Suffolk Wildlife Trust Magazine May 2020

WildSuffolk The membership magazine for Suffolk Wildlife Trust

Spring/Summer 2020

THE SECRET LIVES OF SWIFTS

They are masters of the air, but need our help

WILDNESS RESTORED

Simon Barnes visits the bigger, better, wilder, wetter, Carlton Marshes NATURE RECOVERY NETWORK

How to attract butterflies Our top tips will encourage butterflies and moths to your patch, whatever its size

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Welcome

After 21 years as Chief Executive I’m stepping down for new adventures, so forgive the reflective tone of my last editorial.

Nearly 60 years ago, Suffolk Wildlife Trust was founded by a band of people who could no longer stand by as woods, hedges and wetlands were cleared and drained. Their first success was securing Redgrave & Lopham Fen and over the succeeding decades our membership and ambitions have expanded. As more people have wanted to make Suffolk better for wildlife, so even more can be achieved.

The economist Schumacher coined the phrase ‘Small is Beautiful’ and although his book was about the take up of appropriate technology it has a wider relevance.

The size of the Trust and its clarity of purpose means it can avoid bureaucracy so good ideas flourish. But even the best ideas need money and support to translate into reality. Thanks to the generosity of you, our members, that has been possible.

There has been frenetic activity in my last few months as the final touches to our 1,000 acre nature reserve at Carlton Marshes and our stunning new visitor centre have been completed. The National Lottery Heritage Fund grant was critical but it was only possible because of the outpouring of support for our vision for the Suffolk Broads.

My passion for nature remains as fierce today as it was when I was a child. But in my role at the Trust it is the people that have made the difference. So thank you to the colleagues, trustees, volunteers and members that have made the last two decades so thrilling. And I particularly remember those members, now passed on, who entrusted us with legacies. It has been a special privilege to create new places for nature thanks to their generous gifts.

Chief Executive

Suffolk Wildlife Trust

Get in touch

Wild Suffolk is the membership magazine for Suffolk Wildlife Trust info@suffolkwildlifetrust.org Telephone 01473 890089 Address Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Brooke House, Ashbocking IP6 9JY Registered charity number 262777 Website suffolkwildlifetrust.org Facebook @suffolkwildlife Twitter @suffolkwildlife Instagram suffolkwildlifetrust Flickr.com/photos/suffolkwildlifetrust

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EARLY PURPLE ORCHID: ISTOCK

A fond farewell

Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

Our Membership Manager, Nicola Martin is happy to help with any questions about your membership on 01473 890089 or membership@ suffolkwildlifetrust.org.

Wild Suffolk Magazine Team Editor Matt Gaw Designer Clare Sheehan Consultant editor Sophie Stafford Consultant art editor Tina Smith Hobson Cover: Orange-tip butterfly Andy Sands/naturepl.com

Suffolk Wildlife Trust is one of a national network of Wildlife Trusts dedicated to safeguarding the future of wildlife for the benefit of all.

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Contents

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4 Your wild summer HOVERFYLY: ALAMY / SWIFTS: NICK UPTON

The best of the season’s wildlife and where to enjoy it on your local patch.

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10 Wild reserves

Wild places to discover this spring and summer.

13 Wild thoughts

Melissa Harrison on discovering your own secret garden.

14 Gardening for wildlife Ten ways your garden can help summer wildlife.

16 Wild news

Local and national wildlife news.

21 We can make space for nature

How Suffolk Wildlife Trust is working with the county’s farmers.

24 Much more than a job

Julian Roughton shares his memories of working for Suffolk’s wildlife.

28 Orchid summer

Find out how, where and when to find orchids.

30 Making the dream real LAPWING: ADOBE STOCK

Writer Simon Barnes visits the new and improved Carlton Marshes.

36 The secret lives of swifts

Learn about these beautiful summer visitors and how you can help them.

6 ways to get involved with Suffolk Wildlife Trust Volunteer Could you donate your

Stay in touch Enjoy the sights

Shop Our online shop and Lackford

Tell your friends Introduce

Wildlife groups Join one of

Leave a legacy After a lifetime’s

skills and time to look after wildlife? A wide range of indoor and outdoor tasks need doing suffolkwildlifetrust.org/volunteer

someone you know to the Trust and share our beautiful landscapes and wildlife. suffolkwildlifetrust.org/nature-reserves

and sounds of nature from across the county on our social media channels. @suffolkwildlife

Lakes visitor centre stock a wide range of nature-related items and gifts. suffolkwildlifetrust.org/shop

our network of local groups and help make a difference to nature where you live. suffolkwildlifetrust.org/wildlifegroups

pleasure from nature, please help ensure its future by leaving us a gift in your Will. suffolkwildlifetrust.org/will

Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

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Your wild summer The best of the season’s wildlife and where to enjoy it in Suffolk

Covid-19

Government We are following onding to guidance and resp tion. Please the changing situa and social check our website up-to-date t os media for the m r nature ou on information s and re nt ce , reserves events.

The hobby has a distinctive dashing flight and will chase large insects and small birds like swallows and martins.

Its prey is often caught in its talons and then transferred to its beak as it flies.

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Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

T h a n k y ou

Thanks to your m embership, we are working hard to make sure the sight of hobb ies snatching insects from the sk y remains part of our everyday, liv ed experiences of th e natural world.

SUMMER SPECTACLE

Hobbies on the hunt Late spring sees the return of the hobby. A sleek little falcon, the hobby is dark, slate-grey above, with a bold black moustache, white cheeks, streaky underparts, and a surprising pair of gingery red ‘pyjamas’. Having flown all the way from sub-Saharan Africa, this master of the air has one thing on its mind-food. The hobby's visit is perfectly timed to coincide with the emergence of large numbers of damselflies and dragonflies from gravel pits, lakes and reedbeds. With aerodynamic, swept-back wings (reminiscent of a giant swift) and a narrow tail, the hobby is quick and agile, making snatching snacks in mid-air seem effortless, even eating on the wing.

BERNARD CASTELEIN NATUREPL.COM

SEE THEM THIS SUMMER (FROM APRIL TO OCTOBER) Carlton Marshes You don’t have to go far to catch a glimpse of a hobby arrowing after its prey at Carlton.

Sightings from the car park are common!

Redgrave & Lopham Fen Dragonflies and damselflies thrive around the pools and wetland of this valley fen; a feast for the eyes and for a hungry hobby.

Lound Lakes With a burgeoning reputation as a hobby hotspot, these aerodynamic predators are known to breed on this reserve.

Reserve info & maps suffolkwildlifetrust.org/nature-reserves

Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

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YOUR WILD SUMMER

Kingfisher Even the merest glimpse of a kingfisher – a half-glance of azure and gas-flame blue – is enough to stir the heart. But during spring and summer, in a breeding season that stretches from March to July, there is a chance to get even better views of this river-haunting hunter. Both male and female birds excavate the nest burrow, generally choosing a vertical bank that provides protection from predators. Two to three broods are raised in quick succession, normally in the same nest. Kingfishers may be beautiful to look at, but their nests are anything but. By the end of the season the burrows are often oozy and smelly and it’s common to see kingfishers taking a quick bath as soon as they leave!

Get broody over a kingfisher this summer.

SEE THEM THIS SUMMER Lackford Lakes This reserve is the place to go to get up close and personal with kingfishers.

Knettishall Heath Watch for the bright thread of a kingfisher’s flight along the Little Ouse.

FIELDCRAFT

ISTOCK

Something of the night: the nightjar is large and sphinxheaded with a whisker-fringed gape.

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Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

A super, natural beauty As its Latin name Caprimulgus europaeus suggests, it was once thought that nightjars suckled goats. In reality, this nocturnal species feeds on insects, which it seizes in flight, often fly-catching from a perch. It hunts by sight, silhouetting its prey against the night sky. The summer is a time for the nightjar’s courtship ritual, when males call to potential mates and fly over them, clapping their wings over their heads like feathered flamenco dancers.

Nightjars are found in heathland and young conifer woodlands.

How to

SPOT A NIGHTJAR Listen The first sign that a

nightjar is nearby is the male’s distinctive, churring song that contains up to 1,900 notes a minute.

Look up While the bark-coloured bodies of nightjar can be hard to see while they are perched, during courtship displays their pointed wings and long tails make them relatively easy to spot.

Stay up (late-ish) While nightjars are nocturnal, their courtship displays take place as soon as twilight begins to creep.

SEE THIS

The most common of the 18 species of bat you might see in the UK is the tiny common pipistrelle. It weighs less than a 10p coin and is just 5cm in length.

DO THIS

Summer is the time of the seaside. Pace the wrack line to collect seaweeds, shells and mermaids’ purses (the egg-sacs of sharks and rays).

SPECIES SPOTLIGHT

Damselflies SCARCE EMER ALD DAMSELFLY: ALAM

Y

SPECIES TO SPOT

Out on patrol No summer outing would be complete without hearing the tell-tale wing-rustle of a patrolling damselfly as it hunts over ponds, rivers and marshland. Their aerial manoeuvres rival the fastest military jet as they duck and turn in pursuit of prey, or avoid the clutches of hungry hobbies.

These adaptable insects rule the airways over wetlands, heath and woodland glades, feeding on flies, midges and even each other. If you thought butterflies were the only insects worth a second glance, these multi-coloured, irridescent predators scream out for attention too.

Common blue damselfly A regular visitor to garden ponds, the common blue is seen from April to September.

WINGS Damselflies rest with their wings folded.

ALL THE MORE TO SEE YOU WITH Large eyes that take up most of the head.

