Violated Sanctuaries
From the loud outcry about the offensive suggestion for an anti-aircraft station on the Norfolk Coast between Blakeney and the Cley Marshes has been omitted the most vital note. The string of sanctuaries extending from Scolt Head to Cley is quite unique. Nothing at all like it exists elsewhere, partly because of the native wildness of the place, partly because of the Norfolk Naturalists' Trust, which has worked with exceptional organising skill to secure bird and plant sanctuaries. Niany sorts of rare birds appear here, there or anywhere along this stretch of coast, sometimes in the sanctuaries but not less often outside them. The spoonbill and the ruff are two that have often preferred the intermediate spaces, and naturalists nurse the hope that ruff and reeve will presently breed there. It is quite beside the point to argue whether it is better to inter- fere with holiday-makers or with birds. The essence of the crime consists in choosing a place that has no parallel within the island as a bird sanctuary, when scores of commoner places are available, especially on the West Coast. It is not the first time that Government departments, agriculturally as polemically, have thought in terms of the Eastern Counties. The West seems too far off London for their minds to grasp.
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