Suffolk Wildlife - autumn 2017

Suffolk

Wildlife News from Suffolk Wildlife Trust

AUTUMN 2017

SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

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Living Landscapes Living Gardens Living Seas

AUTUMN 2017

CONTENTS

KIM TAYLOR/NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY

9 16

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STEFAN HUWILER ALAMY

TERRY WHITTAKER ALAMY

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CONSERVATION NEWS

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Suffolk Wildlife Trust's vision makes prime time viewing

Our vision for a new landscapescale nature reserve in the Broads National Park was featured on BBC’s Countryfile

Street artist ATM has created a giant hedgehog mural in Ipswich town centre

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Hedgehog street art

SPECIES SPOTLIGHT

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Secrets of Suffolk's bats

James Meyer explains the

secret lives of these nocturnal creatures

LIVING LANDSCAPES

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A goldmine for wildlife Celebrating 30 years of Lackford

Lakes, near Bury St Edmunds

20 Wet and wild

Penny Hemphill explains how the health of Suffolk's rivers has been transformed

Author Melissa Harrison on the trail of the nightingale

30 My first nightingale

UK NEWS

23 Toad study

Research aims to conserve one of the UK's rarest amphibians

DIRECTORY

32 Advertising directory

WILDLIFE FOR PEOPLE

16 Growing up Wild

Memories of a wild childhood in Suffolk

24 Bee a friendly gardener

Whether you've got a window box, a patio or a whole garden, you can really make a difference

26 A new way to build

New developments can enhance wildlife and benefit people at the same time

ILLUSTRATIONS: BILL STEVENSON

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SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

EADT ARCHANT

Welcome

Great crested grebe are breeding at Lackford Lakes

Suffolk

Wildlife News from Suffolk Wildlife Trust

AUTUMN 2017

On the cover Stone curlew

David Chapman Alamy SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

Lackford Lakes holds a special place for me amongst Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s nature reserves, for in my early days working for the Trust the (then) dilapidated farmhouse alongside the reserve was my base.

Lackford was a working quarry and unrecognisable from the tranquillity of today’s nature reserve. The Trust’s small reserve at Lackford, The Slough, was surrounded by vast mounds of excavated sand and gravel with trucks and diggers constantly on the move.

But despite the noise the gravel pits were a magnet Julian Roughton for wintering wildfowl, migrating waders and the Chief Executive occasional excitement such as a passing osprey.

Bernard Tickner, local resident and founder member of the Trust, was the first to spot the place’s potential. Bernard lived opposite the gravel quarry at Fullers Mill and, having failed to stop it from getting planning permission, Bernard negotiated the purchase of The Slough for £50 an acre – a bargain even then. Bernard’s vision was to turn this area into a wonderful nature reserve and he was determined to make it happen. By donating The Slough to Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Bernard established the beginnings of Lackford Lakes nature reserve.

Over the years as the quarry grew, so former sand pits were restored for nature. I’m relieved that the islands in the flooded gravel pits still exists as I’m not sure I was fully competent in my use of a theodolite when setting their ground levels! When the quarry finally closed RMC generously donated their land to Suffolk Wildlife Trust so creating the nature reserve we love today.

2017 marks 30 years since the beginning of Lackford Lakes nature reserve.

And this year, shortly after his 93rd birthday, Bernard Tickner was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for ‘Services to horticulture and wildlife conservation in Suffolk’. There can be few more deserved honours, for not only did Bernard establish Lackford Lakes but he has supported its development over the years with unstinting generosity. And alongside the reserve he created one of Suffolk’s most beautiful gardens – Fullers Mill Garden – now open to the public.

We now have the chance to extend Lackford Lakes nature reserve by another 77 acres to almost 400 acres. A swathe of dry Breck grassland sweeping down to shallow wetlands alongside the River Lark is for sale and with it nightingale, Cetti’s warbler, teal and much more. It is an unmissable opportunity and we would love to have your support.

Suffolk Wildlife Trust owes its pioneering generation of early members a huge debt of gratitude. Bernard’s vision, along with the support of our members and volunteers, has created a wildlife jewel from the noise and bustle of a quarry. It’s a reminder of the enduring power of nature once it’s given space and the opportunity to thrive.

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Living Landscapes Living Gardens Living Seas

SUFFOLK WILDLIFE SUFFOLK WILDLIFE MAGAZINE is published by Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Brooke House, Ashbocking IP6 9JY 01473 890089 info@suffolkwildlifetrust.org suffolkwildlifetrust.org SWT CENTRES Bradfield Woods 01449 737996 Carlton Marshes 01502 564250 Foxburrow Farm 01394 380113 Knettishall Heath 07717 156601 Lackford Lakes 01284 728706 Redgrave & Lopham Fen 01379 688333 EDITOR Matt Gaw

DESIGN Clare Sheehan ADVERTISING Today Magazines, Framlingham 01728 622030 PRINTING Five Castles Press, Ipswich PATRON Lord Tollemache PRESIDENT Lord Blakenham VICE PRESIDENTS David Barker MBE, Sir Kenneth Carlisle, Lord Deben, Dawn Girling, Bernard Tickner MBE, Peter Wilson TRUSTEES Ian Brown (Chairman), Nigel Farthing (Vice Chairman), James Alexander (Treasurer), James Robinson (Hon Secretary), David Alborough, John Cousins, Rachel Eburne, Denise Goldsmith, Pip Goodwin, Peter Holborn, Simon Roberts

SUFFOLK WILDLIFE TRUST is one of a national network of Wildlife Trusts dedicated to safeguarding the future of wildlife for the benefit of all Suffolk Wildlife Trust is a registered charity no 262777 and a company limited by guarantee no 695346

KEEP IN TOUCH

The Trust benefits from the most incredible support, with many members’ commitment stretching over decades. Please keep in touch so we can ensure you get the most out of your membership.

