Countryside Champion Award

We were invited to attend Diss Museum's Opening Day on Saturday 14th March. There was a parade with everyone dressed in 1926’s costumes, there were singers and speeches to mark the 100 year anniversary.

Palgrave Players singing about the General Strike

Gislingham Variety Group singing 1920's tunes

It also marked a century of championing Norfolk's countryside by Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). A trustee from CPRE Norfolk presented certificates of recognition to local environmental volunteer groups, celebrating some of the local people who work so hard to protect and care for Norfolk's landscapes and wildlife.

LOHP was one of the groups and we were given a 'Countryside Champion Award', in recognition of: Championing the Little Ouse headwaters – protecting fragile river habitats and helping communities understand, value and safeguard the landscape. The certificate said 'Thank you for looking after where the river begins, it matters more than most people realise'.

LOHP's Conservation Manager Ellie Beach receiving certificate from Trustee of CPRE

LOHP's Conservation Manager with certificate

Countryside Champion Award

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/6f333c_7ab9da7e5423412f84ebe3f93cca2500/480p/mp4/file.mp4

CPRE Trustee giving award to LOHP

Finding New Species

As signs of Spring start to appear we are forever noticing new species. Over on our new reserve Prince Freddy's Meadows we have just found Water Violet appearing in the old river channel.

Water Violet growing in old river channel © Nick Lingwood

There is also a really old Wild Pear growing on the reserve.

Wild Pear Tree © Nick Lingwood

We are planning on running another guided walk around the reserve in the near future. If you were previously booked onto the last walk and could not make it we will be in touch when we have a new date. If you would like to express an interest in coming on the next walk then please get in touch via Contact Us page.

Its not too late to donate and help us restore Prince Freddy's Meadows. You can do this in a range of ways from donating via our JustGiving page, via our donate page on the website, by cheque and even bank transfer (Contact Us for more details) - see attached for more details of how to donate.

Thank you for your continued support

How you can help us restore Prince Freddy's Meadows.pdf

Download PDF • 144KB

LOHP Donate by Cheque 2025.pdf

Download PDF • 172KB

Surprising discovery along the Little Ouse

We have been putting out wildlife cameras for many years along the headwaters of the Little Ouse, especially as part of our Otter and Water Vole studies (Langston, R. & Rivett, A. 2020; Langston, R. et al. 2022), and have collected some lovely video and audio clips of many different species. These clips include Otters feeding, social interactions between Otters, a Fox reluctantly getting its feet wet, wintering Chiffchaff flycatching, Kingfisher “beating” its Bullhead prey prior to swallowing it, and many more insights to the comings and goings of local wildlife.

Otters © Arthur Rivett

Imagine our surprise when a recent clip recorded a mammal we had not seen before along the river: a BEAVER! We have no idea where this Beaver has come from. It is possibly an escapee from one of the licensed releases into “secure” enclosures, or it might be an illegal release. We are investigating possible origins.

Image of European Beaver in Devon © Arthur Rivett

Either way, it has stayed around for a while now, and we are starting to find feeding signs. Our camera footage includes it feeding on Willow twigs. We first recorded it on camera on 2nd November. Beavers have been extinct in Britain for several hundred years and Otters around now, are likely to have had little or no prior experience of Beavers. We will continue to monitor activity and signs, along with our other mammal recording. Beavers are mainly crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk) or nocturnal, so you are more likely to see signs than the Beaver. Please respect the wildlife that shares the valley with us and don’t try to search for it, which is likely to cause disturbance.

Tree gnawed by a Beaver © Ellie Beach

Wood chips a sign that a Beaver has been at work © Ellie Beach

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/6f333c_ecb9571d02b545199b53c55b6e7423c1/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Beaver recorded on wildlife camera on Little Ouse Nov 2025 © LOHP

Langston, R. & Rivett, A. (2020). Otter diet along the upper Little Ouse. In, Suffolk Natural History: Transactions of the Suffolk Naturalists’ Society 56:1-12

Langston, R., R. Minter, J. McCormack, E. Beach & R. Langston (2022). Water Vole activity monitoring along the Little Ouse Headwaters. Transactions of the Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists’ Society 55: 34-42