SLENDER FRAME Slim small body.

damselflies mating. Look out for the LARVAE the male clasping the female by Larvae are her neck, while she bends her aquatic. They body around to his reproductive crawl from the organs – this is called a mating water to shed wheel. The eggs are laid within a their skins plant, just below the water's (exuviae). surface and the nymphs climb out of the water up a suitable stem to moult into damselflies. The earliest damselflies can be on the wing by March, with peak diversity found during July and What to look for August. Like most insects, damselflies are at There are 17 species of damselfly resident their most active in warm, sunny conditions, in the UK and all can be found in Suffolk. so choose your spotting day wisely.

Their bright bodies bring a splash of colour Binoculars are a useful tool as many damsels to the land (and water) just as many species will fly off before you can get too close. And of wildflower and butterfly are winding down of course, please take care at the water’s edge. for the season.

Know the difference!

As a general rule, the damselfly is slimmer and smaller than the dragonfly and rests with its wings folded (dragonflies keep them spread outwards). Dragonflies also have much larger eyes than damselflies, with the eyes taking up most of the head as they wrap around from the side to the front of the face.

The eyes of a damselfly are large, but there is always a gap of space between them.

You might even be lucky enough to see

SEE THEM THIS SUMMER Carlton Marshes 2019 saw 28 species of dragonfly and damselfly recorded at this wonderful, watery reserve.

Lackford Lakes The standing waters at Lackford are a vital west Suffolk refuge for a wide species of damselfly.

Framlingham Mere The castle on the hill isn’t the only attraction in this bustling town.

Banded demoiselle A resident of slow-flowing streams and rivers. Look out for the inky thumbprint on its closed wings.

Large red damselfly Often one of the first damsels to appear, it likes to rest at the edge of pools and ponds.

ALAMY / PAUL EDWARDS

ADOBE STOCK

Summer is an excellent time to get to know these beautiful insects and learn to distinguish them from dragonflies.

Top tips THREE

Reserve info & maps suffolkwildlifetrust.org/nature-reserves

Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

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HEAR THIS

Nothing says summer like the screams of swifts. Their loud calls are essential to stay in contact with their fast-flying packs.

FORAGE FOR THIS

During late summer the crab apple begins to ripen. While toe-curlingly sour when raw, it makes delicious sunsetcoloured jellies.

NOT JUST FOR KIDS

Seven ways to enjoy nature this summer PIPISTRELLE: ALAMY

Why should kids have all the fun? Feed your love of nature with these really wild things to do.

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BUTTERFLY SAFARI Last summer saw a butterfly bonanza, with huge numbers of migrant painted ladies stealing the show. See how many species you can spot across Suffolk.

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REBECCA COLE ALAMY

GO ON A BAT WALK When the sun goes down, much of our wildlife wakes up. Take a walk at sunset on a warm evening to spot bats out and about hunting for insects.

See how you can attract bats to your garden by visiting our website’s advice pages. suffolkwildlifetrust.org/ gardeningbats

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Explore our luminous coast.

ISTOCK

BATHE IN PHOSPHORESCENT WATER When the weather hots up there is a good chance that Suffolk’s seas will begin to sparkle at night. Tiny bioluminescent plankton produce an ethereal bluegreen light in response to the water being disturbed.

MATTHEW ROBERTS

PUT YOUR FEET UP Let that mower collect cobwebs and your lawn grow long. It is a big help for insect wildlife and lets you take a break from mowing! Long grass creates a safe haven to hide in, and if there are wildflowers in there, it's good for bees too.

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Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

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GO FORTH WITH GLOW-WORMS These little beetles are the only outdoor illumination you need this summer. While males look like typical beetles, the nightly glow of the female – lighting up to attract a mate in the darkness – is unmistakeable. Head to Knettishall Heath after the sun sets.

SHUTTERSTOCK

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YOUR WILD SUMMER 1 – 30 June

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Are you ready for #30DaysWild?

10 wild ideas

Covid-19 caused most of the Trust’s spring events to be called off – but there are plenty of ways to go wild and stay at home 1 Cloud spotting Lie back and see what shapes you can see in the clouds.

2 Learn bird song Download an app or use a CD or computer to help you identify the calls and songs of birds in your garden.

TWT

30 DAYS WILD This summer sees the return of our annual wildlife challenge, 30 Days Wild – a chance to do something wild every day throughout June. You can sign up here wildlifetrusts. org/30dayswild

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MAKE A REPTILE SHELTER You’re not the only one who likes to sunbathe. Simple steps like leaving out wooden boards, roofing felt or corrugated iron sheets, can give snakes and lizards a place to bask or hide.

Why not follow these steps and make your own hibernacula. suffolkwildlifetrust.org/gardeningreptiles

N at u re cra ft

YOU WILL NEED l 2 to 3 drainpipe off-cuts or cement pipes l Logs and branches l Rocks and bricks l Spade

3 Den building Build a den inside or in the garden. Ironing boards, umbrellas, cardboard boxes, bamboo canes and duvet covers can all be used to build dens.

4 Follow a snail trail Snails make slime to enable them to move over rough surfaces on their muscular foot. You may find the snail at the end of the trail.

5 Wildlife Top Trumps Research fascinating facts about Suffolk’s wildlife species and create your own Top Trumps cards to play with your family.

1 In a sunny spot, dig a

hole about 50cm deep and 1.5 metres across.

2 Fill with logs, branches,

bricks and rocks, leaving plenty of gaps in between.

6 Worm charming Drive a spade, fork or stick into the ground, moving it around to create vibrations and watch to see if the worms come to the surface.

7 Create a hedgehog highway Cut a hole (13cm sq) in the bottom of your fence or dig a channel under the fence to allow hedgehogs to travel.

8 Citizen science Citizen science projects provide opportunities for everyone to contribute to conservation research. Search online for citizen science projects to get involved with.

9 Survey your garden Carry out a survey in your garden to see how many species you can find.

10 Wild Reads Pick up a book. Wild Reads celebrates the connection between the natural world and the written word. See p16.

We've missed running our spring programme of events and activities, but have lots more to look forward to later in the year.

Browse our events page for the latest news suffolkwildlifetrust.org/events

3 Insert entrance tubes

ISTOCK

(drainpipes) at ground level in to the pile.

4 Cover the pile with soil (to about 50cm high).

ILLUSTRATIONS: CORINNE WELCH

5 You can plant

meadow seeds or turf over the mound.

Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

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Discover wild Market Westo

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Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

Walking in Market Weston Fen is a reminder of how the actions of humans and natural conditions can conspire to make rare beauty. Lying in a shallow valley created by a tributary of the Little Ouse, the soil types and water chemistry in conjunction with age-old techniques of sedge harvesting and peat cutting have created conditions for a great diversity of plant and animal species, including some that are extremely rare.

It is on this reserve that you will find the pale-flowered form of early marsh

STEVE AYLWARD

There are a handful of special places in Suffolk that are nothing short of exceptional in their biological richness – and Market Weston Fen is one of them. A visit in summer, when the colour of wildflowers and orchids is matched by the iridescence of dragonflies and damsels, is not to be missed.

Grass-ofParnassus.

orchid, the delicate grass-of-Parnassus and the scarce emerald damselfly, which had previously been classed extinct in Suffolk.

Of the five valley fen reserves that Suffolk Wildlife Trust manages, Market Weston was least impacted by the onslaught of 20th Century drainage and agricultural improvement that destroyed or badly damaged many fens.

Furthermore, there are no water abstraction boreholes near the fen, meaning that the chalk springs still feed the fen as they have done since the end of the Ice Age. When the Trust first became involved at Market Weston, the fen was in decline and the heathland margins had been

Graylings are just one of the species to see at Market Weston Fen. ADOBE STOCK

OUR BEST SUMMER RESERVES

T h a n k y ou

Thanks to your su pport, we can look after Market Weston Fen and all the extraordinary flora and fauna that depend on it.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

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Market Weston Fen

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

on Fen overwhelmed with bracken and birch. A huge investment of time and effort has since fully restored the reserve and the wildlife has responded in turn; among the 250 species of flowering plants found here is the beautiful insectivorous common butterwort and the marsh fragrant orchid, with its hot pink candles of blooms.

In 2006, following support from members and legacies, the Trust was able to purchase much of the remaining part of Market Weston Fen before the puzzle was completed with the acquisition of

DID YOU KNOW In the past, the

fen would have been an essential source of thatching material for local buildings.

The restoration of Market Weston Fen has also revived the traditional sedge harvest.

Saw sedge from the fen is used for roof edges and other awkward places where the rigid stems of reed cannot be used.

STEVE AYLWARD

While a summer walk is a feast for the eyes, one of the joys of Market Weston is its peacefulness Fen Belt in 2017. A circular trail now winds its way throughout the reserve’s 100 acres, past grassland, ponds, scrub and fen and up on to higher sandy ground that offers a panoramic view of the restored fen.

While a summer walk is a feast for the eyes, one of the joys of Market Weston is its peacefulness. Make sure you take time on your outing to soak up the sounds of bubbling water, the papery rustle of dragonfly wings and the quiet song of the soothing reeds.

In the summer look out for the pale flowers of early marsh orchid and grass-of-Parnassus, along with other rarities such as common butterwort and the exotic blooms of marsh fragrant orchid.

Those looking for a longer walk, can reconnect the valley fens with their footsteps, taking in nearby Hopton Fen, Thelnetham Fen and Redgrave & Lopham Fen.

Common butterwort

TOP WILDLIFE TO SPOT Grayling: The grayling is one of 20 of butterfly species found at Market Weston and is one of the UK’s largest brown butterflies. This master of disguise – its cryptic colouring helps to camouflage it against bare earth and stones when it's sunbathing. Can be hard to spot but is best seen between June and September.

Warblers: Sedge warblers, reed warblers and grasshopper warblers are all found here and can be heard ‘warbling’ from scrub.

