Annual Review 2013/14

COMMON FROG: DES ONG FLPA

A celebration of the year 2013/2014

Living Landscapes Living Gardens Living Seas

We can all take heart from your Trust’s report. The past year deserves to be a celebration. You can read about the growing network of reserves and of our key work in education and in spreading good conservation practice in the wider countryside. The work of your Trust is multi-faceted, but central to every aspect is our passion to conserve and improve our wildlife and to involve ever more people in this joyful goal.

MARKUS VERUVUO NATUREPL.COM

Sir Kenneth Carlisle Chairman

STEVE AYLWARD

A message from your Chairman

We are all fortunate that the Trust is well managed by our dedicated staff. The finances are sound and the administration rigorous.

This means that we can embrace opportunities that arise, whether that is to buy land to extend a reserve or to support a new education initiative. Our staff’s commitment was proved last year after December’s record tidal surge. Over the following days the staff worked selflessly to rebuild and strengthen the defences of our coastal reserves, and so averted a more serious catastrophe.

The Trust is truly a force for good, and it has been a privilege to have been a Trustee.

Camps Heath

This year, and indeed every year, 30% of Suffolk’s primary and middle school children learnt about the natural world at one of our education reserves TOM MARSHALL

This report describes how your Trust touches so many aspects of Suffolk life; it is not just about a few special places. In the end we all rely on the people who support the Trust, our 26,000 members and 1300 volunteers who give their energy to every aspect of our activities.

We could not operate without this help. We are deeply grateful to all involved.

Arger Fen

STEVE AYLWARD

Church Farm

Gunton Warren

STEVE AYLWARD

Old Broom

Creating Living Landscapes…

Taking land into our care as a nature reserve is perhaps the most tangible demonstration of Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s ability to make the county a better place for wildlife. But nature reserves are so much more than simply places for wildlife, they matter to people – and the way they come into our care reflects this.

The gift of Old Broom, close to Bury St Edmunds is an example of this. With its remarkable ancient oak pollards, words like extraordinary and magical seem appropriate.These inspiring trees are a remnant of an open woodpasture landscape. Owned and deeply cared for by the Hanbury family, they have chosen to give Old Broom to the Trust to ensure that this extraordinary place will remain extraordinary in perpetuity. For the time being, there is no public access to Old Broom, but special events will be arranged for members to enjoy the reserve.

On the other side of the county, at Carlton & Oulton Marshes, the individual commitment of members, a legacy from George Ford and a grant from Biffa Award made it possible for

us to buy Camps Heath Marshes. With species like southern marsh orchid, tubular water-dropwort and marsh stitchwort, Camps Heath is a refuge for some of Suffolk’s rarest plants. We had waited 30 years to bring these priceless marshes into our protective ownership – and this year we finally succeeded.

Gunton Warren is another wonderful wildlife habitat right on the doorstep of Lowestoft. As the only remaining section of the coast with the full suite of coastal habitats from mobile shingle to sand dunes, vegetated cliff slope and lowland heath, Gunton Warren is unique in Suffolk. Over time, these vulnerable habitats had become smothered by bracken and scrub and so Waveney District Council, the owners, asked us to take on the site as a nature reserve, to restore the habitats and enable local people, who care so much about this patch of local wilderness, to get involved.

We also entered into another exciting land management partnership at Blackheath, Wenhaston. Working with the community-led Commons Management Group, we provide

technical and mechanical support, whilst the group’s volunteers undertake the day to day maintenance.

Working together like this will help to connect up the cluster of high quality wildlife sites in this part of Suffolk, which includes our nature reserve at Church Farm.

Perhaps the best example this year, of the impact of bringing land into the Trust’s care to create larger sites, with a mosaic of mixed-up habitats that meet and merge into one another, is the former arable land at Arger Fen & Spouse’s Vale which we bought in autumn 2012. Less than two years later, nightingale have been singing in the burgeoning scrub, the first time they have been recorded on the reserve for three years and dormice are moving through the hedgerows.

The importance of nature reserves as a place for people as well as wildlife is most obvious at our six education reserves. Each has a unique character, reflecting the landscape and habitats of Suffolk, and is brought to life, for groups of visiting children, by the expertise of our education team.

