JUST VISITING

In terms of mammals, birds, creepy-crawlies and suchlike, which are native to Norfolk? More to the point, which are non-native, or visitors from abroad which have stayed on and made their homes here? The question is not social or political, but a matter of natural history.
The usual yardstick for 'native' is anything already here when the sea flooded in to form our islands. But how many mammal species have arrived since then? About 20 per cent, apparently, according to figures I was given in 1980. To take the matter further - and the numbers may have changed over the years - of the 52 species then recorded in Norfolk, introduced mammals accounted for ten, the greatest influences on this influx being arrivals by sea and ship, landowners and estates, pet shops and zoos. But that tells only part of the story. For example, the domestic cat and the house mouse are visitors, too.
One of the earliest introductions is the pheasant, originally Oriental and known in Britain before AD 1058. Another success story is the red-leg partridge, an introduction which now outnumbers the common partridge. In 1785 capercaillie were brought in from Norway by Thomas Fowell Buxton, of Northrepps and Cromer. The experiment failed, but by 1835 they were in Scotland in useful numbers.
The Canada goose, an Eastern Atlantic bird, was in London in 1675 and probably reached Norfolk via Wretham and Holkham parks where, in 1941, there was a flock of 200. They are now a familiar sight at Holkham and clearly see the place as an ancestral home. The Mandarin duck, first reported breeding in the Broads in 1977, is thought to have arrived about 1599. Woburn had a colony in 1900, and there were others at a Norfolk game farm.
As for the little owl, occasional birds were spotted in the 1800s, and in 1876 six youngsters were brought to Kimberley Hall. The project failed, and it was not until 1901 that the little owl finally settled in East Anglia. Similar attempts were made to establish the budgerigar (from Australia) in the wild, and they did breed near Downham Market and the west of Norwich in the 1970s, but by and large numbers were decimated by hard winters. Cetti's warblers arrived under their own steam, while various attempts were made to establish the ring-necked parakeet, most particularly at Northrepps. In the late 1970s several sightings were reported.
There have been various reports of wallabies over the years. Three pairs escaped from the Gurney zoo at Northrepps in the 1850s, and others appeared in the Peak District. Chinese water deer were brought to Woburn in the 1900s, and there were escapes from Woburn and Whipsnade during the 1940s. Muntjac were first recorded at Hickling, but it is not known when or from where they arrived. Fallow deer are said to have been introduced by the Romans, and red and roe deer, once extinct in the Brecks, were reintroduced by the sporting estates. Japanese sika deer arrived in the 1860s.
The black rat was largely ousted by the brown rat, which arrived in the 1890s, while excavations at Castle Acre suggested the beaver and the polecat/ferret were around in the 12th century. In the 1800s attempts were made to introduce the grey squirrel, but not until 1860/90 were large enough numbers released to start viable populations. In 1902 some 250 were released, and in 1934 they were introduced at Northrepps. The combined effect was to drive the red squirrel into retreat.
Coypu arrived at nutria farms in the 1920s and 1930s - in 1962 Norfolk had the largest population in the world when they peaked at about 200,000 - while mink came in at the same time. Not even the rabbit is thought to be native. As for the edible frog, it was introduced by the Romans, while a colony at Thetford was probably descended from introductions at Morton Hall. In 1837 some 200 frogs were brought from France, followed in 1841/42 by other Continental batches. They were found in the wild near Thetford in 1853.