Scarce emerald damselfly: This rare aerial predator has blue eyes and, as its name suggests, is a bright metallic green with blue on segments of its body near the top of Grasshopper the abdomen. warbler THINGS TO DO As well as being within easy strolling distance of other valley fen reserves, such as Hopton Fen and Thelnetham Fen, the furzy landscape of Knettishall Heath is just a short drive away.

If you want something to wet your whistle, follow footpaths to either the Vine Inn at Hopton or the Mill Inn at Market Weston.

To get the most out of Market Weston Fen, try visiting more than once to see how the reserve changes in a matter of weeks.

Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

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ALAMY STOCK PHOTO / STEVE AYLWARD

From butterflies to common butterwort, you can find a slice of wild peacefulness at Market Weston Fen.

STEVE AYLWARD

Pale-flowered early marsh orchid.

Location: Fen Street, Hopton, Diss, Suffolk IP22 2RF. How to get there: There is ample free parking on the grass verge on Fen Street near the main entrance to the reserve.

Opening times: Free entry all year round, dawn to dusk.

Access: There is good access on foot although some paths are uneven and can be quite muddy at times.

Phone for information: 01473 890089 Email: info@suffolkwildlifetrust.org Website: suffolkwildlifetrust.org/ marketwestonfen

OUR BEST SUMMER RESERVES

More Suffolk Wildlife Trust nature reserves for a great summer day out LOWESTOFT

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2 1

BURY ST EDMUNDS STOWMARKET

ALDEBURGH

A143

HAVERHILL IPSWICH

FELIXSTOWE

PLAN YOUR VISIT

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Winks Meadow

Why now?

Early summer is when Winks Meadow sparks into life. The reserve supports a wide range of plants characteristic of ancient unimproved grassland, including a number of species that are scarce in Suffolk, such as spiny restharrow, sulphur clover and quaking grass. The chance to experience a true lowland meadow in England are now few and far between.

Know before you go Location: Off Christmas Lane, Metfield.

Between Diss and Halesworth, Harleston,

STEVE AYLWARD

Winks Meadow is a slice of old Suffolk.

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Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

Suffolk, IP20 0JZ. Access the reserve through one of the pedestrian gates near the car park. When visiting, please keep to the edge of the meadow to prevent damage to the flora and the hay crop.

Open: Free entry all year, dawn to dusk.

Wildlife to spot: Seven species of orchid, spiny restharrow, sulphur clover, adder’s tongue-fern, quaking grass and huge numbers of invertebrates.

Find out more: suffolkwildlifetrust.org/ winks-meadow The lowdown Situated on the edge of what was once a Second World War airfield, Winks Meadow is another remnant of a more extensive grassland landscape, which was lost with the post war push to increase food production. The reserve, despite its isolation in the arable heartland of north Suffolk, is a botanical wonderland, supporting earlypurple, twayblade and green-winged orchids, as well as common spotted, bee and pyramidal orchids. Furthermore, it is the only place in Suffolk where frog orchids – whose flowers resemble red-tinged amphibians – can be found.

Wangford Warren

Why now?

The seaside isn’t the only place where you’ll find sand dunes. Wangford Warren is the last place in the UK where it is possible to experience inland dunes. The panorama of mounds and dunes – now stabilised by sand sedge – together with grazed grass and open disturbed soil are home to a large number of rare specialist plants and animals.

Know before you go Location: On A1065 Between Lakenheath and Brandon, Brandon, Suffolk, IP27 0SJ (The road is busy so please take care when pulling in and out).

Open: Free entry, July-March, dawn to dusk Wildlife to spot: Grey hair-grass, shepherd’s cress, bearded fescue, reindeer moss. Solitary bees, solitary wasps, plus rare and delightfully -named ground beetles such as wormwood moonshiner, brush-thighed seed-eater.

Find out more: suffolkwildlifetrust.org/ wangfordwarren

Wangford is a place where nature and humans have conspired to create strangeness.

STEVE AYLWARD

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PLAN YOUR VISIT

The lowdown When Neolithic settlers first came to the Brecks, they soon found the thin, glacial soils were not capable of sustaining crops for long. The combination of cultivation with the later introduction of sheep and rabbits soon exposed shifting sands. The now stationary dunes at Wangford are all that remains of a strange landscape that once stretched from Brandon to Lakenheath.

Info & maps for all reserves suffolkwildlifetrust.org/naturereserves

WILD THOUGHTS

Melissa Harrison

ILLUSTRATION: ROBIN MACKENZIE

Discover your secret garden When I lived in central London I had my very own Secret Garden: a tiny pocket park a couple of streets away. That’s even what I called it, as its real name was long and humdrum and totally failed to capture how magical the place felt to me. An overgrown and largely overlooked halfacre created from the abandoned grounds of a long-gone Victorian villa, there was a pond, a single redwood, an old statue and winding paths lost under ivy, brambles and bindweed. I found frog spawn in spring, and sometimes a heron visited. Long-tailed tits chirruped in the branches overhead and when it snowed neat lines of fox prints led to a den deep beneath the brambles.

For years my Secret Garden was a refuge from the city and a source of inspiration, even becoming a key location in my first novel, Clay.

For the two decades I spent in the capital I relied on contact with nature to help make urban life not just survivable, but enjoyable. Finding special places like my Secret Garden proved transformative, keeping me connected to weather, wildlife and the ancient cycle of the seasons – all things modern life can ameliorate or sometimes erase. Even in my twenties I instinctively knew I needed nature, and now the science is bearing it out: spending time in wild places eases stress, regulates our emotions, boosts our immune systems and improves both physical and mental health. None of that should come as a surprise, given that we evolved in nature, rather than separately from it. We

fare less well in myriad ways the further A LITTLE BIT WILD removed we allow ourselves to get.

Creating a life that’s connected to Find your nature doesn’t have to mean moving connection to deep countryside, going on long Create an ongoing hikes in technical clothing, getting in relationship with your the car and driving to a national park special place in a way or learning long lists of Latin names that works for you – for birds (though you can do all those drawing, meditating, things if you like!). Nor is connecting to writing or even going for nature something we should experience a run. Be inspired by our as a duty – one more thing to fit into an 30 Days Wild Challenge! already busy life. wildlifetrusts.org/ All it requires is a little curiosity about 30DaysWild the wilder world around you – whether that’s your garden, park, local beauty spot or nearest Wildlife Trust reserve – as well as an ongoing interest in what’s living there, and a willingness to find out what it looks, sounds, feels and smells like during all four seasons of the year.

To connect with a special place in this way taps into age-old instincts, answering deep, Melissa subconscious, but often unmet needs.

Harrison is Over time, your attention will be repaid a nature writer tenfold, it deepens and enriches your and novelist, daily life, filling it with wonder. and editor of the anthologies The Wildlife Trusts are looking forward to Spring, Summer, the release of The Secret Garden in Autumn and cinemas. Search for your own secret space at Winter, produced your nearest Wildlife Trust nature reserve. in support of The Visit suffolkwildlifetrust.org/nature-reserves Wildlife Trusts.

Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

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Gardening for

moths and butterflies

Grow nectar-rich flowers

By day and by night, gardens large and small can provide a haven for Britain’s beleaguered butterflies and moths. Kate Bradbury suggests nine ways to support all the stages of their life cycles

Make sure something is in flower from March through to November, starting with primroses, bluebells and forget-me-nots in spring, then alliums, lavender and scabious in late summer, and late-flowering Verbena bonariensis, sedums and rudbeckias in autumn.

Plant some climbers Bare fences and walls are a wasted opportunity to help butterflies. Cover them with plants and provide nectar-rich flowers and shelter for species, such as brimstones, to hibernate. If you grow hops, comma butterflies may lay their eggs on its leaves.

Provide caterpillar foodplants Add a window box If you don’t have a garden or your space is small, grow nectar-rich flowers in pots, window boxes or hanging baskets. Choose low-growing primrose and lavender for pots, and nasturtiums for baskets.

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Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

Butterflies need the right plants to lay eggs in your garden. Grow cuckooflower for caterpillars of the orangetip butterfly, nettles for peacocks, small tortoiseshells and red admirals, and holly and ivy for the holly blue.

ILLUSTRATION: HANNAH BAILEY, PHOTO: SARAH CUTTLE

GARDENING FOR WILDLIFE Butterflies and moths have suffered huge declines in recent years. This is largely due to habitat loss, but agricultural pesticides and climate change have made life even more challenging for many species.

Happily, there’s plenty we can do to help them on our own patch, no matter its size. The UK’s gardens take up more space than all of its nature reserves put together, so if we all gardened with butterflies and moths in mind, we could help slow, or even reverse, some of these declines.

We tend to feel more fondly about butterflies than moths, which can be viewed with ambivalence as they fly at night and a few species eat our clothes.

But not all moths fly at night – the six-spot burnet and hummingbird hawkmoth can be spotted during the day – and many of them are just as beautiful as their day-flying cousins. Only about five of our 2,500 species eat clothes and moth caterpillars are an important source of food for nesting birds,

Avoid cutting down plants in autumn Some butterflies, such as orange-tips, overwinter as chrysalises, which makes them vulnerable to tidying.

Leave plants intact over winter and clear them in spring instead. Always check for chrysalises just in case!

hedgehogs and amphibians. So by gardening for moths, we can also help other wildlife.

As adults, most butterflies and moths drink nectar, but their caterpillars eat leaves and other plant material. To make them truly welcome in our gardens, we need to support all stages of their life cycle by growing nectar-rich flowers for the adults and foodplants for the caterpillars. We also need to accommodate the stage in between caterpillar and adult – the chrysalis (butterfly) or cocoon (moth).

Many species spend the winter in this vulnerable stage so leave a little patch to grow a bit wild for them. Making space for butterflies and moths to feed, breed and hibernate in our gardens will make all the difference to these struggling pollinators.

