Norwich has two “chalk streams” the rivers Yare and Wensum. Chalk streams and their associated ecology are very rare globally. In spite of some statutory environmental protections being in place, not infrequently there is a need for groups drawn from the general public to support and reinforce these protections.
For both rivers there is the Norfolk Rivers Trust. Its mission is to restore, protect and enhance the water environments of Norfolk for people and wildlife.
The Yare has the Yare Valley Society. It seeks to promote the enhancement of the river valley for wildlife and informal recreation from Bawburgh to Whitlingham Country Park.
The Wensum too has people who are prepared to act to avoid damage to its ecology. The Norfolk Wildlife Trust, supported by Aviv in a public appeal for funds, raised money to enable them to purchase the Sweet Briar Marshes beside the Wensum in Norwich. The Trust is in process of seeing through a plan to improve the marshes’ ecology and also to provide some public access.
More recently the single-issue group “Stop the Wensum Link” has drawn attention to the threat the proposed Norwich Western Link presents to the ecology of the Wensum. The latest stage of their campaign is a “Great Big March”:
It is encouraging for all who care for the environment that so many ordinary people, and some extraordinary people, are now backing groups that are attempting to reverse, or at least to halt, the present decline in the ecology of the UK.