Minutes of a committee meeting of the Ryburgh Wildlife Group held at Stone House on July 6th 2026.
Present: Mike Rundle (Chair), David Cooling, Nick Parsons, Barley Wilson, Ian Wilson, Gill Waldron
Apologies: None
- Financial Report . There is £1384.83 in the current account. The annual insurance premium, £152.32 has been paid.
- Membership: David reported that he will remove 3 names from membership next week. Gill will check with the 2 members who she knows before he does this. Tim Colman will prepare a digital form for membership using Stripe. This offers an automatic renewal, which will initially apply only to new members. David will have the relevant page for discussion at the next meeting.
- Scrape Monitoring: Mike visited the scrape for an hour and compiled a bird list, for the newsletter, he was pleased to see a male Bullfinch. There was discussion about increasing its appeal to, and use by, members. Water levels are low and in the absence of bird feeders activity is likely to be low. Perhaps worth stressing the wider benefits of its situation, and the opportunity to relax and enjoy being amongst nature. The door to the feeders is broken, Mike will remove it and will make a notice explaining the discontinuation of feeders. Gill to repeat this later this month.
- Pond Monitoring: Mike and Ian carried out Pond Dipping on the morning of Ryburgh Open Gardens. No members attended. They were delighted with the length of the species list after so short a time, this is reported in the newsletter. There is much more activity on this revitalised zombie pond than on the ghost pond towards the Fakenham/Norwich road junction.
- Initiatives – swallows and swifts. There was discussion about how to log the numbers of nests, Ian will check whether Swift Mapper would be appropriate. In view of the urgency of identification of Swift nest sites before they leave by the end of July, David will send an interim newsletter calling for help in location from members. Our swift population has been increased by juvenile ‘bumpers’ and Nick reports 3 groups of about 15 distributed through the village with the addition of groups of 4-5, he thinks the most which he has seen here for years. David will give contact details for three Swift Monitors – John Hopkins from Mill Road to the Church, Nick from the Church to the shop, including Little Ryburgh and Bridge Farm, Ian from the shop to the west end of the village. John Savory and Ant Bosun have prepared muddy areas for swallow and martins nesting. Barley proposed that during the Picnic in the Park event, people would be encouraged to put a sticker on a map to mark known nests. Gill will investigate the feasibility of bulk buying of swift and bat nests for use for members next year.
- Initiatives -tree mapping. Barley will lead a woodland walk during Picnic in the Park including the field behind. Nick suggested identifying a suitable tree for measuring girth to identify its likely age, possibly one of the poplars.
- Bug Hotels: One is ready to be erected into the entrance to the woodland. Nick would like one for his rewilding project on his land, he will assist Ian in making it.
- Future events: NNDC is holding a meeting about the Local Nature Reserve Strategy (LNRS) in Thetford next Wednesday, Mike is attending. LNRS has produced a map and its aim is to investigate the linkage between productive sites, pollinator pathways etc. It would be helpful if RWG data could be entered on the map. NWT is funded to appoint a Network Officer, Mike will check whether this is a specific Norfolk initiative or a national one from Wildlife Trusts.
John Savory will lead a moth identification one morning, we suggest 8.30am on August 16th or 23rd (Mike)
Mike will contact Tony Leach for an autumn walk concentrating on fungi.
Barley proposed that events for Members be a focus for the next meeting.
- Any other business: The Trustees of Ryburgh Common (two of the four are Mike and Ian) are in office until 2027. Mike spoke of the threats and opportunities to this important nature reserve which has a wide variety of wildlife, including plants, insects, birds and mammals. Mike and Ian met the conservation officer at Pensthorpe whose boundary abuts the Common in part, in a discussion about various future developments. There was much discussion. Mike and Ian will prepare a paper for members to bring to the next committee meeting. Barley reported that some members have told her that they cannot get access to the common because of the high density of bracken. Mike and Ian will strim this.
Nick reported that he continues to be a member of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalist Society liaison committee, he continues to attend meetings and believes it to be a useful connection.
Barley will prepare some bullet points for managing gardens in drought for the next newsletter.
Barley met Adrian at the Stibbard crossroads field, he will organise it to be tractor mown, the subsequent piles of hay will need to be piled up, a working party will be organised. Adrian will leave Sennowe after many years, this autumn. RWG will be sad to see him go as we were establishing a very good and mutually beneficial relationship with him.
NEXT MEETING – Thursday August 13th , Stone House, 7.00pm