Kate Bradbury is passionate about wildlife-friendly gardening and the author of Wildlife Gardening for Everyone and Everything in association with The Wildlife Trusts.

Discover more ways to welcome moths and butterflies into your garden on our website: wildlifetrusts.org/butterflygarden

Grow night-scented plants Plant a mixed native hedge If you have space, plant a native tree or two. Many moths lay their eggs on the leaves of willow, dog rose, birch and hawthorn. Grow a climber, such as honeysuckle, through the hedge to make it even more moth-friendly.

Plant groups of common jasmine, evening primrose, honeysuckle and night-scented stock together, so that moths can find them more easily.

Leave some weeds Many moths lay their eggs on the leaves of nettles, brambles, dock and dandelions. Even leaving weeds at the back of borders, where you can’t see them, will make a difference.

Don’t be too tidy While some moths breed in long grass, many caterpillars and pupae spend winter hibernating in grass or among leaf litter and other plant debris. Leave things where they are in autumn and winter, and tidy up in spring instead.

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WILD NEWS

Highlights from Suffolk and national news from The Wildlife Trusts

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WILD READS Let a book take you on a wild journey this summer.

The 10 books in the Wild Reads collection, all of which explore our relationship with nature.

WILD READS

From wild places to wilding

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Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

Cure, by Richard Mabey, Notes from Walnut Tree Farm, by Roger Deakin, Thinking on my Feet, by Kate Humble, Meadowland, by John Lewis-Stempel, The Overstory, by Richard Powers, The Salt Path, by Raynor Winn, and Wilding,

by Isabella Tree.

The Wild Reads collection of books is available across Suffolk, with the full collection on display and available for loan at Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds library.

Find out more suffolkwildlifetrust.org suffolklibraries.co.uk/wild-reads

Look out for our Walking Book Group starting later this year.

ALAMY

A new campaign to promote the connection between the natural world and the written word is running throughout 2020. Wild Reads, organised

by Suffolk Libraries and Suffolk Wildlife Trust consists of a collection of 10 books, spanning fiction and non-fiction, which explore our relationship with nature.

The Trust’s Head of Learning, Sara Holman, said she hoped the project will encourage people to engage with nature, whether it is through accessing the books at libraries or by taking part in book-related activities on the Trust’s reserves.

The 10 books include: All Among The Barley, by Melissa Harrison, The Peace of Wild Things, by Wendell Berry, The Wild Places, by Robert Macfarlane, Nature

NEWS

Coastal custodian

We are assessing the potential impacts of Sizewell C.

EDF ‘unlikely’ to fully compensate for Sizewell C

SIZEWELL C

Suffolk Wildlife Trust is continuing to challenge evidence put forward by EDF Energy as part of their proposals to build a new nuclear power station at Sizewell.

While our final written representation to the Planning Inspectorate will be comprehensive, the Trust is currently focussing efforts on understanding the potential impact of the loss of rare protected habitat within Sizewell Belts

SSSI and the implications for rare species such as marsh harrier, bats and natterjack toad. Our current view is that it is very unlikely that EDF will be able to mitigate or fully compensate the damage to our wildlife that Sizewell C would cause. When EDF submit their plans we will let all our members know what we will be doing and how you can support us.

LACKFORD LAKES

The pupa were discovered in the stems of hempagrimony.

New species to science A new species of stem-boring fly has been discovered at Lackford Lakes. The puparia of the fly was discovered in the stems of hemp-agrimony by a Trust volunteer, Graham Moates. In recognition of Graham’s discovery, the species has been named Melanagromyza moatesi.

The holotype (the specimen upon which the description of the species is based) is now at the National History Museum in London.

BITTERN: DAVID KJAER / EADT

Alan started with the Trust as a volunteer and then in 1993 joined the staff as warden for Sizewell Belts where he led the restoration of the wet marshes – a specialism which has nurtured some of our best coastal wetlands, with the purchase of Dingle Marshes and the creation of Hen Reedbeds.

The transformation of Hen Reedbeds from mud, to one of the UK’s first new reedbeds to attract breeding bittern, was astonishing – and it is now a mainstay not just for bittern, but also for bearded tit, water rail and marsh harrier.

Alan’s impact on the Suffolk coast reaches beyond the reserves, working with neighbours and landowners to support breeding waders. He saw through huge changes in the scale and ambition of the Trust’s activities and many of our reserve staff started their careers being mentored and trained by him.

Incredibly active as a volunteer, Alan is a founder member of Suffolk Bat Group, the Suffolk Mammal Group and more locally with the Blyth Woods group, so nature will continue to thrive under his expert eye. Enjoy your retirement Alan!

ALA MY

JOHN FERGUSON

We look back on Alan Miller’s 40 year commitment to conservation on the Suffolk coast.

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UK NEWS

UK UPDATE

A big splash for UK seas – our 2019 marine review Together, the Wildlife Trusts form the UK’s largest marine conservation organisation. Our Living Seas teams are the eyes and ears of the UK’s coast.

Throughout 2019, with the help of over 5,000 volunteers, they did wonderful things for the wildlife in our seas, and there is more planned for 2020.

Careful monitoring revealed some fantastic good news stories around our shores, from bumper breeding seasons to amazing discoveries.

A new citizen science project logged 320 sightings of cetaceans off Yorkshire’s east coast, including minke whales, bottlenose dolphins and harbour porpoises. There was good news for seals too, with Cumbria Wildlife Trust counting a site record of 483 grey seals at South Walney, including seven pups. Elsewhere, an individual seal, nicknamed Tulip Belle, was discovered commuting between the Isle of Man and Cornwall.

Lara Howe, Manx Wildlife Trust’s marine officer, says: “It shows that seals will swim great distances for food and a place to pup, highlighting the importance of a network of Marine 18

Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

Protected Areas around the UK, so that wherever marine wildlife goes there are healthy seas to support them.”

Our fight to secure this network saw a huge victory last summer, with the designation of 41 new Marine Conservation Zones.

There was further good news with a welcome boost for some of our struggling seabirds. On Handa Island, Scottish Wildlife Trust counted 8,207 razorbills, the highest number since 2006, though the population is sadly still in trouble. In North Wales, Sandwich terns had a bumper year, with 800 chicks fledging compared to just 180 in 2018.

Sadly, it wasn’t all good news. Several Wildlife Trusts reported an increase in disturbance. Jet skis, kayakers, boats and drones have all been recorded causing distress to marine wildlife like dolphins, seals and seabirds.

Plastics, ocean litter and discarded fishing gear also continue to devastate marine wildlife, though Wildlife Trusts around our shores cleared up huge amounts of litter, including 2.5 tonnes picked up by the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust.

OUR COASTAL WORK n Over 5,000 volunteers supported coastal Wildlife Trusts with beach cleans, surveys and shore-based events. n More than 200 sharks, skates and rays were tagged as part of Ulster Wildlife’s SeaDeep project, helping us monitor these vulnerable animals. n Two giant gobies were among 1,310 species recorded in just 24 hours as Devon Wildlife Trust’s Wembury Marine Centre celebrated its 25th anniversary. n 27 tonnes of litter and fishing gear collected by fisherman for Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s Fishing 4 Litter.

Get involved We need to put nature into recovery on land and at sea. Join us on our campaign for a wilder future: wildlifetrusts.org/wilder-future

BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN: JOHN MACPHERSON/2020VISION

A bottlenose dolphin leaps clear of the water in the Moray Firth.

NEWS

UK UPDATE

Together

100 miles of wilder landscape housing, road and rail and stay within environmental limits for nature, carbon and water.

Special habitats are under threat, including ancient woodland and grazing marsh, which supports rare and declining wading birds like curlew and redshank.

The Wildlife Trusts have created an alternative vision for this land: 100 miles of wilder landscape in which people can live, work and enjoy nature. By protecting and connecting the wildest places, we can introduce a new way of planning that has nature and people’s wellbeing at the centre.

Find out more wildlifetrusts. org/100-miles-wilder

New leader for The Wildlife Trusts The Wildlife Trusts are delighted to welcome Craig Bennett as our new Chief Executive Officer.

One of the UK’s leading environmental campaigners, Craig joins The Wildlife Trusts from Friends of the Earth, where he was Chief Executive.

In a conservation career spanning over 20 years, Craig has led a movement to end peat cutting on important moorlands, helped secure better wildlife legislation through The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and, more recently, led successful campaigns to highlight climate change and to protect and restore bee populations.

we’re stronger Here are some of the ways your membership has been helping to protect local wildlife.

12,000 hours of work and support have been donated to Suffolk Wildlife Trust by volunteers in the past 12 months.

150 landowners advised

by Suffolk Wildlife Trust's experts over the past four years.

Thank Craig Bennett said: “The Wildlife Trusts are an extraordinary grassroots movement that is uniquely placed to work with local communities to restore nature and ensure a wilder future, and I could not be more pleased to have been asked to lead them at this incredibly important moment.” wildlifetrusts.org/new-leader

you!

REDSHANK: TOM MARSHALL, MARSH FRITILLARY: ROSS HODDINOTT/2020VISION, GHOST SLUG: PHIL SANSUM

Space for nature should be at the heart of our planning and farming systems.

This is the only way we can create a Nature Recovery Network, enabling wildlife to thrive across the landscape and bringing nature into our daily lives.

But current proposals for developing the land between Oxford and Cambridge do not have nature at their heart. Without proper assessment, the government cannot know whether the area could support the current proposals for

THANK YOU

31

male silver-studded blues were recorded last

An insect apocalypse

summer following a reintroduction campaign at Wenhaston Common.