GETTING YOUR MAG ELECTRONICALLY

If you would prefer to receive your magazine in electronic format, please contact info@suffolkwildlifetrust.org or phone 01473 890089 Sam Grange our Membership Manager would love to hear from you. Please call on 01473 890089 Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

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CONSERVATION NEWS

TRUST’S VISION MAKES PRIME TIME VIEWING

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uffolk Wildlife Trust’s vision for a new landscape-scale nature reserve in the Broads National Park was featured on BBC’s Countryfile.

A film crew, fronted by presenter Matt Baker, visited Carlton Marshes to learn more about the Trust’s campaign to raise £1 million and create 1,000 acres of wildness on the doorstep of Lowestoft.

As well as gaining an understanding of how a new nationally important reserve would benefit both people and wildlife, the Countryfile team also met some of Carlton Marshes’ ‘Dog Ambassadors’ to hear about the Trust’s efforts to encourage responsible dog walking in a wildlife space. The show, which focusses on rural and environmental issues in the UK and broadcasts to an audience of up to 9.6 million people, was screened on BBC One in May. Broads Warden, Matt Gooch, who took part in the filming, said the interest of Countryfile was further proof of the new reserves’ national importance.

He added: “We’ve always known that what we are trying to do at Carlton Marshes is important, not just for local people and local wildlife but also in creating refuges for rare migrant species.

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“Our vision for Carlton Marshes is for it to be a destination where people will come from across the UK to enjoy a close-up experience of nature. This visit from Countryfile demonstrates the site’s significance, while also giving us a welcome opportunity to talk to a national audience about how they can help protect this unique part of the country.”

The Trust has so far raised just over £650k towards the £1 million needed to make the project possible after starting a public appeal in October last year. The appeal, which has been publicly backed

by Sir David Attenborough, was launched after the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) approved the Trust’s initial plans for the land purchase, together with proposals to improve the reserve for visitors and develop wide-ranging activities for people to learn about and get closer to nature.

The HLF has awarded the Trust a development grant of £246,300 to work on the detailed plans necessary to secure a full grant of over £4m for the project. The Trust’s appeal will go towards matchfunding that grant.

FIND OUT MORE For more information about the appeal, or to donate suffolkwildlifetrust.org

ABOVE LEFT:

Matt Baker with Matt Gooch, Broads Warden

JULIAN CLAXTON

TEAM FLY

Trust supporters saddled up for this year’s 100 mile Tour de Broads South event to raise funds for the reserve purchase. Eight cyclists including the Trust's Sizewell Belts Warden, Jamie Smith (left) and Trust volunteer, Alex Jessop (right) – formed Team Fly and raised over £3,000. Despite a strong easterly wind all of them flew home before sunset!

£3,000

RAISED FOR THE BROADS

RUNNING FOR CARLTON MARSHES Postcode: NR33 8HU Map ref: TM506922

The BBC film crew with Matt Baker out on the Marshes

PHOTOS: MATT GAW

SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

JULIAN CLAXTON

VISIT CARLTON MARSHES

Back in June, the Trust's Development Officer Olly Clanford, took on the challenge of the Stour Valley Marathon, a challenging 27 mile run winding through some truly beautiful and unspoilt parts of Constable Country. Despite managing to get hopelessly lost on the surprisingly hilly course, adding nearly an extra mile to the already lengthy total, he completed the run in a time of 4 hours 46 mins. So far he’s raised over £1,000, which will go towards the Broads appeal.

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CONSERVATION NEWS Did you hear the one about the hedgehog and the swan?

Street artist ATM has created a giant hedgehog mural in Ipswich town centre to mark the town’s growing reputation as a hedgehog hotspot. He completed the artwork over two days in May, using acrylic paints and used the existing imprint of ivy leaves to give an impression of the animal scurrying away into the undergrowth.

ATM’s nature-inspired street art appears across the world and after Ipswich he headed to Portsmouth to create a marine-inspired mural for National Marine Week. He uses the scale and impact of street art to highlight environmental issues, such as declining populations and loss of habitat. In the case of hedgehogs, he was keen to help the Trust raise awareness of the difficulties they face when trying to move through urban areas.

The mural was created as part of

ATM PA INT

Hedgehog street art ATM or Mark Anthony, is well known for his striking wildlife street art. He grew up in a northern mill town and spent his childhood exploring moors, wooded river valleys and steep gorges around his home. Spellbound by birdsong and wildlife, those early experiences helped inspire the fusion of industrial, urban and nature in his art today.

He says: “My painted walls call attention to the beauty and importance of living creatures that are so often overlooked, and whose needs are so often ignored. By bringing colour and beauty to neglected parts of our cities I hope to inspire people to get involved in actively creating a better environment; transforming our cities, countryside and seas for the benefit of nature and wildlife, which will in turn benefit all of us.”

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Hedgehog in the garden of The Swan pub in Ipswich (opposite the Corn Exchange) is part of the Trust's campaign to make the town more hedgehog-friendly.

Clyde the badger on the Clyde walkway wall of the substation at Bonnington power station, at the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Falls of Clyde reserve.

Making Ipswich the most hedgehog-friendly town in the UK see suffolkwildlifetrust.org

TED WALLS

Male hen harrier at Shellness on the Isle of Sheppey. Painted to highlight the illegal killing of hen harriers on grouse moors in the North of England.

A giant cuttlefish painted on the City Museum wall in Portsmouth this year to celebrate National Marine week.

AT KNETTISHALL HEATH

Lamprey was a favourite food of King Henry I and a surfeit was blamed for his untimely death

There might not be enough to sate the appetite of a medieval king, but Knettishall Heath has enjoyed a surfeit of lampreys this summer.

The distinctive jawless fish, which is an indicator of clean water, were seen by a volunteer, swimming close to the weir on the Little Ouse. It’s thought the lamprey, a favourite food of King Henry I and blamed for his untimely death, may have been spawning in the gravel beds.

It is the second time lamprey have been spotted in waters near Knettishall.

Another species returning to the reserve this year has been woodlark, whose distinctive song has been heard ringing out over the heaths. It is hoped the birds are breeding on site.

ROOM WITH A VIEW Work took place this summer to create new nesting spots for swifts on the Suffolk coast on Essex & Suffolk Water’s Southwold water tower.

Sixteen boxes and speakers playing swift calls have been installed.

