Sbp newsletter march 2010

Suffolk Biodiversity Partnership Partners’ News March 2010

In this issue: Partners News Update on pillwort at Lound Lakes Nature Reserve Google Street view – a useful tool for surveying black poplars Sutton heath – a Living Landscape Suffolk Hedgerow survey A flora of Suffolk Sudbury Common Lands Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s Wildlearning Project Take part in Suffolk’s garden hedgehog survey Suffolk Biodiversity Partnership News Information and news What’s on SBP information

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PARTNERS NEWS Update on Pillwort Pilularia globulifera at Lound Lakes Nature Reserve Eilish Rothney, Conservation Officer Trinity Broads and Lound and Holly Berwick

During the summer of 2009 a survey of the lakes at Lound was carried out, funded by the Suffolk and Norfolk Biodiversity Partnerships and the landowner, Essex & Suffolk Water.

The aim of the survey was to see if the interesting plant communities around the edges of the lakes had changed since the last survey in 2002. A specific focus was a tiny fern called Pillwort Pilularia globulifera, a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species for both counties.

Pillwort, www.bioimages.com

Pillwort is a small fern that is easily mistaken for a delicate grass. It is semi-aquatic, growing by, or just submerged in, muddy shallow water bodies including lakes, ponds and marshes, often on bare acid soils with fluctuating water levels. It is a very rare plant in Norfolk and Suffolk, occurring in only a couple of locations. Lound has always been considered a stronghold for this species.

Unfortunately no trace of the previous populations was found.

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There are two main reasons for the decline of this species. Firstly, the lakes have been invaded by the non-native, invasive species Crassula helmsii, commonly known as New Zealand Pygmyweed. It has become well established at the lakes over a number of years.

It unfortunately prefers similar conditions to pillwort and appears to have successfully outcompeted it. Secondly the Lakes are used for water abstraction and due to a local decline in water requirements (primarily a reduction in industrial demand in Lowestoft); the water levels in the lakes have been consistently high. This resulted in a change in the bank profile available to the pillwort, potentially jeopardising the species' required habitat conditions.

To try and restore the pillwort population, the project has successfully acquired funding through SITA to re-profile sections of the lake banks to create the beach-like draw down zone that pillwort requires. The re-profiling would also hopefully provide suitable kingfisher and water vole habitat. Areas were selected to reflect the previous recorded sites and as potential relocation area (if the plant was discovered in an unsuitable area). These stretches of bank, one of 80m and one of 20m, are now completed. Additionally we are going to try and use black plastic to starve the New Zealand Pygmyweed of light during the winter months to reduce its ability to compete. Hopefully this will give the pillwort a fighting chance to re-establish from the seed bank.

We will monitor the banks over the spring and summer surveying for Pillwort but also keeping an eye on the Crassula. Mechanical removal of any Crassula that appears is ineffective so we may use the black plastic to control its spread.

Google Street View… a useful tool for surveying black poplars Ben Heather, Suffolk Biological Records Officer (GIS)

Anyone up to speed on current internet developments will have noticed that in the last couple of months the coverage of Google’s ‘Street View’ has been expanded to include the whole of Suffolk as well as the majority of the country.

Apart from the ability to have a bit of a nose around, Street View should be regarded as a useful tool for roadside surveying. With all major and minor roads and even some tracks and cycle paths (e.g. Shakers Lane in Bury St Edmunds) photographed there are not many places you can’t view.

The concept of Street View is a series of stitched together photographs taken from a moving vehicle at regular points in a road to give you a 360° panoramic view of the surrounds from an elevated view point. The tool is incorporated both into Google Maps online and Google Earth and is very straight forward to use.

In Google Maps online, simply navigate to your area of interest and drag and drop the orange person icon (above the zoom tool on the left-hand side) to any of the roads that light up blue and the Street View window will load. Once the Street view image has loaded you can simply orientate your way along roads by clicking on the road with your mouse or by using the keyboard arrow keys. The normal map view remains in the corner showing you both where you are and which way you are facing and you can move to a different location using this window.