A new report, Insect Declines and Why They Matter, commissioned by an alliance of Wildlife Trusts in the south west, concluded that drastic declines in insect numbers look set to have far-reaching consequences for both wildlife and people. The report concludes: “If insect declines are not halted, terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems will collapse, with profound consequences for human wellbeing.” wildlifetrusts.org/urgent-action-insects

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green-winged orchid spikes were counted at Mellis Common last year – we hope to beat the record this year!

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We bet you didn’t know...

There can be more than 1 million microscopic fungi in a single gram of woodland soil. There are more than 3,000 species of fungi in the UK.

Hen harrier

Volunteers help to plant trees along the River Blyth.

River of trees

RESERVES

More than 300 trees have been planted alongside the River Blyth as part of the Trust’s ongoing campaign to improve the waterway’s health and habitat.

The first stage of the scheme, which is partnered with the Environment Agency and funded by a Water Environment Grant, saw a kilometre of the river improved with log jams and flow deflectors. These woody features were fixed into the river channel to help vary the flow and reduce sedimentation, improving the habitat for fish and other river wildlife. Further upstream, nine "leaky" log jams were installed to help

Thank you

slow the flow during heavy rain.

Since January the Blyth River Warden volunteers planted riverside trees and shrubs, further improving the habitat by providing shelter for fish and invertebrates in their root systems, which also help to stabilise the riverbanks. When mature, these trees will shade parts of the channel, regulating water temperatures in the summer and controlling the growth of in-channel vegetation.

Get involved contact alice.wickman@suffolk wildlifetrust.org or call 07826 897009

LEGACIES

We are grateful to the families of the following friends of the Trust who have recently remembered us in their Will or through an In memoriam donation.

Ruth May Burkin Adam Campbell Christopher Clarke Martin Crook Margaret Curwen Duncan Day Pete Dowling Frankie James Garnham Beryl Johnson Christopher Jolly 20

James Kemp Paul Anthony Kiely Peter Stanley Lawrence Dick MacGregor Gladys Murphy Doris Punchard Malcom Reid Barry Shaw Victor Talmadge Edna Thompson Nicholas 'John' Watts

Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

Thank you to Reeman Dansie Auctioneers and Valuers for supporting the sale of items from Mrs Pamela Ford's estate, proceeds from which will directly support wildlife in Suffolk. The collection is planned later in the year. Please check Reeman Dansie website for details.

Can you help deliver our vision?

Do you have a passion for wildlife and the skills to help deliver our vision?

Suffolk Wildlife Trust is seeking committed individuals to join our board of trustees and influence the strategic direction of the organisation.

We welcome applications from a diverse range of backgrounds, experiences and skill sets. Experience in finance / accounting, land agency, business management, strategy development or environmental law is particularly welcomed but all applications will be considered.

The role provides an exciting opportunity to influence wildlife and conservation across Suffolk as well as the chance to develop your skills and knowledge.

Find out more visit suffolkwildlifetrust.org/ volunteering-opportunities/join-ourboard-trustees

ALAMY

SARAH GROVES

An overwintering hen harrier regularly thrilled visitors at Black Bourn Valley. It is thought the harrier, one of the most critically endangered birds of prey, was drawn to the reserve due to the number of voles, mice, and small birds to be found on the ex-arable fields.

Farmland birds like corn bunting stand to benefit from the Trust’s work with the county’s farmers.

RICHARD BROOKS RSPB IMAGES

We can make space for

nature

With agricultural land covering vast tracts of Suffolk, the future of the county’s countryside and the wildlife it holds is in the hands of our farmers. But they are not alone; the Trust is supporting them every step of the way.

MATT GAW

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Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

CHRISTINA BOLLEN ALAMY

Almost 80% of land in Suffolk is farmed Setting targets The skylark is just one of the species that the Trust is using to measure the success of its habitat improvement work with Suffolk farms. Following advice and support of where farms can make changes – whether it is digging ponds, creating wildflower-rich meadows, increasing hedgerow cover or even leaving areas fallow – monitoring takes place to see how pollinating insects and farmland birds including the skylark, lapwing and yellowhammer have increased.

Although the Trust has worked with farmers and landowners for many years, in particular with clusters of farms in the Stour Valley and Bramfield, the creation of Sam’s role in September 2019, emphasises the importance of wildlife conservation on agricultural land. After

MATTHEW ROBERTS

T

he rain stops slowly, like a stiff tap being turned off, to leave a wet woollen sky that sags over the trees and hedgerows of this mid-Suffolk farm. The paths skirting the fields have been transformed into a gluey, puddle-potted mud, but even though the sun is still struggling to cut through the spitball-greyness of the clouds there is a lightness to the land; it comes from the mildness of the temperature, the early blooms of blackthorn and most of all, from the birds. Over clouds of linnet and the tut of a blackbird comes the song of the skylark; a thread of golden, fluted notes that seem to sew earth and sky together.

Sam Hanks, Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s Farmland Wildlife Adviser, points to where a single bird is rising on fanning wings, before it parachutes down again as if winged by buckshot. All the while it sings and sings and sings. In the space of a minute, the first bird is joined by three others, silhouetted against the paleness of the sky. They are all males, giving voice to attract mates, or to warn rivals that territory has been taken.

Their songs, blown through the voice box, a double-barreled syrinx no bigger than the nail on a child’s finger, wraps around the land like a cat’s cradle around fingers.

Flocks of beautiful yellowhammer quickly return to land that is farmed with wildlife in mind.

Wildflowers and rough edges are important spaces for invertebrates and pollinators.

FARMING FOR WILDLIFE

CIRCLE: Sam

A FARMER'S VIEW Stephen Honeywood has worked with advisers from Suffolk Wildlife Trust for the past seven years.

“If you took this farm 20 years ago, it is unrecognisable from what we have here. We’ve gone from no barn owls at all to 4 pairs, the butterfly list is extensive, we’ve got all kinds of damselflies and insects. But in general, the volume of wildlife we have now has changed. The farm is always alive.

“I am definitely proud of what we have done here. I’m

all, the United Kingdom is a farmed country. Almost 75% of land is given over to agriculture, with that figure probably rising to around 80% in this county.

Between 1935 and 1998, aided by chemicals, heavy machinery, crop science and subsidies from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), British farmers roughly tripled their per-acre yields of wheat, oats and barley.

At the same time, old techniques of rotation were abandoned, hedgerows were ripped out and semi-natural habitats were drained. An estimated 97% of hay meadows were lost – ‘improved’ with fertilisers, or broken by the plough. In the two decades between 1990 and 2010, the area of crops treated with pesticides in the UK increased by a half.

ALAMY

Skylarks stitch earth and air together with their song.

TONY FLASHMAN

STEVE AYLWARD, SARAH GROVES

Hanks SWT Farmland Wildlife Adviser.

the custodian of this land and if I can pass it on to my kids as something that is a lot better that’s got to be a good thing.

As farmers we have to care and lead the way. Looking at the percentage of land that is farmed in the UK, if the farming industry doesn’t care about wildlife and what we are doing with it, we’re going to be in a pretty poor state.

It is an opportunity for farmers to show the public, to help them understand what we are doing.”

Carefully planned vision includes making space for wildlife

Farmland declines The environmental toll of intensive farming was laid bare by the State of Nature report. The now annual health check on the UK's wildlife, put together using figures from 50 conservation organisations, concluded in 2019 that: “Farmland birds have declined more severely than birds in any other habitat” in 50 years. Alongside the loss of quarter of our moths, 90% of turtle doves, yellowhammers have crashed by 60% and skylarks by more than 75%.

Sam describes it as “nothing short of a disaster for wildlife” but adds it is important not to point the finger at farmers. “The situation we are in is obviously not good.

But it is no use blaming farmers.

They had to do what they were advised to do, both to have a livelihood and to grow food.

What we have to think about now, is where we go from here.

Fuzzy farming The farm we are on today is an example of what can be done by working together. Owned

by Stephen Honeywood, the farm produces cereals for Jordans and a specialised horse feed. But space has been made for wildlife. The hedgerows stretch to their natural height of about 12ft and plans are underway to dig more ponds to support amphibians, insects and birds. This field, haunted by skylarks and also used by breeding lapwings, has been kept fallow. There is a feeling that the whole farm is alive. Close your eyes and you could be in the most biodiverse of nature reserves.

As we walk back to the farmhouse, Sam talks about how the land here has a “fuzziness”; a lack of hard edges, scrub and hedge blending softly with fields. It is, he says with a smile, “fuzzy farming”.

But, importantly there is nothing cutesy,

or wishy-washy about this place. Stephen’s farm is a successful, commercial farm, it is just that the vision for its management includes making space for wildlife.

Although in the job for less than a year, Sam says he believes there is an enthusiasm for incorporating wildlife management into farming models. “The reception has been really good. I’ve already visited a lot of farms. We’ve started working with places that we haven’t been actively involved with, so it’s really positive.” Yet, Sam knows it won’t all be easy, that some landowners could be resistant to change.

“There is certainly plenty of work to be done. But in terms of the opportunity for big conservation wins, it is exciting. We just need to get as many people on board as possible.”

With the fate of so many of our familiar species hanging in the balance, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Find out more suffolkwildlifetrust.org/ farmland-wildlife-advice

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Much more than a job After the best part of four decades, Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s Chief Executive is moving on. Here he shares his personal memories and hopes for the future.

BY JULIAN ROUGHTON

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Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

A SOUNDTRACK TO A CAREER IN CONSERVATION

I

t was September 1985 and having completed an environmental degree it was clear that, without experience, I would not secure my dream job in nature conservation. Along with everyone else on our university course I was looking to get on that first rung of the ladder. Well not quite all – one of us, Juliet Hawkins, had been appointed Suffolk’s farm wildlife adviser – the first paid role of its kind in the country. She encouraged me to move to Suffolk as the Suffolk Trust for Nature Conservation (as Suffolk Wildlife Trust then was) needed volunteers.