The playing of calls during June and July has previously proved very successful for attracting swifts into new nesting boxes and it is hoped fun-loving couples would enjoy moving in to the new properties with excellent views over one of Suffolk’s premier towns!

Essex & Suffolk Water’s contractor, Stonbury, carried out the work of installing the new nesting boxes, while the water tower underwent a £290,000 refurbishment to protect and maintain water supplies to Southwold.

Alex Mueller, conservation advisor for Essex & Suffolk Water said: “Research has shown that new nesting boxes that use the call broadcasting system have up to a 60% success rate of attracting a mating pair of swifts and this is proving successful in getting birds to use new facilities.”

The water company has worked closely with SOS Swifts, a group established in 2014 to add support to the national effort to raise awareness of the threats faced by swifts, and is a joint initiative between Suffolk Wildlife Trust and Suffolk Ornithologists' Group.

60%

SUCCESS RATE OF ATTRACTING A MATING PAIR

One of the nestboxes fitted under the water towers eaves

ROB WALTERS

FIND OUT MORE

LAMPREYS AND LARKS MICHAEL ROGGO ALAMY

the two-year HLF and BHPS funded initiative that has enabled the Trust to employ Hedgehog Officer, Ali North.

Ali is working with ‘Hedgehog Champion’ volunteers in the town to create neighbourhood networks where hedgehogs can roam freely from garden to garden. She is encouraging homeowners to create access points linking up gardens, as well leaving ‘untidy’ areas where they can rest-up during the day. Ali also works closely with Ipswich Borough Council park rangers, making the most of the town’s valuable network of green spaces.

The hedgehog mural, which has been given a warm welcome by residents, can be found high on the adjacent wall to The Swan public house, King Street.

SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

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CONSERVATION NEWS

ENT 29 OCER BY 2017 TOBER CHANFOR A C WIN E TO £350 Boxing hares 2016 competition entry

by Ian Clarke

GREENWAYS

Wild with laughter!

INVESTING IN WILDLIFE

Photography COMPETiTiON

THANK YOU

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

Harold Ager Wendy Blair Peter Chaplin

photographers, we are sure there is something for everyone keen to show off their artistic ability from behind the lens. Each entrant can submit up to three photographs. Local professional photographer and judge, Jamie Hall said “This is quite simply the best wildlife photography competition around”.

With thanks to our main sponsors Ipswich Building Society who continue to support this growing competition.

HOW TO ENTER For competition details

and how to enter go to suffolkphotography.org

Valerie Dawson Joan Dorrell Jackie Flowerdew Gail Gilmour Peter Hamling Roger Harper George Hood Pauline James Julie Johnstone William Jones Daisy Keer

Rosie Kilford Jasmine Lingwood Charles Lofts Peter Nash Catherine Perkins Graham Pickett Brian & Janet Ridout Phil Shaw Maureen Shipman Digby Stevens Jonathan Tricker

AGM SAVE THE DATE

Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s AGM and Conservation Day will be held on Saturday 21 October 2017.

To register or for more details, email sam.clanford@suffolk wildlifetrust.org

IAN CLARKE

Our annual photography competition remains open for entries until midnight on Sunday 29 October 2017. With prizes worth £1,500 in value, a cash first prize of £350 and a new comedy category to surprise and delight, someone could be quite literally laughing all the way to the bank!

With nine categories in total, including our usual U12 and 12-18 year old categories for our up-and-coming

Suffolk Wildlife Trust would be nothing without its members. More than 28,000 people (almost 4% of the county’s population) now support our local wildlife conservation work and programme of environmental learning – helping us to protect and increase awareness of Suffolk’s wild and wonderful places.

Business too has continued to support our work and share in our successes by joining as Investor in Wildlife members. The annual membership scheme has tiers of opportunity from Bronze level through to Platinum level to suit the needs of each business. Over recent months, Online Lighting, Michael Howard Homes and Bauder Limited have joined as Investors in Wildlife. The latter recently took advantage of the ‘Green Team’ opportunity within their membership to bring a group of staff to a local nature reserve where they helped maintain wildlife habitat.

FIND OUT MORE To find out how your business can join in our growing success please contact michael.strand@suffolkwildlifetrust.org or visit the join pages of our website suffolkwildlifetrust.org

Marsh harrier ROBIN CHITTENDEN FLPA

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Marsh harriers have bred again at Redgrave & Lopham Fen, although it seems last year’s successful male has been seen off by a larger bird.

Last year, marsh harriers fledged for the first time at the national reserve, and this year two young fledged from a nest. It is believed the female is the same that bred successfully in 2016 (marsh harrier tend to be loyal to nest

SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

sites) but the male is a much larger, wing-tagged bird. Wardens on the reserve said although last year’s male did try to win the affections of the female; he was outdone by the newcomer.

Marsh harriers aren’t the only birds to be making the most of Redgrave’s habitat. For the first time on the reserve a pair of stonechats fledged at least one chick.

Bittern have also been making themselves heard at Redgrave. For the third year a lonesome male has been heard booming across the fen and there is every hope that in 2018 he will be joined by a female.

Bittern is booming at Redgrave

DAVID KJAER

A CLUTCH OF BREEDING SUCCESSES

SPECIES SPOTLIGHT

Secrets of Suffolk's

Bats DAVID HOSKING FLPA

As the Suffolk Bat Group prepares to publish its second Bat Atlas, James Meyer explains how the group’s research has shed light on the secret lives of these nocturnal creatures and led to the discovery of a new species for the county

3 Brown long-eared bats have incredibly acute hearing

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t is a creature of myth and magic, in the past both maligned and revered as a symbol of life and death, a token of good fortune and impending doom. We now, of course, understand much more about bats; the secrets of their night-flying and the reasons for their distinctive, almost unearthly faces have been unravelled by science. But the bat remains in some ways a symbol, an important indicator species, whose population changes can signify the health of other aspects of the environment – whether it is the invertebrates on which they feed, or the roosting habitats on which they depend.