In terms of usage, I have already started to use this as a tool for surveying roadside Native Black Poplars for the purpose of assessing their general status and position and then updating our Native Black Poplar register. In terms of checking positions you are able to navigate to a particular place using Street View then get an accurate longitude and

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latitude reading for that point using Google Maps, and for me this will be one of the major uses for error checking and improving grid references from past surveys.

Photographing the whole of the country was a big task so understandably there is a variance in times of year from place to place and in some places images could be at least 2 years out of date. However with Google cars still being seen touring the country the coverage is likely to be updated in a similar fashion to their more traditional aerial photography on Google Maps.

So I therefore recommend that you check this free service out and go and explore Suffolk online.

Sutton Heath – A Living Landscape Peter Ross, Suffolk Coastal District Council

Sutton Heath, 3 miles east of Woodbridge, is the largest area of land owned and managed

by Suffolk Coastal District Council. It is 62ha of SSSI heathland that is a vital part of the internationally designated Suffolk Sandlings European Special Protection Area. This designation reflects its importance as a relic of a landscape most of which in Northern Europe has been lost to agriculture, development or forestry. It has been managed by the Council for more than 30 years to provide a place for both people and rare heathland wildlife. Nowadays Sutton Heath is designated as ‘open access’ land being visited by tens of thousands of people every year.

During the last 20 years almost half of the land has been managed with the help of Government funding to reclaim areas where the heath has been overtaken by pine and birch trees and bracken. This has proved very successful in helping to recreate the landscape that has existed here since pre-historic times and was only lost following the Second World War when livestock were taken off the land and millions of rabbits died from myxomatosis.

92% of Sutton Heath SSSI will be restored to its former glory

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Suffolk Coastal has now reached a stage where the remainder of Sutton Heath can also be managed to complete the restoration of the site. With the help of a 10 year Higher Level Stewardship agreement it is intended to return 92% of the site to heathland. This restoration work began this winter when SCDC undertook its largest ever single conservation project when 6 ha of tree covered heath was thinned. This was a dramatic operation involving large machinery, that in 3 weeks changed part of a landscape that had many people had grown used to over a lifetime. All the extracted wood and brash is being put to good use as sawn timber, logs or biomass.

The expected public backlash to the felling of trees was tempered by our PR, which included on-site information and guided walks explaining the benefits to biodiversity of heathland restoration. Without the public’s support, carrying out this work could become difficult.

Despite the loss of trees from some parts of the heath, other work on Sutton Heath includes the re-establishment of a chestnut coppice and an old pine belt, which reveal other aspects of the heath’s history. As a contrast to the tree felling on the heathland areas, this work is being carried out in a more sympathetic manner and the timber here is being cut by hand and extracted by horses.

Woodland operations old style Heathland restoration a la mode

by Green Man Horse Loggers

SCDC is also working with Suffolk Wildlife Trust, the Forestry Commission, Natural England and Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB Unit to look into a study of how we can make all of the heaths and forests in the South Sandlings area better for people and wildlife.

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Suffolk Hedgerow Survey Guy Ackers

As the Project embarks on the penultimate year for surveying, the current situation is that we have 148 completed parish surveys which I have audited. This has comprised the analyses of 19400 hedgerows and checking the statistics for their peer group Landscape Character Assessment type.

The results are showing extraordinary synergy for the three classifications of hedgerow species richness and similarly very different patterns in the main types such as Plateau Estate Farmlands, Ancient Estate Claylands, Plateau Claylands and Estate Sandlands. In each of these types the correlation for species rich hedgerows (8 species or more of hardwood trees and bushes) is within a few decimal points in percentage terms. However, the variation between the 4 main different LCA types ranges very consistently between 25.3% in Sandlands and 67.1% in Claylands.