Over the course of the year, we received legacy gifts totalling £515,000 and we would like to thank the friends of theTrust who remembered Suffolk WildlifeTrust in their Will this year. Their generosity will enable us to actively pursue opportunities to make our nature reserves bigger and better in the years to come.

Queenie Hall Irene Havers Peter Lawson Jasmine Lingwood Denis Mills

Doreen Morton Mary Newman John Shackles Lucy Sindall

Living Landscapes Living Gardens Living Seas

BILL BASTON

STEVE AYLWARD

Miss F Allen Margaret Atkins Anita Benson Anne Canham Phyllis Chase

…a bigger, better and more connected la partnership with Suffolk Ornithologists’ Group, our efforts for barn owl conservation have continued apace, with a focus on nest box installations in west Suffolk, to support the range expansion towards the county borders – supported by SITA Trust and the Michael Marks Charitable Trust. But it was a tough year for barn owls. 2012 was the UK’s wettest year on record, which made feeding young difficult, and many adult birds succumbed to the unseasonal cold March in 2013.

The network of boxes provides the nesting infrastructure to ride these ups

and downs, so that when conditions are right, as they are looking to be in 2014, barn owl numbers can recover quickly and expand their range.

With a coherent nest box network in place and widespread understanding of the role of nest boxes in securing barn owl breeding success, the momentum behind the box programme means we can now direct box requests to the trusted suppliers and tree surgeons we have used for the project.This is the sustainable outcome for the project we were hoping to achieve.

Bluebell woods

ANDREW EXCELL

HEATHER PATRICK

Our ancient woodlands with their spring wildflowers continue to be one of our most poplular reserve visits

STEVE AYLWARD

This year saw the publication of the groundbreaking State of Nature report, a collaboration of the UK’s wildlife organisations, includingThe WildlifeTrusts, to assess the balance of nature in the UK. Whilst the report highlights what we have lost, and what we are still losing, it also demonstrates the positive impact individuals and organisations like Suffolk WildlifeTrust can have to stop this loss - and bring back nature where it has been lost.

The return of the barn owl to Suffolk’s skies demonstrates this. In

Carlton Marshes Trimley Marshes Around 3000 people enjoyed the surprise arrival of a Pacific swift, seen in the UK only a handful of times before

Breeding redshank and lapwing are using the bare ground and shallow scrapes created as part of a new wetland mosaic

Bull’s Wood

PAUL SAWER FLPA TOM MARSHALL IAN PRATT

RICHARD BOWLER

After years of searching, a distinctive woven bark dormouse nest was discovered in one of the prickliest thickets. Our goal now is to create a hedgerow network to link Bull’s Wood to the thriving dormouse populations in nearby Bradfield Woods

Lackford Lakes A pair of red kites have thrilled visitors and are regularly seen hunting over the reserve

ndscape for wildlife

Rendlesham Forest Woodlark & nightjar numbers are up, thanks to SITATrust funding to restore areas of heath within the forest

Bradfield Woods

Mickle Mere

Norah Hanbury-Kelk Meadows

SUSAN STONE

JACK PERKS

Trout have returned to the River Lark, Suffolk’s only chalk stream, thanks to the restoration project led by BuryTrout Club and involving a partnership of local groups including theTrust

Knettishall Heath Habitat restoration funded by Heritage Lottery Fund and WREN is now underway.

Visitors regularly spot common lizard and grass snake basking alongside the trails

TOM MARSHALL

STEVE AYLWARD

We have installed a swift nesting tower and will continue to broadcast their calls over the next couple of years to draw in breeding birds

GEORGE MCCARTHY NATUREPL.COM

STEPHAN JOHANSSON

Improved ride and deer management is reaping dividends, with healthy populations of white admiral and silver-washed fritillary

To celebrate Coronation year, the Prince of Wales launched Coronation Meadows – a network of ancient meadows across the country from which seed can be gathered to create new flower-rich meadows.

Martins’ Meadows nature reserve was chosen as Suffolk’s Coronation Meadow.The green hay from here will be used to help create new meadows of cowslips and orchids.

The choice of aTrust site as the source of seed was particularly appropriate as Suffolk WildlifeTrust is unique in the time and energy we put into securing biodiversity outcomes in the countryside beyond the boundaries of our nature reserves.