In this county there are 13 species of bat that fill the night’s skies and since 1984 the Suffolk Bat Group has been working to create a clearer picture of distribution in an effort to be better placed to protect them. A specialist group within the Trust, their work also includes advising landowners on bat-friendly habitat management and advising SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

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SPECIES SPOTLIGHT

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TOM MARSHALL

HUGO WILLCOX FLPA

ADOBE STOCK

Barbastelle bats huddled together in hibernation. They have short, upturned noses, giving them a pug-like appearance

homeowners and churches about bat roosts as part of Natural England's volunteer advisory service.

Crucially, the records and survey data collected by the group also feeds into Suffolk Biodiversity Information Service (SBIS), which in turn helps inform the decisionmaking of local planning authorities.

ABOVE RIGHT

surveying a site for bats

RECORDS AND TECHNOLOGY

When the group started out, the vast majority of bat records for Suffolk came from building surveys undertaken by licenced bat workers. The need for such surveys had come to the fore following the passing of the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act, which was a seminal moment in the legal protection of bats and their roosts. However, these records were largely random and it wasn’t until the rise in the use of hand-held electronic bat detectors and the advent of computer software for the analysis of recordings in the late 1990s and early 2000s, that a more targeted survey approach was possible. The rise of commercial bat surveys in support of planning applications also added to the distribution of records throughout the county and a clearer picture of bat populations began to emerge.

HUNTING FOR BARBASTELLES

This new technology enabled the bat group to begin to target areas for survey, to try and build up an understanding of how different species are distributed throughout the county. In particular significant effort 10 SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

7 Lesser horseshoe bat hibernating

Nathusius’ pipistrelle is a relatively new arrival

has been put into tracking down Suffolk’s barbastelle bats (Barbastella barbastellus). These elusive, medium sized bats are unmistakeable at close quarters, with short, black ears joined across the forehead to give a distinctive squarish head shape. The earliest confirmed record for Suffolk was in 1985 when a single bat was found in a roof space in Barton Mills and, prior to 2000, there were only 15 records of the species from the whole county, with most of these being either hibernating bats or road casualties.

In 2004 Suffolk Bat Group started surveying areas of woodland that were thought to be suitable for this species, particularly those with large veteran trees or significant storm damage. This meant that by the time the first Suffolk Bat Atlas was published in 2012, barbastelle had been recorded at 45 locations throughout the county.

The bat group is now preparing to publish its second atlas which demonstrates just how the understanding of bat populations have changed in a short space of time. It reveals that by the end of 2016 the number of locations where barbastelles has been found had increased to nearly 300. This of course, doesn’t necessarily mean they are more common, just that improvements in survey equipment, techniques and the number of people interested in bats have made them easier to find. Although barbastelle remains one of the UK’s rarest bat species and are still only present in small numbers, our understanding is vastly improved – something that can only help conservation efforts.

BAT SPECIES ARE FOUND IN SUFFOLK

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13

ADOBE STOCK

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ADOBE STOCK

1. Barbastelle 2. Brandt’s 3. Brown long-eared 4. Common pipistrelle 5. Daubenton’s 6. Leisler’s 7. Lesser horseshoe 8. Nathusius’ pipistrelle 9. Natterer's 10. Noctule 11. Soprano pipistrelle 12. Serotine 13. Whiskered

ADOBE STOCK

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All British bats are nocturnal, feeding on flying insects, which they find in the dark by using echolocation

Recordings of barbastelle in Suffolk have increased from 45 locations in 2012 to 300 locations by the end of 2016 A NEW SPECIES FOR SUFFOLK

Most of the bat species recorded in the county have been seen over many years, but there is one that is a relatively new arrival – the Nathusius’ pipistrelle. This is a migratory species in mainland Europe and the very few animals found in the UK were always thought to be windblown migrants. However, in 1996 a small colony was discovered in Lincolnshire confirming its status as a breeding species in the country. It was first recorded in Suffolk in 2005 and at the time of the first Suffolk Bat Atlas, only four confirmed records were known for the county. With the increase in electronic recording this has now increased to 50 records, with recordings throughout the year and across Suffolk, indicating that they are breeding in the county.

To help further understand the distribution and behaviour of the species, Suffolk Bat Group, with guidance and assistance from Essex Bat Group, have joined the National Nathusius’ Pipistrelle Project. This involves using a variety of detection methods, including surveying potentially suitable habitats (they are often found around large waterbodies) with bat detectors to see if they can be heard and the use of

The noctule is our largest bat. They are the first bat to come out in the evening, sometimes emerging before sunset

WHERE TO SEE BATS

Veteran trees in Captain's Wood, in Sudbourne, provide excellent habitat for bats and at least seven species of bat have been recorded in the wood

harp traps and acoustic lures to see if individual bats can be captured and fitted with a unique identifier ring (carried out under licence from Natural England).

The national project, which has been running since 2014, has already revealed some fascinating long distance journeys. This has included a bat ringed in north Somerset being found in Holland (600km away), a bat ringed in Lithuania being found in Faversham, Kent (1,400km away) and a bat ringed in Latvia being recaptured in Rye, West Sussex – a distance of nearly 1,500km. With four ‘Suffolk’ nathusius’ pipistrelle bats ringed to date, it will be interesting to see if they are recaptured in any far-flung part of the continent. n

DID YOU KNOW? l A tiny pipistrelle bat

can eat 3,000 insects in one night

l If you find moth wings in a garden or woodland, they are evidence of bats.

They eat all but the wings!

l Scales on moth wings

have evolved to avoid ecolocation signals from bats

l Bats usually only have one pup a year and can live for up to 30 years

JAMES MEYER is the Trust's Senior Conservation Planner and is a committee member of Suffolk Bat Group. James is also a Natural England volunteer bat roost visitor.

SUFFOLK BAT GROUP Suffolk Bat Group is a specialist group within Suffolk Wildlife Trust. The group is affiliated to The Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) and provides volunteers to assist Natural England in protecting bats through advising householders, landowners and churches.

Suffolk Bat Group also carries out surveys of hibernation sites, bat box projects, bat detector surveys, as well as providing training for members to enable them to take part in different types of survey.