In addition, we have another 150 parish surveys ongoing in which about half the hedgerows have already been surveyed and the other half are to be surveyed this coming season. To put it another way, there are another 10000 hedgerows already surveyed and another 10000 pledged for 2010. In total therefore, we can safely anticipate 40000 hedgerows to be surveyed by year end.

We expect between 20 and 30 'new' parishes to join the Project in 2010. The Project management committee has agreed to provide the usual support and back-up to parishes starting their surveys in 2010 round to leaf fall 2011, but that the Project should close down at the latest, by end 2011.

The project has about 1800 surveyor volunteers, 300 survey coordinators and over 300 parish clerks engaged, energised, enthused and actively working in their communities helping with the survey. I think because of this huge effort, the Project chairman was given the award of Green Community Hero by the Suffolk Creating the Greenest County Project.

This success has to be celebrated together as an award for all the volunteers and helpers as a joint exercise in the communities across the length and breadth of the County, when bearing in mind that something in the order of 35000 man hours have been expended so far on the project. This must surely endorse that Suffolk is the Greenest County".

A Flora of Suffolk by Martin Sanford and Richard Fisk. Price ÂŁ40 (inc. p&p).

This exciting new book has recently been published. An A4 size hardback in full colour with 550 pages, covering all flowering plants, ferns, horsetails, stoneworts and mosses recorded in the county (2800 taxa, 1000 maps).

There are introductory sections on Soils, Climate, Landscape History, Habitats, Suffolk Botanists and Recording.

The book has been very well received and should stand as the definitive Suffolk flora for a generation. It is beautifully produced, with an engaging text, crammed with useful information, helpful maps, top quality illustrations and embellished with thoughtful touches

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throughout. Everyone interested in the Suffolk countryside and its wild flowers should own a copy. Feedback and comments from others who have bought the book can be found at http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~sbrc/Feedback.htm For further information and a printable order form visit http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~sbrc/Flora.htm or send a cheque payable to ‘Suffolk Flora Fund’ to 78 Murray Road, Ipswich, Suffolk IP3 9AQ

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Sudbury Common Lands Adrian Walters, Clerk/Ranger to the Sudbury Common Lands Charity

Many take for granted the 115 acres that make up the Sudbury Common Lands. However, being able to wander at will across unspoilt lowland river valley pasture can rarely be enjoyed today as intensive arable farming has brought an end much of the pastoral landscape in the Stour valley.

This land has the longest recorded history of continuous grazing in East Anglia and was first recorded by name in the late twelfth century. In about 1260, Richard de Clare, Duke of Gloucester and Hertford and owner of Clare castle, confirmed the grazing rights of the free Burgesses of Sudbury over his lands of King’s Marsh and Freemen’s Commons.

Today’s Freemen no longer exercise their individual rights to graze livestock and the grazing is let annually.

The area was designated as a Local Nature Reserve in 1990 and a County Wildlife Site in 2007. Following the recognition of the increasing conservation value of the Sudbury Common Lands through designation as a County Wildlife Site, the Charity was presented with the Tim Sloane Memorial Award 2008.

The land is managed through agri-environment schemes and summer grazing continues to hold the key to the maintenance and management of the land. In the autumn, the cattle are moved off before the river flood plain becomes saturated. As the land has never been ploughed, numerous species of native grasses support the grazing cattle. Since the late 1980s many ditches and ponds have been restored and these now provide a suitable habitat for a range of animals and plants including flowering rush, tubular water dropwort and round fruited rush.

The new grazing season at Sudbury Common Lands

On 30th April the Mayor will lead the Quinquennial Turning on ceremony which reenacts the inspection of the grass on Sudbury Common Lands to determine when the cattle should return. Originally this inspection would have ceased in 1897 with the establishment of the charity that is now responsible for the management of the riverside pastures. Today, the support of the local community is essential to ensure that the ancient grazing tradition continues.