Last year our farmland and wetland advisers worked with 203 farmers and landowners, whilst our volunteer conservation advisers made a further 48 visits to help people with smaller plots turn their bit of Suffolk into a wildlife oasis.

Perhaps the most emphatic demonstration of the importance

we place on inspiring and helping others to create more opportunities for wildlife in their part of Suffolk is our Heritage Lottery funded project, Networking Nature, to inspire action for wildlife in every parish. Now in its third year, theTrust team has worked with groups in 346 of the 477 parishes in Suffolk.

One of the highlights of the year was the community wildlife conference where inspirational groups that are making a real difference for wildlife where they live, came together to share their experiences and expertise.

Amongst these were the group from Bredfield, who later went on to be winners in the landscape and biodiversity category of the Suffolk – the Greenest County Award for their Jubilee Meadow project.

We are proud that another winner this year, rewarded by the Suffolk Agricultural Awards for their wildlife friendly farming, was the Rolph family who farm theTrust’s arable land at Foxburrow Farm.

Living Landscapes Living Gardens Living Seas

RICHARD BOWLER

DAVID KJAER

PAUL HOBSON

The dramatic decline of hedgehog in Suffolk, and across the UK, has set alarm bells ringing. We hope our county-wide survey in 2014 will provide an insight into how we can pull Suffolk’s hedgehogs back from the brink

Our wildlife roadshows in town centres, village fetes and events across Suffolk are helping people get closer to nature

AMY LEWIS

habitats and gardens of urban areas and species like hedgehog, stag beetle, frog, common lizard and slow worm can all thrive in an urban environment if we provide the right conditions.

KERRY STRANIX

The value of towns for wildlife is well recognised, but the extent and quality of Ipswich’s network of natural open spaces may well be a surprise.The Ipswich Wildlife Audit, which we completed this year for the Borough Council showed that over 2,300 acres, (nearly a quarter of the Borough) is medium or high value wildlife habitat.

The diverse townscape of allotments, parks, cemeteries, gardens, railway embankments and river banks supports a rich variety of species.

Neighbouring these areas of wildlife interest are gardens, and in January we launched our Living Gardens campaign to give fresh emphasis to the role of gardens in creating a Living Landscape.

Pollinators like bumblebees are interdependent on both the natural

PAUL HOBSON

Celebrating Living Gardens

Campaigning for Living Seas For Suffolk WildlifeTrust, the Government’s announcement in November 2013 that 27 marine conservation zones were to be designated in England, was a moment of both relief and bitter disappointment. Relief that after months of uncertainty, a network of marine protected sites was beginning to take shape – but disappointment that the Stour and Orwell estuaries would not be one of them.

Despite being one of the richest estuaries in the UK, not just for waders and wildfowl, but for marine habitats and its role as an important nursery for fish, the Stour and Orwell was one of four potential Marine Conservation Zones to be excluded. Designation would have given these marine features the protection they otherwise lack.

The Minister’s announcement

made clear that the Stour and Orwell was not designated because of the burden it would create on the Ports of Felixstowe and Harwich. We believe this perception that the needs of the natural environment and the economy are in conflict is a false premise. For Suffolk to prosper, economic growth and environmental responsibility must go hand-in-hand.

One of the challenges in inspiring support for marine conservation is that Suffolk’s colourful undersea world is hidden from view. Our education staff have risen to the challenge, with a creative programme of beach exploration for school groups, weekend and holiday activity days for families and for teenagers from Lowestoft, a pioneering approach to learning which uses the coast as their classroom.The Heritage Lottery

Fund has enabled much of this, through their support for our Coastal Discovery project and the AONB’sTouching theTide.

Our coastal reserves witnessed the majesty of the sea in a more shocking way, with the surge tide that struck in December. Ours is a dynamic coast and previous surge events have given a sense of what can happen – but this was on an altogether greater scale. Hen Reedbeds, Dingle Marshes, Snape Marshes, and Trimley Marshes were all flooded, but with time, will fully recover. At Hazlewood Marshes, the breach in the river wall was far more severe, and the reserve has completely changed. Shocking as this was at first, change doesn’t have to mean loss and new intertidal habitats will create different, but exciting, opportunities for wildlife.