FIND OUT MORE For more information and how to get involved suffolkwildlifetrust.org/ suffolkbatgroup

SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

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LIVING LANDSCAPES

A goldmine for

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HAP PY

Wildlife

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LACK F LAKEORD S!

30 YEARS OF LACKFORD LAKES

t was the vision of one man, Bernard Tickner, three decades ago, which initiated a remarkable sequence of events that ultimately led to the creation a 320 acre wetland oasis that has since become both nationally recognised for its importance to wildlife and a jewel in Suffolk’s conservation crown.

On learning that Atlas Aggregates had submitted a planning application for a gravel pit on the meadows opposite his home on the River Lark, Bernard sought to fight the application, but facing a formidable legal barrage he conceded that any challenge would be futile.

Instead, he shrewdly struck a deal with Atlas to purchase the land once they had completed the mineral extraction. Over the years as the company repeatedly extended the gravel works, Bernard made a point of being a thorn in their side, challenging each planning application to extend the gravel works and demanding a more wildlife-friendly approach to restoring the land afterwards.

A MODEST BEGINNING

In 1987, what had eventually become a large mineral extraction site was nearing the end of its working life and Bernard exercised his option to purchase a part of the site, known as The Slough, which had been ‘worked out’.

He then generously chose to pass the land on to Suffolk Wildlife Trust to create a nature reserve. From this modest starting point, the Lackford Lakes nature reserve we know and love today would grow, driven by the passion and energy of Bernard’s vision for the creation of a large wetland reserve. The pivotal moment came in 1999, when having exhausted the sand and gravel reserves, Atlas Aggregates (which had become RMC and subsequently CEMEX) generously gifted the entire site to Suffolk Wildlife Trust. This was only possible because of the relationship that the Trust had built with RMC over many years and the company’s willingness to create paths and develop better habitats from the worked areas.

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Today there is little obvious evidence that the land was once an enormous sand and gravel works. The almost desert-like expanse of bare sandy ground that existed when this was a working site has largely disappeared, replaced by trees, scrub and reeds that break up the landscape and screen the lakes. Nature has rapidly reclaimed the land through the process of succession, which is driving change and creating a very different landscape. This transformation has brought with it a wealth of wildlife and led to Lackford’s designation as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1997, reflecting the national importance of the population of over-wintering birds and the diversity of dragonfly species associated with the lakes and watercourses.

CLOSE-UP TO NATURE

There is, of course, much more wildlife interest, and year-round, Lackford is one of the best places in Suffolk to get great views of kingfishers, while summer visitors include hobby, turtle dove, nightingale, spotted flycatcher and cuckoo. Throughout the spring and summer the reserve is alive with everything from butterflies and bumble bees to marsh orchids and rare Breckland plants, making any visit worthwhile.

One of the main factors behind this abundance of wildlife is the location of the reserve. The River Lark forms the northern boundary, while the southern flanks of the reserve extend up onto the dry sandy and impoverished soils of the valley margins. The Lark Valley is a natural flyway for birds, hence the numbers that drop into the reserve, while being located on the edge of the Brecks, the reserve shares many of the characteristics that define this unique part of the country.

During its time as a sand and gravel works, parts of the land were very Breck-like, with bare and disturbed sandy ground that specialist invertebrates and annual plants favour. While there are no longer the expanses of open ground there once were, parts of the reserve continue to

Where else in Suffolk can you sit with a cup of coffee in a warm, friendly visitor centre and watch a kingfisher?

It has been 30 years since the creation of the Trust’s flagship reserve at Lackford Lakes. Steve Aylward looks at how a hole in the ground became one of East Anglia’s premier bird-watching locations

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LIVING LANDSCAPES be maintained in a way which emulate this habitat which is home to solitary groundnesting bees and roving beetles.

GEO SCENIC

In 2005 the Trust had the opportunity to purchase the fields either side of the access track to the reserve. This 55 acre extension consisted of two arable fields that were allowed to naturally regenerate as grassland. The light sandy soils had never grown good crops and were ideally suited to revert to dry impoverished grassland. Rabbits quickly colonised the fields in true Breckland fashion and it wasn’t long before they started to resemble the Breck grass-heath they had most likely once been. Furthermore, several years later, a pair of the most iconic of Breckland birds, the stone curlew arrived in one of the fields and successfully bred for several years.

The visitor centre opened in 2002 having been funded with Landfill Tax Credits, and this year, with Bernard’s support in memory of his wife Bess, the centre was extended to accommodate the needs of a growing number of school groups and visitors. Over the past 10 years the reserve has been further enhanced by the addition of new hides and improved paths with the aim of making it even more accessible and the wildlife watching experience that much better.

JOHN FERGUSON

A CONTINUED EVOLUTION

LEFT The gravel

LACKFORD

pits worked by Atlas Aggregates before they were gifted to the Trust and reprofiled in a joint venture

PIONEER

Bernard Tickner MBE was born in Suffolk in 1924 and has lived at Fullers Mill opposite Lackford lakes since the late 1950s. Bernard was the driving force behind the creation of Lackford Lakes nature reserve as well as the creation of the Fullers Mill Gardens. A keen plantsman and gardener, Bernard has created a tranquil and enchanting waterside and woodland garden on the banks of the River Lark, which is now cared for by the garden charity Perennial.

Bernard’s involvement with the Trust has included

A NEW OPPORTUNITY

Postcode: IP28 6HX Map ref: TL804706

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Year-round, Lackford is one of the best places in Suffolk to get great views of kingfishers

GOOGLE IMAGES

VISIT LACKFORD LAKES

JOHN FERGUSON

2017 offers an opportunity to reflect on the past 30 years and how a nature reserve that began as nothing more than one man’s idea became the nationally important site it is today. It also brings a rare chance to extend the reserve through the purchase of a 77 acre parcel of Breckland between the reserve and the village of Lackford. Buying the land, which has not been cultivated for some 25 years and is now reverting to wildliferich Breck heath, will protect another piece of old Suffolk that is home to rare flora and fauna, including the enigmatic stone curlew. The Trust is now trying to raise £200K towards the purchase of the land to continue Lackford Lakes’ history of restoring and creating important habitat for wildlife into the future. n

30

HAP PY

LACK F LAKEORD S!