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From 1st May there will be two full colour books on the Sudbury riverside, 'An Appreciation of Sudbury's ancient Common Lands' and 'An Appreciation of Sudbury's unique Riverside'. Both available from Sudbury TIC, the Sudbury branch of Waitrose and the Kestrel Bookshop in Friars Street. All proceeds go towards the work of the charity.

The Charity is grateful for financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Awards for All, Babergh District Council, Sudbury Town Council, Suffolk County Council (Community Chest), Sudbury Talbot Rotary, D C Moncrieff Charitable Trust, Waitrose, Scarfe Charitable Trust, The Leslie Mary Carter Charitable Trust the estates of Roy Southgate and Bob Crane.

For more information, visit the Sudbury Common Lands website

Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s Wildlearning Project The Wildlearning venture is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Natural England Countdown 2010 and provides one-off, short courses for adults over a day or half day.

Courses/workshops are held on weekdays and weekends and cover a huge range of subjects such as surveying mammals, water voles, marsh plants, managing community grasslands, scything, wildlife photography, dragonflies, botanical illustration, freshwater and terrestrial invertebrates and many more. Prices vary from £10 - £30. They offer a fantastic opportunity to improve your skills and knowledge whilst exploring the natural world with like-minded people.

Booking is essential, please call 01473 890089 or see our website www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org/education-for-all/adult-learning Booking online is now available. Contact Alison Farquharson 01473 892430 for further information.

Take part in the Suffolk Garden Hedgehog Survey 2010 In 2000, Suffolk Wildlife Trust carried out the highly successful Suffolk Garden Hedgehog Survey. Hedgehogs were found to be widespread and frequent in gardens throughout Suffolk, both within towns and villages. An impressive 89% of households confirmed that they had seen hedgehogs in their gardens within the last five years and 69% felt that hedgehog numbers were either stable or even increasing. Ten years on, we believe that hedgehogs are much less common, so we are repeating the survey to find out whether this is true and to try to quantify any changes.

The reasons for the decline are unclear and are probably complex. One of the obvious causes might be due to road deaths or increased predation, but changes to their habitat will also play a part. The loss of large gardens in towns, combined with high density house building programmes, will have lead to the loss of wild corners much loved by hedgehogs for nest building. In this situation, it is also difficult for hedgehogs to move between these close-packed, small gardens. In the countryside, hedgerows and their adjoining field margins have been shown to be very important for food and shelter, but intensification of agriculture during the latter half of the last century resulted in losses of this habitat.

The survey will try to find out whether people are still regularly seeing hedgehogs in their garden or whether they have become much less common. It’s equally important to hear from people who are not seeing hedgehogs in their gardens because negative values will be vital to the study.

To take part in this survey, please log onto our website www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org and fill in the on-line survey form or contact SWT on 01473 890089 for a copy of the form.

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Suffolk Biodiversity Partnership News

Steering group meeting at Nowton Park, Bury St. Edmunds The Partnership’s steering group’s biannual meeting was held on 17th March. The meeting, held in a greenhouse at Nowton Park, was followed by a fascinating site visit around the estate. John Smithson (Parks Development Manager, St Edmundsbury Borough Council) explained how biodiversity, landscape heritage, income generation and community engagement all have competing needs in the Park and invited discussion to help resolve the issues. Nowton Park consists of almost 200 acres landscaped over 100 years ago in typical Victorian style and until 1985 the park formed John Smithson, Parks Development Manager, leads the part of the Oakes family estate. It is SBP steering group site visit around Nowton Park. now owned by St. Edmundsbury Borough Council and managed for recreation, leisure and nature conservation. Other items on the agenda included an update on the orchard project by Paul Read and a rundown on the progress of the Biodiversity Action Plan review.

Suffolk Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) review

Background The entire Suffolk BAP is under review following the addition of large numbers of species and habitats to the UK list in 2007. The Natural Environment and Rural Communities (NERC) Act came into force on 1 Oct 2006. Section 41 of the Act required the Secretary of State to publish a list of habitats and species which are of Principal Importance for the conservation of biodiversity in England; the list was drawn up by Natural England.