I was easily persuaded, not least because of the draw of Bradfield Woods. I had read Oliver Rackham’s Ancient Woodlands, which details this unique wood with its complex soils and consequently diverse plants and trees. It also uncovers the rich heritage of medieval woodbanks, boundary pollards and thousand-year-old ash stools. Fifteen years earlier – at a Public Inquiry – Rackham’s research had saved Bradfield Woods from the bulldozer as the wood’s national importance was made evident.

Into the woods I was keen to see the wood’s compelling combination of natural and cultural history and my offer of help was grasped with enthusiasm

by Pete Fordham, the warden of Bradfield Woods, as he needed extra hands to help with coppicing. I was given the use of an old caravan at the front of the wood until I could find my own accommodation. So began a memorable 18 months at Bradfield Woods.

My volunteer role would best be described as a labouring woodsman. I had neither the experience nor training to use a chainsaw, so I cleared up cut hazel stems and stacked ash logs. It was, and still is, a physically

demanding role that has changed little over hundreds of years. At that time ash stems went for tool handles at the Whelnetham Rake Factory, now closed, and hazel was in demand by thatchers – even the woodash from the fires was used – going to potters to make glazes.

I was not the only one looking for paid work in the mid-1980s. High unemployment led to the creation of the Manpower Services Commission (MSC) to help give young people new skills for work. The Trust had set up an MSC funded programme to train graduate ecologists along with practical roles in woodland management that would produce future tree surgeons and woodsmen.

This MSC programme was extraordinarily successful in nurturing young conservationists – amongst former colleagues are an international conservation charity CEO, a director at Natural England and Plantlife’s regional conservation director. The need for young graduates to gain practical experience remains and I’m delighted that Suffolk Wildlife Trust offers training placements to this day.

Searching for dormice I took a role as a ecological surveyor and in this capacity initiated Suffolk’s first dormouse survey. Suffolk was on the edge of their range and there had been precious few records since Victorian times. Since the Trust was encouraging traditional woodland management it was important to know where they still existed.

Dormice are strictly nocturnal and highly elusive so finding them proved to be much more difficult than I had envisaged. Today survey techniques have been perfected with footprint tunnels and dormouse boxes but I was using large wire mesh cage traps placed in the hazel canopy and baited with apple.

My first priority was to find out

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Thirty years ago Bradfield Woods was a stronghold for nightingale.

These were magical days with the wood to myself and nightingales singing all around

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Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

Frustration After dormice my next role was coordinating the Trust’s MSC activities in the Brecks managing two teams that were keeping heaths clear of pines.

There were no environmental schemes or support for owners of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) so the heaths had not been grazed for fifty years and the increasing tree cover was threatening specialist Breckland plants and birds.

The Trust worked on the Elveden Estate heaths, such as Deadman’s Grave and Lakenheath Warren. These places felt so remote with their stone curlew, bubbling call of common curlew and, the occasional, ‘wet my lips’ song of quail. It was wonderful that such places still existed and Suffolk Trust for Nature Conservation played a pivotal role until the return of grazing to these heaths.

Away from the heaths, specialist Breckland plants were under tremendous threat from agriculture and development. At Brandon was a tiny remnant of a once extensive heath with the UK’s largest population of field wormwood,

PHIL MORL EY

how dormice were using Bradfield Woods and which ages of coppice. As the apple bait was deliciously attractive to blackbirds I had to be in the woods shortly after dawn and back again at dusk to re-open them. Yellow-necked mice also loved the apples and when caught were inclined to bite vigorously so I underwent a steep learning curve! It was many weeks before I caught my first dormouse but these were magical days with the wood to myself and nightingales singing all around.

Thankfully, my ability to find dormice improved and by autumn I was surveying ancient woods for the distinctively eaten hazel nuts that are evidence of dormice. I met older people for whom dormice had been familiar in their youth such as a former thatcher who found a snoring, hibernating dormouse and an elderly lady who, as a child, kept them as pets. She described how, when her dormouse fell into a torpor (as they do in low temperatures) she would roll the unfortunate animal along a table for entertainment.

Artemesia campestris. It was a sad sight – a quarter of an acre surrounded by light industrial units.

Elsewhere was Lakenheath Poors Fen – 12 acres of species-rich fen surrounded by drained arable land. It was a SSSI but the Internal Drainage Board then had little regard for such designations. One morning I found the surrounding dykes deep-dredged to the chalk with dozens of eels writhing in spoil dumped on the fen. Conservation was battling to safeguard the fragments of natural habitat and many of these, in a hostile landscape, were too small to protect the species that made them special. It was a war of attrition – marsh pea disappeared from Lakenheath Poors Fen and bog myrtle from Pashford Poors Fen as these sites became drier.

A SOUNDTRACK TO A CAREER IN CONSERVATION

ALAMY

STEVE AYLWARD

“Rewilding” at Black Bourn is just one of the groundbreaking projects Julian has overseen.

SWT

Julian and the late, great David Bellamy, discuss conservation at Redgrave & Lopham Fen.

ALAMY

From trying in vain to catch them, to leading the Trust’s re-introduction campaign, dormice have punctuated Julian’s career.

Working in partnership – Julian (centre) with (left) James Robinson, RSPB and Paul Forecast, National Trust.

Fighting for nature Fortunately, times were changing, and in the late 1980s John Gummer (Lord Deben) as Minister for Agriculture introduced Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) with three in Suffolk – the Brecks, the Broads and the Suffolk River Valleys.

Rewarding landowners to look after wildlife sites was a transformation to what had been a purely agriculturally focused policy.

When I returned to Suffolk Wildlife Trust in 1995 (after seven years at the Woodland Trust) it was clear that much more was possible thanks to growing public support. New agri-environment schemes were enabling the restoration of neglected meadows, heaths and fens after decades of abandonment. Places we had thought had been irreparably damaged were being brought back to life. At Redgrave & Lopham Fen, Suffolk Wildlife Trust and Essex & Suffolk Water relocated the public water supply borehole that had sucked the life out of the fen. And as spring water returned to the fen so did species presumed lost forever – roundleaved sundew, marsh fragrant orchid and scarce emerald dragonfly. Marsh harrier and bearded tits bred for the first

time – probably for a century.

Conservation organisations were now looking beyond their current reserves to create new habitats. At Lakenheath, the RSPB turned carrot fields into wetlands and Suffolk Wildlife Trust came to the aid of bitterns by transforming a 20 acre reserve into the 132 acres of Hen Reedbeds.

For the last twenty years Suffolk Wildlife Trust has been rewilding thanks to legacy gifts and support from our members enabling the purchase of hundreds of acres of arable land. New wildlife habitats have emerged – acid grassland at Captain's Wood, native woodland at Arger Fen, rough grassland and scrub at Black Bourn Valley and reedbed and wetlands at Carlton Marshes. Expanding the size of our nature reserves has enabled more complex habitat mosaics to develop and former arable fields now support orchids, great crested newts, lizards and avocet.

A wild future Nature reserves have been hugely successful at saving special places and species while I have been at the Trust, but much needs to be done to reverse the declines of wildlife in the wider countryside. The decision to shift farming support to ‘public money for public goods’ is a starting point to the changes that our wildlife needs. There is growing evidence that the landscape use of pesticides is driving insect and bird declines not just in Suffolk but across Europe. There are farmers doing things differently and working to conserve species – these are our future allies.

In Suffolk there is so much that we can all do to bring wildlife back – whether newts in a garden pond or hedgehogs in a rough corner. Suffolk Wildlife Trust helps nurture a love of nature amongst thousands of families and young people that come to our centres and, hopefully, leave inspired to make a difference.

I love to see buzzards soaring across Suffolk’s skies. Not just for their innate beauty but because they represent the resilience of nature. These majestic birds, once pushed to the margins by persecution and DDT, are now common again. It fills me with optimism that we can tackle the environmental challenges that face us and so enable nature to bounce back.

Find out more about our ongoing efforts for dormouse in Suffolk at suffolkwildlifetrust.org

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Orchid summer Possibly our most enigmatic and characterful wildflowers, orchids are often seen as the jewel in a nature reserves’ botanical crown. Here’s how and when to find them.

BY STEVE AYLWARD

H

istorically 32 of the UK’s 52 species of orchid have been recorded in Suffolk. Today, only around 22 species can be reliably found and even half of those are quite rare. The decline in orchid species over the last 150 years or so is as much a measure of just how Suffolk has changed

Even common species like early purple orchids are no longer widespread and most notably how old grasslands and meadows have been lost from the agricultural landscape.

Some orchid species have always been rare, restricted to niche habitats such as fens and bogs and unsurprisingly, extensive land drainage has had a huge impact on these. But even commonor- garden species like early purple or common spotted orchids are no longer widespread, being mown out of existence 28

Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

Bee orchid

by the tractor’s flail or muscled out of verges by more dominant plants that thrive in today’s nutrient-enriched environment.

One group of orchids that has fared particularly badly are those associated with chalk grassland and the ploughing of this habitat in west Suffolk largely explains the loss of musk, burnt and early spider orchids in the 19th century or earlier.

Grassland, marsh, meadow and wood Of the orchid species found in Suffolk today, the majority are associated with agriculturally unimproved semi-natural habitats such as grassland and marshes or old woodlands. Orchids are a very good measure of habitat continuity over time, reflecting decades if not centuries of little or no change. An old meadow full of green-winged orchids would probably look no different today to those who cut it for hay or grazed it several hundred years ago. Similarly, ancient woods (those known to have existed since at least 1600 AD) are often reservoirs of great botanical interest and home to eight

species of orchid in Suffolk.

