step inside that you get to see the expansive broad itself. Of both national and international importance for wildlife, the broad hosts large numbers of birds and wildfowl including one of Britain's largest inland cormorant roosts.

This year during these quiet winter months when the centre is closed, there is much work being done to develop the visitor experience. I am working with a dedicated and talented team from Norfolk Wildlife Trust, on an extensive interpretation project that will form part of the exciting new Broads Wildlife Centre, open to the public on March 23, 2013.   

For further information: http://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/ranworth.aspx  

         

Interpretation Board Archive

An archive of my interpretation boards can be seen on my Facebook business page, along with detail and previews of recent and forthcoming projects.  Use this link to have a look - JBEI Interpretation Board Archive

A Coventry Way Association

ACWA IB along the Kenilworth Greenway, National Cycle Route 52

On revisiting existing interpretation projects to document in the JBEI archive*, I sadly discovered that Cyril Bean had died earlier this year.

I had the pleasure of working with Cyril to produce interpretation panels for A Coventry Way in 2003, a 40 mile Long Distance Path that took Cyril and The Coventry Way Association some 20 years to establish. The Coventry Way circles the city, providing local links that encourage us to easily and safely explore the wonderful countryside that is literally on our doorstep.

The route is now published on Ordnance Survey maps but in addition the Way also provides us with a variety of smaller circular walks, catering for all levels of walkers from casual to the seriously enthusiastic. Twenty one circular walks are published in this fabulous book that describes and illustrates each route, with fascinating detail of local history and wildlife.

ACWA book available to buy

 http://www.acoventryway.org.uk/

Coventry Way founder and hiker Cyril Bean dies aged 82 - Coventry News - News from @covtelegraph

*JBEI Interpretation Board Archive

Welches Meadow

Welches Meadow LNR

Radford Road, Leamington Spa

OS Grid Ref: SP 325 657

Newly installed interpretation panel next to the River Leam bridge on Willes Road, Leamington Spa. 

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3521463100487525111#editor/target=post;postID=1623220070796927341 

 

Kenilworth Common Reptiles

Preview of featured illustration from forthcoming Kenilworth Common interpretation project

Lacerta vivipara / Zootoca vivipara - the Common Lizard, also known as the Viviparous Lizard, viviparous meaning the female incubates the eggs inside her body and gives birth to live young.

Look for them on top of logs, sun basking in spring and autumn on open ground. You need a keen eye, they’re small and fast. Hibernates in burrows under logs and rocks in the cold, usually emerging in April. The external ears without flappy bits, blunt head and tail are adapted for a snug fit away from the elements and predators, a vital ability if you’re poikilothermic. They’ve been on the planet longer than snakes.

Kenilworth Common

Kenilworth Common LNR

Common Lane, Kenilworth

OS Grid Ref: SP 297 730

One of my locals!

Neolithic lowland heath, imperial gravel pits, mountain bikes, reptiles, glow worms and recreation.

The Common lays on ancient ground but the trees are relatively young and only started to grow just over a century ago. We see them today reclaiming The Odibarnes, a once large area of open lowland heath with common grazing. Like so many of our remaining historic habitats, it is man-made. Created by land cleared and exhausted through exploitation of woodland resources and over grazing, impoverished and abandoned by the early agriculture of Neolithic man.

As a child the common was playground, all mysterious nuns and nature. Divinity and imagination inspired fantasy scenarios involving quests to find the scared yet elusive serpent, to begat magical powers. My tracking skills at the time were fairly poor so I never did get to see the elusive adder and to this day, remain a mere ordinary mortal.

The original interpretation boards on the reserve are over 20 years old. It's odd how things turn out, I remember seeing them in storage at Brandon Marsh when I was a conservation trainee. Then, I had no idea it would me who has the great pleasure of replacing them with updated versions. The design and artwork is complete and will soon be going to press, installation is due by the end of 2012.

One of the original boards soon to be replaced