New Suffolk plans The new action plans will be more aligned with partners’ own workplans and will have achievable targets and realistic actions. Species will be incorporated into habitat plans where possible for practical reasons; grouped species plans will also be used.

Where we are now We have now identified the majority of UK BAP species relevant to Suffolk with the help and support of Suffolk Biological Records Centre and the county recorders (143 species and 26 habitats). The first new plans (such as saltmarshes and little tern), have been drafted and will be ready for publication in the next few weeks.

New Suffolk BAP 26 habitat plans Include species where possible

Individual species plans i.e. Great crested newt Otter

Grouped plans e.g. bats, arable plants, regional plans

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Planning group meeting 2 February

The SBP planning group is dynamic and effective, helping the planners of Suffolk to incorporate biodiversity within the planning system and to meet the legal requirements of the 1981 Wildlife & Countyside Act, the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. The current focus of the group is a) the development of a dedicated Biodiversity Action Plan for planning that pulls together the actions required for all the species and habitats on the Suffolk list b) the organisation of the 6th Annual Norfolk and Suffolk Biodiversity and Planning Seminar in September.

SBP Presentations

Gen Broad has recently made short presentations to the Forestry Commission and Mid Suffolk District Council about SBP and our aim to protect and enhance priority species and habitats in the Suffolk BAP through effective partnership. If your organisation would like to know more about SBP and how we can help to support your biodiversity work, please contact Gen (details on page 14).

Evolution of biodiversity partnerships, UK legal obligations Who we are / aims Suffolk Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) Delivery of the BAP – practical & strategic How can we support your biodiversity work?

INFORMATION and NEWS Biodiversity News winter 2009 issue 48 To view or download, go to http://www.ukbap.org.uk/library/bn48.pdf (4 MB) Includes a feature on Swifts, The Campaign for the Farmed Environment and articles on ‘Biodiversity is Life – the UK partnership for the International Year of Biodiversity 2010, surveys by Northumbrian Water, HLF funding and BTCV launches the Carbon Army.

News from ‘Biodiversity is Life’ 2010 has been declared the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) by the United Nations.

Current news items on www.biodiversityislife.net include: • 250 elm saplings given out to schools as part of the Great British Elm Experiment • Defra’s Darwin Initiative funding of 25 more wildlife conservation projects to tune of 6 million pounds • Heritage Lottery Fund encouraging applications for UK biodiversity funding.

• Britain in Bloom (RHS). This year the event will include working with 5,000 community volunteers to create wildlife-friendly spaces in a 48 hour gardening blitz.

• Nature’s Calendar, the Woodland Trust’s seasonal changes survey is the latest Get involved project.

Orchard Network Full Bloom Festival 25th April to 9th May

The Orchard Network is a partnership of organisations working together for the conservation of Traditional Orchards as a wildlife habitat. The website provides a useful resource for finding out about the wildlife that thrives within our orchards, the issues that surround their conservation, and ways that anyone can get involved.

The Orchard Network – Working together for traditional orchards >

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Offers from NHBS New Naturalist Bird Migration by Ian Newton – a thorough but accessible account of this stunning natural phenomenon. Reduced to £21.50 from £29.99.

3rd edition of Clive Stace’s New Flora of the British Isles – long regarded as the standard British flora. New edition - £50.00.