The exacting requirements of most orchids means that they typically thrive in habitats full of other wildflowers, many of which are equally dependent on traditional land management and often equally rare. Marsh helleborines for example can be found alongside common butterwort, marsh lousewort and

FIVE AMAZING ORCHID FACTS

1 Orchids were one of the

earliest flowering plants evolving 120 million years ago.

2 One species of orchid only

grows in ants’ nests in the canopy of rainforest trees.

3 A single orchid seed pod can

contain up to 4 million seeds.

4 Some species of orchid can live for up to 100 years.

5 Worldwide, there around

28,000 different orchid species.

FROG ORCHID ALAMY

FIVE TOP SPOTS

Reserves where orchids can reliably be seen.

Martins' Meadows

Early purple orchid April, greenwinged orchid May, pyramidal orchid June.

Bradfield Woods

Early purple orchid April, Common spotted orchid June.

Carlton Marshes

Southern marsh orchid June

Green-winged orchid

Market Weston Fen

black bog rush in calcareous fens, one of Suffolk’s richest botanical environments while green-winged orchids grow amongst such rarities as dyer's greenweed and meadow saffron at Martins’ Meadows.

Hit and miss Finding orchids in Suffolk can be a hit-and-miss business. Some species of orchid can be spotted a mile off, the dayglo pink of a pyramidal orchid in flower can be seen on road verges even when driving past at 60mph. That contrasts with the green flowered twayblade that can be infuriatingly difficult to spot even when it’s right in front of you. And as for bird’s-nest orchid which is found only in the shadiest corners of ancient woods, you need a great deal of good luck to stumble across its dull brown flower spike, (it doesn’t even produce leaves). Many species of orchid however are quite easy to find, it is usually just a case of visiting the right habitat at the right time of year.

A recent orchid success has been the reintroduction of fen orchid to a valley fen reserve in north Suffolk. Fen orchids

had last been recorded in Suffolk in 1974 before disappearing due to a decline in habitat condition and lowered water levels. A number of fen restoration projects starting in the 1990s has reversed these declines and the fens are now in better condition than at any time since the 1950s and the successful reintroduction of fen orchid is the perfect measure of just how much has been achieved.

Orchids on your doorstep It is even possible to entice one or two species of orchid into gardens. If your soil is a heavy boulder clay or quite chalky and areas of grass can be left uncut during the summer, bee or pyramidal orchids may well find it to their liking. Orchid seeds are minuscule and spread by the wind, and therefore orchids can turn up in the most unlikely of locations if conditions are right.

Early marsh orchid May, Marsh helleborine June, Marsh fragrant orchid July.

Black Bourn Valley Bee orchid June, Southern marsh orchid June.

ALAMY, NATUREPL.COM

common spottedorchid.

STEVE AYLWARD

BELOW Frog orchid,

Reserve info & maps suffolkwildlifetrust. org/nature-reserves

Marsh helleborine Wild Suffolk | Winter 2019/20

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RSPB IMAGES

As if the wind had summoned them into life, the sky was filled with lapwings 30

Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

Making the dream real In less than four years, following financial support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and our members and supporters, wildness has been returned to this precious corner of East Anglia.

BY SIMON BARNES

Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

31

T

WALL BROWN: ISTOCK

hey say you can always spot someone from East Anglia because we walk without effort at an angle of 45 degrees to the ground. It’s about the winds that howl from one side of the place to the other without any interruption from what people from more lumpy places call hills.

And it was a classic 45-degree day when I went back to Carlton Marshes.

We were right in the middle of the belligerent windswept weather that greeted us in the opening months of the year. All the world was wind and all the country had been ironed flat. We were small parts of an eternal wet windscape: so big you thought it would never end and that you would never want it to.

Then, as if the wind had summoned them into life, the sky was filled with lapwings: 2,000 lapwings: floppy wings strobing black-white, black-white as they rose without any effort whatsoever. But

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Wild Suffolk | Summer 2020

ERNIE JANES ALAMY / STEVE AYLWARD

STEVE AYLWARD

Norfolk hawker

The place is brand new and looks eternal: and that is the nature of the triumph once up they found it impossible to go anywhere. Forward was not an option, and if they turned their tails to the wind they’d be in Amsterdam for elevenses.

They compromised by side-slipping cautiously, all together in a sweetly choreographed movement, not wishing to lose sight of the gorgeous wet land that was stretched out beneath them, but not over-eager to return to whatever momentary danger had alerted them.

After a few minutes of this buffeting betwixt-and-between stuff, one or two courageous souls started to parachute back down onto the welcoming marshes beneath, and the rest followed.

An exceptional place.

Two thousand.

That’s a lot of lapwings. A lot of any bird that has been struggling to make ends meet for years in this country; their smaller numbers is a

Chinese water deer are at home in this wetland wonderland.

sad fact of life in most places. I associate flocks of 2,000 with my boyhood, when lapwings were considered common. But these days I also associate such flocks with truly exceptional places.

Carlton Marshes. Savour that name: because it’s going to be big. People talk of Minsmere, Cley, Bass Rock, Chanonry Point, Fair Isle, Slimbridge… great places and great names: for wildlifers they resound as the Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall and La Scala do for music-lovers. Carlton is about to join that company.

So let’s flash back to 2016. I was bumping round a few fields in a hardbucking 4x4 looking admiringly at a field of beans. They were rotten beans. It was a bit of farming that must have seemed like a good idea at the time. You needed a very special pair of eyes to see those beans as land full of wonder. But it was from that bean field that those 2,000 lapwings rose less than four years later.

I was sharing the bean-field with Julian Roughton, CEO of Suffolk Wildlife Trust, and Matt Gooch, site manager at

CARLTON MARSHES

Carlton. It was obvious that they both had special eyes: eyes that could see future wonders in a hill of beans. They were talking to each and pointing, and every so often turning to me and trying to make me see not beans but lapwings.

They kept on at me with the P-word.

“The potential of this place…”

“And once we’ve dug these scrapes… opened those sluices… planted those reedbeds… taken out those trees… opened out those dykes…”

Now I was back, and with the same people. I was walking at 45 degrees, and seeing at last what they had seen all those years ago. But this wasn’t potential: this was real. They hadn’t made a new nature reserve. They had made a new

landscape. From horizon to horizon this is effectively a new place. They had turned it into Carlton Marshes. Carlton Marshes as it was always meant to be.

Bigger is better Suffolk Wildlife Trust has been involved round here since the 1970s and owned and managed a section of the marshes: 54 hectares. Over time this grew and then came the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy some more land around it and more or less double the size: up to 314 hectares, 1,000 acres or so.

Now here’s one of those funky facts about wildlife conservation. By doubling the size you don’t double the importance of site. You quadruple it. At least. Bigger

means tougher, stronger more resilient, more capable of taking setbacks in stride.

The more connections a wild place has with other wild places, the better it is for everything that lives there. Doubling Carlton Marshes has turned a nice place into a superb place.

It’s about water. The management of the place is very complex and the stages by which it has progressed to its current ever-rising level of excellence show a history of meticulousness and attention to detail. But the principle is simplicity itself: just add water.

Water brings in life. The marshes have been drained in recent centuries, for grazing cattle and growing crops. Put water back and they can revert to fen,

ALAMY

Water voles can navigate the wonderful miles of freshwater dykes, listen out for their telltale ‘plop'.

Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

33

ADOBE STOCK

reedbed, open water and wet grazing marsh. On that blustering wintry day there were ducks and geese all over the pools of water, and the place and the birds all looked as if it had been like this for thousands of years. The place is brand new and looks eternal: and that is the nature of the triumph.

For wildlife and people Now there are two ways of responding to such a place, and they involve a contradiction – but then most of the things we do have contradictions at their heart. Just as we want to travel to great adventures and at the same time, never leave the comfort of home, so we find ourselves in a wild and beautiful place and want to have it for our own forever – and also to share it with the world, especially those who need it most; and Carlton is bang next to Lowestoft.

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Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

Carlton Marshes aims to cope with both sides of that contradiction. On any place with such space, solitude is easily found. But the reserve has been developed for humans as well as lapwings. The new visitor centre was being built; the people at work there seemed relieved that it hadn't all blown away in the night. It’s all been made possible by the generosity of supporters of Suffolk Wildlife Trust, who put up £4 million between them, and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, who contributed another £4 million. That figure, on its own, is a triumph for the Trust: getting a grant of such size can only be done by a top-notch organisation with a fullybaked plan of action.

So you will be able to visit the centre, have a cup of tea, a pee, learn about the marshes and generally be comfortable.

The place will bring in tourists, casual

walk-ups and those who have crossed the country to have a look at Carlton Marshes. There will also be an education programme, so the next generation of people will able to see and understand what wildness is all about. They won’t have to see images of it on a screen: they can be out there in the wind (and perhaps, you never know, the sun) experiencing it for themselves.

They will learn how much this stuff matters. They will, let us hope, take it all on board and look after what’s left of the wild world when their turn comes to be in charge.

Restoration is never complete Julian and Matt were at it again. The reedbeds were growing beautifully: soon there would be breeding bitterns. Those open wet areas: well, what crane could resist? These lovely birds, five foot tall

Carlton Marshes is waiting for you. It’s both a completed masterpiece and a work in progress, just as any great nature reserve should be

JOHN FERGUSON

NATUREPL.COM

Bittern will be just one of the many species that benefits from the transformation at Carlton Marshes.

The new visitor centre will be the perfect place to start and end your wild Carlton experience.

COWPER GRIFFITH ARCHITECTS

BELOW: Matt, Simon

and prone to outbreaks of dancing, were extinct in this country for about 500 years. They came back to East Anglia in the 1970s and have – very, very slowly -been spreading out in recent years.