Wildlife

Thank you to all our Business Supporters Platinum EDF Energy UK Power Networks Gold Anglian Water Aspall BritishTelecom Plc Cemex UK Climax Molybdenum Legal & General Muntons plc Realise Futures Silver Arncliffe Leisure Ltd Barnes Construction Binder Birketts BOCM PAULS LTD Center Parcs Ltd Dalehead Foods Essex & Suffolk Water Harwich Haven Authority John Stebbing Architect Magnox Limited National Express East Ransomes Jacobsen Ltd Bronze ABP Ipswich African Adventure Ambient Light Alan Boswell Insurance Management Ltd Birds Eye Limited BTS Group Ltd Cassiopae Limited Culford School Flempton Golf Club Limited Ipswich Building Society Ipswich Golf Club J Breheny Contractors Ltd LafargeTarmac Landscape Partnership Larking Gowen Maritime Cargo Processing plc Nicholas Jacob Architects Notcutts Ltd Ransomes Dock Limited S W Cross & Sons Seckford Wines Ltd Strutt & Parker Suffolk Life Ufford Park Limited White Stuff, Ipswich

The Marine Act promised an ‘ecologically coherent’ network of marine protected sites but we remain far from realising this ambition in the North Sea. We will continue to campaign for Suffolk’s coast to get the protection it deserves

A warm welcome to new members Muntons plc, Dalehead Foods and Realise Futures

DAVE PEAKE MARKTHOMAS

Investor in

We are grateful to all the individuals, Charitable Trusts, grant-making bodies and statutory organisations that fund our work. Without their support we could not maintain our existing activity or develop new projects

Living Landscapes Living Gardens Living Seas

Financial summary

Legacy gifts

SWT year ended 31 March 2014 Incoming resources Members’ subscriptions & donations Legacies Fundraising & grants SWTTrading company income Other Investment income Total incoming resources

£000’s 860 515 1144 297 169 89 3074

Income

Resources expended

Net incoming resources Fund balances brought forward Fund balances carried forward

1289 377 189 139 112 240 11 2357

860

515

Members’ subscriptions & donations

Legacies

1144

297

Fundraising SWT Trading & grants

169

89

Other

Investments STEVE AYLWARD

Nature reserves & conservation Education Membership Fundraising & grants Support, management & admin SWTTrading company costs Unrealised loss on investments Total resources expended

George Ford

Income from legacy gifts is included in our net current assets. Just as George Ford’s legacy helped to buy Camps Heath Marshes this year, legacy gifts are set aside for projects, like buying or enlarging nature reserves, which make a lasting difference to wildlife.

717 10918 11635

Analysis of group net assets between funds Fixed assets Nature reserves 6655 Nature reserves purchased this year 146 Other tangible assets 341 Net current assets* 4493 11635 * including designated, unrestricted & restricted funds and legacy gifts set aside for significant projects

Expenditure

1289

377

Nature reserves & conservation

Education

189

139

112

240

Membership Fundraising Management SWT Trading & admin

146 Nature reserve purchase

Legacy gifts underpin all our land purchases and make it possible for us to act quickly when opportunities arise.

Trustee’s statement

JOANNE ATKINS

4500 local children and young people have learnt about Bradfield Woods through our three year project with Heritage Lottery Fund Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Brooke House Ashbocking, Ipswich IP6 9JY 01473 890089 info@suffolkwildlifetrust.org suffolkwildlifetrust.org

These are the summarised accounts.

To allow a full understanding of the financial affairs of Suffolk Wildlife Trust you can view the full audited annual accounts on our website or request a copy from Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Brooke House, Ashbocking, Ipswich IP6 9JY. The annual accounts have been audited by Larking Gowen Ipswich Ltd and received an unqualified opinion.

They were approved byTrustees on 24th July 2014 and will be submitted to the Charity Commission and Registrar of Companies.

TheTrustee’s target level of free reserves, equating to six months establishment and core staff costs, currently equates to £706,000. Funds above this level are designated to specific projects particularly the acquisition of land as nature reserves.

Robin Drayton, Hon Treasurer

Auditor’s statement

In our opinion these summarised accounts are consistent with the full statutory accounts on which we have reported with an unqualified opinion.

Approved 24th July 2014.

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