EU Environment Biodiversity Campaign ‘We’re all in this together’ The website is a useful resource clearly explaining the connection between the natural world and people using attractive graphics. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/biodiversity/campaign/

Pond Conservation publishes Big Pond Thaw Survey 2010 This report gives valuable new insights into the factors underlying the unusual levels of amphibian deaths that so many people reported at the end of the winter. A brief informative summary can be found on Pond Conservation’s website > Pond Conservation Spring Newsletter now available >

New: Nature and Biodiversity News and Views website Developed by Centre for Ecology & Hydrology for Alternet

News and Views presents a series of short topical articles on nature and biodiversity. Each topic contains links to further reading. Linked to each topic, are multiple choice questions. You can express your views by answering these questions or by writing a free text comment. You can also see how other people have answered the questions and read other people’s views. Articles include: What can nature do for us (ecosystem services)? Lichens – flags of distress? Are biofuel crops bad for biodiversity?

Nature and Biodiversity News and Views >

Natural England’s ‘Securing Biodiversity’ workshop NE held a workshop on 11th March at which their report Lost life: England’s lost and threatened species was launched. The report is available to download online at http://naturalengland.etraderstores.com/NaturalEnglandShop/NE233

‘Saving our Magnificent Meadows’ Saving our Magnificent Meadows, an initiative of the principal UK conservation bodies, is seeking to develop funding streams dedicated to deliver priority lowland grassland HAP targets, and address the main issues that impact on grassland conservation, including regional and country delivery of targets.

For further information contact Susan Kerry Bedell of Plantlife (tel: 01722 342730, email: susan.kerrybedell@plantlife.org.uk). Information on Plantlife’s website shortly >

Will earlier springs throw nature out of step?

The recent trend towards earlier UK springs and summers has been accelerating, according to a study published on 9 February. The collaborative study, involving scientists from 12 UK research institutions, universities and conservation organisations, is the most comprehensive and rigorous assessment so far of long-term changes in the seasonal timing (phenology) of biological events across marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments in the UK. Led by Dr Stephen Thackeray and Professor Sarah Wanless of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, the research gathers together more than 25,000 long-term phenology trends for 726 species of plants and animals. More than 80% of trends between 1976 and 2005 indicate earlier seasonal events. The study considers a diverse array of organisms including plankton, plants, insects, amphibians, fish, birds and mammals.

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On average, the seasonal timing of reproduction and population growth has become earlier by more than 11 days over the whole period, but change has accelerated in recent decades.

Read more on the Alternet website >

Ponds, soils and headwater streams reports published Information on the state of Britain’s ponds, headwater streams and soils is presented in three reports published on 4 February by the Countryside Survey partnership.

The reports show some positive signals for conservation of biodiversity, such as improvements in the quality of headwater streams, an increase in the number of ponds, a reduction in phosphorus in soils and recovery in some soils from the effects of acid rain.

However, they also show some negative signals. For example, ponds in England and Wales are widely degraded and pond quality has declined over the past decade.

Read the reports on the Alternet website >

Natural England Green Infrastructure newsletter The East of England GI newsletter for Spring 2010 is available on the new Regional GI Webpage. Visit the site to find out what’s happening in GI across the region.

GeoSuffolk newsletter March 2010 To view this, go to the GeoSuffolk website >

Forestry Commission Open Habitats Policy The Government’s policy on when to convert woods and forests to open habitats in England was formally launched on 31 March 2010. The overall ambition is balanced landuse change to generate landscapes that provide benefits to people and wildlife for the 21st Century. To find out more, visit FC Open Habitats webpage >

Biodiversity in the East of England To find out what’s going on in our region, check the websites for the county Biodiversity Partnerships forum: Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Luton, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

WHAT’S ON 21 April Floodplain Meadows conference The Open University Campus, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, Speakers from across Europe on species-rich floodplain meadows: research, management, policy and restoration. Registration before 21 Feb £20, after that date £25.

Contact Michelle Duke email: m.duke@open.ac.uk *25 April (10.00 – 4.00) SWT Wildlearning – Spring birds – early migrants Lackford lakes, nr Bury St Edmunds IP28 6HX Observe and identify birds by song and sight. Beginners/less experienced.

Paul Holness £20 (£17)

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*28 April (10.00 – 4.00) SWT Wildlearning – Botanical illustration Lackford lakes, nr Bury St Edmunds IP28 6HX Covering a range of illustration techniques with an emphasis on botanical accuracy.

