North Cove Nature Reserve

11/09/2026

As you will have seen from the video posts recently, Beccles Wildlife Group volunteers have been busy mowing the meadows and removing the hay ready for the winter months when dressing the paths with hay is essential for keeping them dry to walk. Alongside this, the monitoring teams have continued recording reptiles, water vole and butterflies, etc, but our latest video this week has captured the stoat that patrols the d**e (previously seen in winter as ermine when it's white - see posts 2 March and 24 February 2023 below). If you enjoy our posts and want to support our d**e restoration project, please use the QR code provided.

19/08/2026

The wildflower meadow was cut and the hay baled ready for removal, so our main task today was to stack and cover it for the winter when the hay will be used to dress the paths and keep them walkable. In the course of lifting the bales we discovered this Worm and Slug Hunter of the Genus Carabus. Most species are wingless and often colourful. Though ours is a uniform brown, the pattern of markings is fabulous. These are nocturnal, predatory beetles that feed on snails, earthworms and caterpillars.

05/08/2026

DID YOU KNOW?
North Cove reserve is part of several important protected areas: Barnby Broad and Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest, part of the Broadland Ramsar site, which is an internationally important wetland, a Broadland Special Protection Area for birds, and a Special Area of Conservation.
The site is drained by ditches, known as d***s, that themselves are important habitat for invertebrates, such as molluscs and dragonflies, and mammals like the water vole. Over the half-century since the reserve was founded, the d***s have gradually filled with silt and this needs to be removed in order to restore and maintain wildlife diversity. Clearing the d***s of silt is a long-term project, and our plan for this year is to start work on two major d***s that are the “arteries” for the wildflower meadows, and work will be undertaken by a specialist digger contractor.
If you would like to support this important conservation work with a donation, please use the QR code shown.

01/08/2026

Our water vole filming unit have trail cameras at various points on the main d***s to capture the voles feeding on apples baited on the floats. This grass snake was found leaving the float - perhaps disappointed there was nothing of interest for it.

01/08/2026

Apart from wildlife monitoring, the main summer activity is mowing the meadows and removing the arisings to use for path dressing later in the year.
Summer visitors to the reserve will have seen how dry and devoid of plant life many of the d***s are. We are planning to have two main d***s bordering the wildflower meadow restored by removing silt that has accumulated over many decades. If you would like to donate towards the cost of this important conservation work, please direct message us and we'll give details.

10/07/2026

The work party volunteers monitor wildlife as well as conserve the reserve. This rare black grass snake was discovered on our reptile survey on Wednesday. A purely black (melanistic) grass snake in East Anglia is unusual but not unheard of. The key point is that melanism in Natrix helvetica (the barred grass snake) is a rare colour morph, documented only occasionally across the UK (Wildlife Online). Also in the photo is a slow worm (which is actually a legless lizard). Photo credit: Jane.

08/07/2026

Last week, we started to mow with scythes a patch of the Wildflower Meadow to reduce the rush and reed growth, but work was interrupted when one of us was attacked by wasps whose subterranean nest was disturbed. This week, the same thing happened so we abandoned that patch and cut another area of rank vegetation near the railway path. This Elephant Hawk-moth was uncovered in the process and much less bothered by our work. We left it in peace though.

20/06/2026

Our work on the reserve these past early-summer weeks has largely been keeping the paths in good condition and monitoring wildlife. We have been a little worried that the water vole had not put in an appearance yet but needn't have feared - we have great video evidence from our trail cameras that they are very much present. Great work by Mickey and Anne who appear to have solved the problem of corvids taking the apples put on the rafts for the water vole.

14/05/2026

Visitors to the reserve will notice that we have removed the seed and peanut feeders, leaving just fat balls for now, and we may introduce mealworm feeders soon. This is in line with new RSPB advice to pause feeding seed and peanuts from 1 May to 31 October to reduce the risk of spreading infection by the microscopic parasite Trichomonas gallinae that causes trichomonosis, a fatal disease for finches and probably other bird species. The table feeder has been removed and we ask that visitors do not bring their own seed to put on stumps and other flat surfaces where birds will feed. These cannot be cleaned and will increase the risk of infection. For more information please visit

By keeping our feeders and bird baths clean, we can help to keep our garden birds healthy and disease free. Here’s how!

13/05/2026

With April being so dry, the paths are firming up and there's less need to dress them with hay. Spring should mean warmer weather and the emergence of invertebrates, but the cold north wind has kept temperatures down. Today's showers (with hail!) have kept butterflies and dragonflies out of sight in any event. The meadow plants will appreciate the rain, though, and here is a selection of least noticed plants you can have fun identifying: Scots pine, Changing Forget-me-not, one of the many flowering sedges, currant, common holly, broad-leaved helleborine and dog's mercury. The juvenile frog was found behind the Woodland Hide.