Wouldn’t they love Carlton?

So the place isn’t finished yet, but then such places never are. It is a glorious Forth Bridge job: a constant task of looking after the water-levels, the wildness and those that care to live here: 72 species of breeding birds in the last five years, water voles, otters, wall brown butterflies, Norfolk hawker dragonflies.

They found 160 species of aquatic insects

just in the dykes that criss-cross the reserve.

The figures are great, but you can sort of understand them without being able to identify any one of the 17 species of dragonfly or the 22 species of beetle in the dykes. You can do it with your eyes closed on a May morning: when you hear the din of bird song you know that this place is jumping with life. You can do the same thing on a windy winter’s day by raising your eyes to the squadrons of lapwings: like the visible chunk of iceberg, they are infallible indicators of the unfathomable richness that lies out

and Julian, survey the landscape from one of the reserve’s new hides.

of sight.

Carlton Marshes is waiting for you. It’s both a completed masterpiece and a work in progress, just as any great nature reserve should be. The best way we can salute the humans who made it all possible is to go there and feast the senses on the wildlife you will find there.

The spring opening of the reserve and centre have been delayed by Covid-19. Look out for updates over the summer. suffolkwildlifetrust.org

Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

35

The secret lives of

swifts

COMMON SWIFT: ROBIN CHITTENDEN/NATUREPL.COM

Swifts epitomise British summertime with their screaming flight. But as fewer of these miraculous birds return to our skies each year, Sarah Gibson reveals how we can help them.

S

wifts are not the quietest birds.

Nor are they given to skulking in the undergrowth. They live their entire lives in the open air, scything past on crescent wings, often making piercing screeches. Yet, like many people, I never used to notice them.

There had been swallows nesting in a barn near my old home in the Welsh borders. I’d see them swooping over the stable door, beaks stuffed with insects for their chicks. Later, I’d watch the fledglings practise flying in the safety of the barn. When I moved to a nearby market town, I missed that closeness… until I discovered swifts.

36

Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

There was a pair nesting in the eaves of the house next door. They would storm down the narrow gap between the buildings with a rush of wings, and perform a handbrake turn to enter their nest hole. Blink and you’d miss them.

Sitting in the garden on fine, still evenings, I watched them gliding through the air, snapping up insects, until the light drained from the sky and the first bats emerged.

Life on the wing Swifts are incredibly aerial birds, living entirely on the wing for years at a time, rarely touching ground for even a moment. They catch all their food in the

air: aphids, flies, spiders, beetles, moths; even dragonflies, whirled into the sky, carried on the wind. Swifts drink and bathe, sleep and even mate on the wing.

They fly closer to the sun than any other bird, feeding and resting at altitude.

Swifts spend most of their lives in Africa, but they journey thousands of miles to breed in a vast swathe across the world, from the westernmost fringes of Europe, eastward to China. Around the globe there are estimated to be somewhere between 95 million and 165 million of them sailing across the skies, justifying their English name of ‘common swift’.

You may wonder why these well-

NATURE CLOSE TO HOME

Sarah Gibson works for Shropshire Wildlife Trust. She’s met swift experts across Europe, raises local awareness of the birds’ plight and revels in the aerial skill of these awesome birds.

travelled birds come to the UK when so many of our summer days are rainsoaked, making it difficult, you might think, to catch the insects they need to feed their young. The answer must be that, apart from the occasional particularly bad year, it works for them – and has done for millions of years. In fact, our northern summers have a great advantage for swifts – long daylight hours, which allow them to forage for 16 hours a day at the season’s peak.

Swifts have several unusual adaptations that enable them to cope with our bad weather. The eggs and chicks of most small birds are vulnerable to chilling, so

extended feeding forays by the parent birds during incubation and brooding can cause the nest to fail. Swift embryos, by contrast, are resistant to cooling, except at the start of incubation. Chicks can become torpid (a state of lowered metabolism) to conserve energy, enabling the parent birds to feed elsewhere, until the weather improves. Once they are a few weeks old and have fat reserves, swift chicks can survive several days without nourishment, greatly enhancing their chances of fledging in variable weather conditions.

Swifts make their nests in crevices in walls, under roof eaves or inside pantiles. Gathering materials takes time – all the feathers, wisps of grass, tree seeds and flower sepals must be found on the wing, before being woven into the nest, a shallow dish glued together with saliva.

Finding a nest hole is the most crucial thing a swift has to do. Most individuals do not breed until their fourth year, but the young birds still make the migration journey and start looking for a safe, dark hole. Once they have found one, the young birds pair up and start to bring in feathers and other nest materials.

Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

37

How to

distinguish swifts

Swifts are not hirundines (the family of birds that includes swallows and martins), but they have a similar appearance and lifestyle, so are often confused with them

Common swift Apus apus

Swifts like high, deep crevices to nest, but as many old buildings have been lost and roof spaces filled, their numbers have declined.

Slender, scytheshaped wings

Uniform dark brown all over

Pale throat patch

Swallow

Hirundo rustica

White underparts

Glossy blue upperparts

Red face and throat

Long, deeply forked tail

House martin Delichon urbicum

Glossy blue-black upperparts

Black tail short and clearly forked

Bright white rump

Underparts white

Sand martin Riparia riparia

Sandy brown above

Shallow fork in tail

38

White belly and throat

Brown breast-band separating throat from belly

Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

The apparent joie de vivre of young swifts is breathtaking. You hear them before you see them, screeching over the rooftops in gangs of seven or eight, racing circuits around buildings. As the poet Ted Hughes put it: Their lunatic, limber scramming frenzy And their whirling blades Sparkle out into blue Hughes also wrote the much-quoted lines about the swifts’ return: They’ve made it again, Which means the globe’s still working, the Creation’s Still waking refreshed, our summer’s Still all to come This anxiety about whether or not ‘our’ swifts will return each May is something most swift-watchers can relate to, but concerns have escalated since Ted Hughes’s poem was published over 40 years ago, with a massive and alarming 57% decline in numbers in the UK recorded between 1995 and 2017.

For thousands of years, swifts have lived alongside us, because

As traditional nest sites become scarce, you can help by fitting a wooden nest box to your home.

the homes and other buildings we constructed for ourselves have also suited them. Today though, we make it much harder for these birds to survive. Fewer insects is likely to be a factor – many other insectivorous birds are also in decline – but swifts are also up against a catastrophic loss of nesting cavities.

Renovation of old buildings almost

Renovation of old buildings almost always results in access to swift nest holes being blocked

NATURE CLOSE TO HOME Swifts migrate between the UK and their wintering grounds south of the Sahara. They are the UK’s fastest birds in level flight, reaching speeds of up to 69.3 mph.

Swifts and Us: The life of the bird that sleeps in the sky by Sarah Gibson published by William Collins.

Meet the swift champions Thankfully, an inspirational movement of swift champions is coming to the rescue across the UK. Around 90 small groups are taking action locally. They run surveys to find swift breeding sites, work to prevent nesting holes from being blocked, install nestboxes, share information and help raise awareness through walks and talks – all with the support of their communities.

Several of these groups, including in Suffolk work with their local Wildlife Trusts, which are perfectly positioned to assist grassroots action, such as nestbox schemes in church belfries and public buildings. The Wildlife Trusts also advocate the use of swift nest bricks – and nature-friendly green spaces – in new housing developments. Several Trusts are campaigning directly with local authorities and working with planners to get the installation of swift nesting bricks written into local planning policy and building conditions.

GET INVOLVED

Five ways to help Suffolk swifts

1 2 3 4 5

Ensure nesting holes are kept open when carrying out roof renovations or insulation.

and groups to be swift champions. We

now have around 15 community Put up a swift box on your house – swifts groups, each at a height of a least five metres. encouraging local action in their own Stop using garden chemicals to unique way: from high street banners and support a healthy insect population. beer mats celebrating the swifts’ return in May to ‘swift walk, swift pint’ events Keep records of swifts entering during Swift Awareness Week. holes in buildings and tell Suffolk Many are checking local planning

Biological Information Service. applications for opportunities to protect Sign up to become a Swift Searcher, existing swift nests or push for new ones look for local swifts and enter on planned developments. More than

their sightings into county records.

200 volunteers have signed up as ‘Swift Searchers’, committed to looking out for local swifts to give a clear picture of where In 2015 Suffolk Wildlife Trust and Suffolk our swifts are and, importantly, where Bird Group set up a joint initiative Save Our Suffolk Swifts to tackle the decline of they are not, so that we can work on the county’s swifts supporting individuals bringing them back.

ILLUSTRATIONS: CHRIS SHIELDS, SWIFT AT EAVES: NICK UPTON, NEST BOX: NICK UPTON, SWIFTS IN FLIGHT: GRAHAM CATLEY

always results in access to their holes being blocked, while new housing tends to be sealed completely against nature.

We need to accommodate nesting swifts – and urgently.

Get involved suffolkwildlifetrust.org/swifts

Wild Suffolk | Spring / Summer 2020

39

A legacy for

Suffolk's wildlife better future for wildlife. Legacy gifts make this possible. Indeed, they have been instrumental in every nature reserve purchase in recent years.

A gift in your Will to Suffolk Wildlife Trust will be kept separate from the Trust’s day to day finances to be used for projects that have a direct and lasting impact on the county’s wildlife.

Thank you

To find out how a gift in your Will could help Suffolk's wildlife, please contact Christine Luxton 01473 890089

suffolkwildlifetrust.org

GRAYLING: STEVE AYLWARD

T

he extraordinary generosity of Trust members and friends who remembered Suffolk Wildlife Trust in their Will has protected some of the county’s most inspiring natural places, for people to cherish for generations to come.

Buying or enlarging our nature reserves is one of the most powerful ways in which we secure a