Wensum Farmers, along with our friends The Ryburgh Wildlife Group were delighted to be invited to Sennowe Estate last Thursday evening for a walk and talk.

Starting the evening in the main farmyard we were greeted with a massive sawmill enterprise and informed that 60% of the timber extracted from the Sennowe woodland, is used “in house” for repairs on estate buildings, roofs, cladding and frames etc. The other 40% of the wood extracted is sold for various uses such a beams, firewood and fencing. After watching the saw cut through a monstrous hunk of wood, like butter we headed out into the main estate to hear from guest speakers, Norfolk Rivers Trust.

6 years ago the NRT added 3 sediment ponds to a land drain running along the bottom of a pig field. The aim was to capture as much of the run off as possible to prevent it entering the main river. The ponds have been working beautifully, with the water leaving the traps, cleaner than it enters. There are aquatic plants and given the lack of rain over the last month, the ponds are still holding water and supporting a large amount of aquatic invertebrate life. A real testament to their use and biodiversity support.

Finally, we took a stroll into the woodland off the main drive, listening to how they manage the woods through natural regeneration and promote the widest variety of native trees possible, all whilst only extracting trees that are commercial viable. Anything that needs to come out for tree health reasons, but that wouldn’t be commercial viable to remove, is left for nature and as much biodiversity as possible is encouraged. To plant a tree is to plan for the future, and this was truly highlighted to us within the talk. The team at Sennowe are ensuring the next generations of custodians are able to continue to care for the woodland (and the nature within it) alongside ensuring the estate remain commercially viable.

A huge thank you to the Sennowe team and to Norfolk Rivers Trust for such a fascinating evening.