Over the past 10 years the reserve has been further enhanced by the addition of new hides and improved paths stints as a Trustee and now as Vice President, while his support and generosity has underpinned the development of Lackford Lakes over the years.

Bernard’s life is wonderfully summarised in his memoirs A Scratch in the Soil published in May this year and on sale at Lackford Lakes and Fullers Mill.

th

PLEASE HELP US ADD 77 ACRES OF BRECKLAND TO LACKFORD LAKES NATURE RESERVE Donate online at P suffolkwildlifetrust.org Donate by phone P 01473 890089 Post your donation to P Suffolk Wildlife Trust

Fourspotted chaser

T h a n k y ou ROGER WILMSBURST FLPA

STEVE AYLWARD

FULLER SM GARDE ILL OPEN T N IS O VISIT UNTIL END OF SEPTEM BER STEVE AYLWARD

STEVE AYLWARD is Suffolk Wildlife Trust's Head of Property & Projects and has a passion for the Suffolk landscape and its wildlife. Steve's photos are used in many Trust publications and on the website.

DAVID KJAER

Stone curlew and other Breckland specialists will benefit from the new lands

SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

15

WILDLIFE FOR PEOPLE

GROWING UP

Wild For the last 18 months the Trust has been collecting people’s childhood memories of growing up outside in Suffolk. Now, ahead of an exhibition of some of the contributions, Sara Holman explains how the 100 wild tales are more than just part of Suffolk’s history – they are a source of inspiration to future generations

P

aul Watkin is on his hands and knees, his face obscured and his voice muffled as he tugs a handful of weed out of the river, a tributary of the Waveney where it flows through Falcon Meadow in Bungay. “So this is where we used to come. We’d get down on our knees, lean over and dip with our sieves on sticks (much better than nets – you can dig about a bit with a sieve on a stick) and bring out caddis fly larvae, water boatmen, whirligig beetles, pond snails, a stickleback or two and put them in a bowl and study them.”

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SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

Paul has forgotten to bring the sieve on a stick he had improvised at home, intending to recreate the authenticity of his childhood experience. Undeterred, he rakes through the weed with his hands, peering at it from under his hair. “No, can’t see a thing; it’s the wrong time of year.” He wipes his hands on his coat. “So there you go, that’s me. That’s fifty years ago!” He shakes his head ruefully, then looks up and grins.

A CHILDHOOD SPENT OUTDOORS

Paul is one of nearly 100 people who contributed their memories of growing up

The stories collected depict childhoods spent outdoors, roaming freely across woodlands, heaths and meadows with nature in Suffolk as part of our Growing Up Wild project. Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the project was launched in May 2016 with the aim of creating a unique historical archive to inspire future generations to spend more time outside.

The stories and images collected

The extent to which children of past generations were attuned, not just to nature, but to time and place, also underpins the stories

Paul Watkin with his sister Rosemary

AUTUMN

EXHIBITION

JOHN FERGUSON

An exhibition featuring the stories of some of the people who participated in the Growing Up Wild project, with photographs taken by professional photographer, John Ferguson, will take place at locations around the county this autumn.

depict childhoods spent largely outdoors, roaming freely across Suffolk’s woodlands, heaths and meadows; often without adult supervision. Anne McNamee remembers, “We used to be chucked out of the house by my mum with a jam sandwich and a bottle of water and would then spend the day exploring bluebell woods” while Audrey Steley recalls how, “in the summer holidays my next door neighbour and I would take a sandwich and a bottle of cold tea and walk from Leiston to the common (halfway to Sizewell) for the day.”

She adds: “There we would make a den

among the gorse bushes and be happy all day.” Nicki Dixon tells of “being out until the sun started to set, grabbing a bag of chips wrapped in newspaper for the journey home.”

A LOST CONNECTION The project is timely. The results of a 2015 YouGov poll, commissioned by The Wildlife Trusts, highlight a gradual loss of contact with nature during childhood.

Despite recognition of the importance of nature in childhood and of the health and social benefits to be derived from contact with the natural world for people of all

ages, the signs are that a generation of children is growing up removed, both physically and emotionally, from the natural world. Children’s freedom to roam and the time they spend outdoors has reduced and with it their opportunities to discover wildlife. Evidence suggests that a generation of children is growing up increasingly disconnected from nature, with just one in ten children playing in wild places. We know that contact with nature is good for children; it makes them happier, healthier and more creative.

However, there is a discrepancy between what we know is good for children and SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

17

WILDLIFE FOR PEOPLE what children are actually experiencing.

Growing Up Wild records and celebrates stories of childhoods spent in nature, providing an opportunity to increase a new generation of children’s contact with the natural world and put the wild back into childhood. At the same time, the project captures the voices and character of individuals, documents the minutiae of childhoods past, while evoking a sense of the landscape that the Trust is working to protect and restore.

For every unusual story (such as that of the daughter of a mole catcher who used to push dead moles in her dolls’ pram) there are many more tales of the commonplace – the ordinary, rather than the extraordinary – encounters with nature. It is these memories of everyday nature that resonate – memories of blackberry picking, playing conkers, swimming in the river, making bows and arrows, scrumping apples, sliding on frozen ponds, climbing trees, vaulting dykes, jumping in piles of leaves, catching tiddlers in jam jars, looking for birds’ nests, wishing on falling leaves, creating miniature gardens, chasing waves and searching the tideline for shells and stones to take home.

The extent to which children of past generations were attuned, not just to nature, but to time and place, underpins the stories. Contributors tell of measuring the passing of the seasons, of listening for the first cuckoo of spring or watching for the first swallow of summer. “Each season had its rituals” observes Audrey Steley.

Contact with nature is good for children; it makes them happier, healthier and more creative EXPLORE THE NATURAL WORLD

Back in his farmhouse kitchen, Paul tells me about how growing up in the country, meant nature was all around him. "You see things and you watch things change as the seasons go round,” he adds. It is this connection to nature and sense of place that the Trust is striving to foster through the opportunities we offer children and young people to discover, explore, learn and play in wild spaces every year.

