Plans to encourage ruff to breed again on Norfolk coast

Andrew Crean wants to expand a scheme to rear and release ruff he has set up on wet grassland he has created at Burnham Deepdale, near Brancaster.

Deepdale Marsh, near Brancaster, which conservationist Andrew Crean has restored to wetland habitat (Image: David Hosking)

He has applied for planning permission to build aviaries for the birds at Marsh Farm, along with a bungalow for a warden who will live on site 24/7 to look after them as part of a privately-funded project.

West Norfolk council's planning committee has been recommended to turn down the proposals when it meets on Thursday because of a technicality.

A male ruff performs its mating display (Image: Mark Andrew)

Officials say there is "insufficient justification coming forward to demonstrate a clearly established functional need for a new dwelling in association with an existing rural enterprise".

Concerns have also been raised over access to the nearby A149 .

Young ruff being released into an existing aviary at Marsh Farm (Image: Chris Bishop)

But a report to councillors says conservation groups including the Max Planck Institute in Germany and UK organisations including Pensthorpe, the Zoological Society of East Anglia and Banham Zoo all support the programme.

Small numbers of ruff imported as young birds from Germany have already been reared in an existing aviary on the site and released onto the marsh. 

The wading bird is practically extinct as a breeding species in the UK since the mid-19th Century, while around 800 over-winter each year before returning to the Continent to breed.

Young ruff being released into an existing aviary at Marsh Farm (Image: Chris Bishop)

Mr Crean's agent said the proposed expansion "builds upon a wider conservation farming project at Deepdale Marsh that commenced in November 2007  of arable reversion, wet grassland and broad restoration".

He adds: "We now have one of the best breeding densities and productivity for breeding waders redshank, lapwing, etc of any site in East Anglia.

A young ruff in an aviary at Marsh Farm (Image: Chris Bishop)

"Ruff build-up in numbers and display each spring before moving to the continent to breed."

Small mounds called leks have been created on the marsh. male birds use them for "lekking" - their distinctive courting display where they show off their vivid plumage.

A male ruff at Deepdale Marsh (Image: Mark Andrew)

A planning statement concludes: "It is considered that the proposals provide a unique conservation project, with positive environmental contributions to the wider environment through the conservation and research.

"Whilst there is no specific local planning policy for such conservation projects, it is considered this unique conservation project accords with the overarching national planning principles and policies for conservation and sustainability."