Christine Grey-Wilson £14 or £50/4 sessions 29 April Rediscovering the vernacular – traditional skills & materials in the C21st Haughley Park Barn, Stowmarket, IP14 3JG 9.30 – 4.00 pm. £95 Building using locally sourced materials is a great way of cutting our carbon footprint, but how do you go about it and who can help? Find out more about this topical issue and the projects that are running in and around Suffolk at this event.

Contact Sarah Partridge 01473-658193 / 077660-54042, email sarah@orchardbarn.org.uk www.orchardbarn.org.uk 24-25 May Science Communication conference King’s Place, London. Organised by British Science Asssociation.

The focus is 'Audiences for engagement' which will explore engagement with different audiences; from young people and hard-to-reach adults, to pensioners and parliamentarians. Share the challenges and rewards of upstream engagement, debate whether we should all be confronting 'bad science' and try your hand at creative writing, new technologies and sci-art experiments.

To find out more go to British Science Association website > 24-28 May, 7-11 and 21-25 June, 5-9 July 2010 Roof barn construction workshop Monday – Friday 9.00 – 4.30 £400 for 5 day course Practical experience of traditional roof construction at Orchard Barn, professional tuition with Rick Lewis of Traditional Oak Carpentry Contact Sarah Partridge 01473-658193 / 077660-54042, email sarah@orchardbarn.org.uk www.orchardbarn.org.uk 1-4 June European Green Week, Brussels The conference will address the state of biodiversity, the pressures currently affecting it, the benefits it brings, and possible solutions to the current rates of loss. The path to be taken by biodiversity policies post-2010 and the economic dimension of biodiversity and ecosystems services will also be examined. Green Week offers a unique opportunity for debate and exchange of good practice. The 2009 event attracted 4,200 participants from government, business and industry, non-governmental organisations, academia and the media.

Find out more from the Green Week website > National Insect Week 21-27 June Visit www.nationalinsectweek.co.uk to find out more.

3-4 July Science and the Public conference 2010 Imperial College, London The conference brings together the various strands of academia which consider science's relationships with groups generally called 'the public'. Delegates come from a wide range of disciplines: science and technology studies, history of science, geography, psychology, cultural studies, media studies, sociology, development studies, English literature and science policy studies.

Find out more on the Alternet website > 8 July Brecks Heath Forum, Buxton Details to be announced.

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Various wildlife events - Suffolk Wildlife Trust , National Trust , RSPB

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SBP INFORMATION “What an interest-packed Newsletter. An excellent read and good to know that so much wildlife/conservation work is going on in Suffolk”.

Colin Hawes, stag beetle researcher February 2010 If you would like to share information on how your organisation is benefiting biodiversity in Suffolk, please send your article to Gen Broad, Suffolk Biodiversity Officer (tel: 01473 264308, Mobile: 0789 4885337, email:gen.broad@suffolk.gov.uk) Deadline for May 2010 newsletter: Friday May 28.

SBP is a partnership comprised of conservation organisations, statutory bodies, local authorities, businesses and not-for-profit organisations working throughout the county of Suffolk on behalf of wildlife. The UK’s Biodiversity Action Plan is delivered at a local level by members of the Partnership – for further information visit www.suffolk.gov.uk/Environment/Biodiversity.

Suffolk Biodiversity Partnership consists of: Babergh District Council, Center Parcs–Elveden, Environment Agency, Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, Essex & Suffolk Water, Forestry Commission, Forest Heath District Council, Ipswich Borough Council, Mid Suffolk District Council, National Trust, Natural England, RSPB, St. Edmundsbury Borough Council, Suffolk Biological Records Centre, Suffolk Naturalist’s Society, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Suffolk Coastal District Council, Suffolk County Council, Suffolk Naturalists Society, Waveney District Council.

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