We want children to explore the natural world where they live, to make nature part of their everyday lives and to develop a personal connection with nature from an early age; a connection that stays and grows with them as they move into and through adulthood. n

FIND OUT MORE More about the Growing up Wild Project and the exhibition can be found at suffolk wildlifetrust.org

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SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

Shirley's favourite spot in the school holidays was Holywells Park

5 SHIRLEY DALEY5 ON GROWING UP IN IPSWICH

In the fifties, my favourite place to play in the school summer holidays was Holywells Park.

Early in the morning we walked with our jam sandwiches and a bottle of water that had been mixed with lemonade crystals and we stayed until late in the afternoon.

We spent the long days playing on the swings or making a den or playing hide-andseek or just lying on the grass, looking up at the blue sky wondering what was up there when all at once we would hear and see a skylark above, so high into the blue. We were me, my brothers and my best friend, Edna.

Oh, happy fulfilling days!

TONY WEST4

ON HIS CHILDHOOD SPENT ON CARLTON & OULTON MARSHES Well, I’ve been on these marshes all my life, I have, and the things we used to do – well, I can’t tell you everything we used to do down here…

We used to come first thing in the mornings and it would be late at night before we used to go home.

No one used to worry. It never gets dark now, not like it used to. I mean, years ago it used to be completely black but now it don’t get dark, it don’t get dark at all.

We used to play follow the leader on the dykes here, jumping dykes. Whatever the leader jumped, we used to have to follow. We used to go up Burnt Hill Pit and we used to have fires and that and we used to go up there and strip off and dry our things off before we used to dare go home.

WILD TALES IN THEIR WORDS

JOHN FERGUSON

Robert (on the left with his schoolfriend Keith Steward, outside Great Bealings primary school

Tony on Carlton Marshes

5ROBERT DUNNETT ON GROWING UP IN LITTLE BEALINGS

I was born at Great Bealings in Grotto Farm and when my father and his brother-in-law bought the coal business in about 1938, we moved to Little Bealings. The war came along but I was lucky, all of us were lucky, we had a very normal life.

We had the farm at our disposal and down in the river where the cows were on the field we would swim. There was a place called the Deep Hole, which was where the river had washed away underneath the tree roots – it was a silly place, really, you could get yourself caught in the tree roots if you weren’t careful – but this is where I learned to swim. There were cows upriver doing what cows do and we were downriver swimming in all of this!

They were super days. We would go out in the morning with a bottle of orange juice and a halfpenny packet of crisps and take some sandwiches and we would be down there all day long. We would play cricket, football, swim, you know, they really were halcyon days.

SARA HOLMAN is the Trust's Learning Manager She has led the Growing Up Wild project with colleague, Tracey Housley.

SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

19

SPECIES SPOTLIGHT

WET & WILD Over the last two decades the health of Suffolk’s rivers has been transformed. Penny Hemphill explains how a coming together of organisations and landowners has helped turn the tide in wildlife’s favour

I

mmortalised as Ratty in Kenneth Williams’ Wind in the Willows, the water vole has the unwanted title of being Britain’s fastest-declining mammal. And, back in 2003, the predictions in the Local Biodiversity Action Plan for this county made grim reading: “Water vole extinct in Suffolk by 2015.” No longer seen or heard along the rivers, streams and waterways where it traditionally made its home, the future looked bleak for one of our most charismatic creatures while other riverside wildlife also seemed to be disappearing. It was time to take action – to find the source of the problem and to seek a solution.

TOM MARSHALL

WATER FOR WILDLIFE

One of the obvious issues was the presence of the non-native American mink. Having been released or escaped from fur farms in the 1950s and 1960s, they were now breeding across the country. A voracious predator and excellent swimmer, the mink stalked the rivers, raiding the bank-side burrows of water vole and feeding on anything else they could catch. When the Water for Wildlife Project was set up 14 years ago, funded by Anglian Water, Essex & Suffolk Water and the Environment Agency (EA), it was clear where the focus

20 SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

of our efforts should rest. Initially two objectives were set: to give wetland habitat advice to landowners to enhance the water vole habitat and to set up a co-ordinated mink control project.

The Trust’s first act was to try and find out exactly what the state of the water vole population was in. With extra funding from the EA a mass survey of all river catchments began in 2003. By using the same scientific methodology as the National Water Vole Survey of 1998 we were able to compare the data collected at 500m intervals. The results were both significant and horrifying.

It was clear that water vole had vanished from most of Suffolk’s main rivers and were only present in good numbers on the upper reaches and in small tributaries. An animal so associated with our rivers was teetering on the edge of extinction.

MINK CONTROL

What was also clear from the surveys was that the habitat had changed relatively little, leaving little doubt that predation by mink was to blame for this catastrophic decline.

In the 1998 water vole survey, mink were only recorded along the rivers in the west of the county, but we could now see that during the following decade they had spread unchecked throughout Suffolk’s

If you spend any time on or alongside Suffolk’s rivers you might have seen a mink raft. These floating devices contain a clay pad to allow landowners to see if mink are present. A cage, designed specifically for mink, can then be placed on the raft. Active traps are regularly checked and any mink despatched humanely.

rivers. The decision was taken to start targeted mink control. Public meetings were held and people invited to join the mink project. The Trust provided training and handed out mink rafts and humane traps. Over the years trappers have done the most incredible job and nearly 3,000 mink are known to have been trapped throughout the project, which we continue to co-ordinate county wide.

To measure the results of sustained

Ratty has gone from strength-to-strength in Suffolk, recolonising all the main rivers mink trapping we decided to repeat water vole surveys on specific rivers. The River Deben and the Alde were chosen and only a year after mink control began, it became clear that water vole were finding their way back on to these rivers, reclaiming their old territories. For volunteers and Trust staff, including myself, it was immensely satisfying whilst surveying to find field evidence of water vole along the main river channels.

Although water voles are still in trouble across the UK, Ratty has gone from strength -to-strength in Suffolk, recolonising all the main rivers. Indeed, there are now so many that we have even heard the term “those pesky water voles!” How that pleases us.

RESTORATION

In 2012, the Water for Wildlife project took an interesting new turn. With the advent of the European Water Framework Directive, funding was available from the EA to begin an audit of our rivers. In two years we carried out walkover surveys of over 400km of Suffolk’s rivers – a massive

undertaking, which provided us FIND OUT MORE project monitoring showed a with the information we needed significant increase in water For advice about a to identify where river vole activity along the restored river restoration restoration projects should be section, and an increase in the project call 01473 890089 targetted. diversity of aquatic invertebrates particularly in the The aim was to bring life to newly created riffles. our slow flowing lowland rivers and we What’s more, habitat enhancement that started along the Little Ouse at Knettishall benefits biodiversity by tweaking the river Heath. The river was choked with channel doesn’t have to be expensive. The vegetation and there was very little open Trust is currently delivering smaller scale water. Using a technique termed “dig and projects with the EA where woody material dump”, substrate was moved within the channel to create riffles, pools and runs. It is features such as flow defectors, brushwood mattresses and log jams are secured in the amazing how quickly watery habitats can respond and the river is now unrecognisable; channel and banksides which increase flow and channel diversity. no longer straight and sluggish, it gurgles Water for Wildlife also continues to run and sings as it wends over gravel and stone. the county otter survey with a team of But it was not just the aesthetics of the brilliant volunteers doing much of the work. river that were improved. Pre and post Surveys in 2005 and 2010 showed a significant increase in otter activity on our rivers and another survey is nearly completed with the results expected later this year. With otter and water vole back on our rivers and with river enhancement projects continuing we are confident that the future of Suffolk’s rivers PENNY HEMPHILL remains very is the Trust's Water bright. n Work to restore waterways at the Trust's for Wildlife Officer.

Church Farm Marshes

SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

21

UK NEWS

VULNERABLE SITES

As pressure increases to build new homes, wildlife sites which previously enjoyed protection are coming under threat. Critical tests lie ahead

T

he Wildlife Trusts are working across the UK to protect wild places from an increasing number of potentially harmful developments.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Local Wildlife Sites are designed to protect the very best of our wildlife. They are the essential basis for nature’s recovery.

So whilst we work with developers wherever possible (see p28-29) we will also campaign against developments that are simply in the wrong place.

Skylarks are safe at Rampisham Down.

Elsewhere the fight continues

All development should contribute to nature’s recovery

How wildli can devel fe and o get a pment long?  Prote

Protections are never guaranteed and The Wildlife Trusts are often the last line of defence for these wonderful wild places.

The best solution of all would be for local authorities to plan positively for nature’s recovery.

This would be essential under our proposals for an Environment Act (see wildlifetrusts.org/ EnvironmentAct).

ct exis ting w ild pla ces ew on  Strength e s en  Integrat nature network ew s develo ildlife in ne w pmen ts

 Create n

THREATENED LODGE HILL, KENT

22 SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

says: “Lodge Hill is a test of whether the Government is committed to its stated aim of leaving the natural environment in a better state than this generation inherited it. We should be celebrating sites like Lodge Hill, not building on them.”

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Nightingales vs new town: which will win?



HELP AT kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/ lodge-hill

KENT WT

Kent Wildlife Trust is opposing a plan to build thousands of new homes on a site with one of the UK’s largest populations of nightingales.

Chattenden Woods and Lodge Hill SSSI is a nationally important area of ancient woodland and rare grassland.

Its owner (the Ministry of Defence) and Medway Council want to build a new town on it.

Stephen Trotter, Director, The Wildlife Trusts England,

GENE STUDY AVOIDS INBRED TOADS

SAVED! RAMPISHAM DOWN, DORSET

The study assesses survival factors in natterjacks and other amphibians

Rampisham is safe – but it took a two-year fight

grassland with skylarks, adders and many species of butterfly. The solar panels will now be sited on a less sensitive area nearby.

FIND OUT MORE PAUL HOBSON

dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk

THREATENED

7,000 JOIN LANDMARK YOUTH PROJECT

SMITHY WOOD, SHEFFIELD

More than 1,000 people objected to swapping a bluebell wood for a motorway service station

received more than 1,000 online objections, almost all citing the loss of local wildlife as the key concern.

The Council was due to make a decision on March 28th but instead delayed it.

FIND OUT MORE wildsheffield.com

FIND OUT MORE ourbrightfuture.co.uk

More than 7,000 young people have taken part in the first year of a youth programme managed by The Wildlife Trusts and supported by the Big Lottery Fund.

Our Bright Future brings together 31 projects which all connect young people to their environment in different ways.

Over the last 12 months young people from different walks of life have learned new skills and gained certifications in practical conservation, leadership, construction and campaigning. A campaign for our youth vision will be launched this autumn.

PIXABAY

When a proposed motorway service station threatened one of Sheffield’s ancient woodlands, the local Wildlife Trust organised a protest in March outside the city hall.

More than 300 people showed their objection to building on the bluebell wood, which is a Local Wildlife Site and part of Sheffield’s green belt. The City Council also

SHEFFIELD & ROTHERHAM WT

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SUFFOLK WILDLIFE 23

JOHN FERGUSON

After two years of campaigning by Dorset Wildlife Trust and others, Rampisham Down SSSI in West Dorset will not be developed into a solar power station.

The site is a legally protected, nationally important area of rare acid

DORSET WT



Cheshire Wildlife Trust and the University of Chester are researching the genetics of natterjack toads. The rare amphibians exist in isolated populations and are at risk of extinction due to their lack of genetic variability.

Research students will help the Trust at their Red Rocks Nature Reserve in Merseyside, where the natterjack population was reintroduced. “From this research, we will be able to better direct our conservation work,” said Martin Varley, Director of Conservation at the Trust.

UK WILDLIFE FOR PEOPLE

Bee a friendly gardener

Plant nectar and pollen-rich flowers

Habitat loss and pesticides are hitting wild bees hard. But whether you’ve got a window box, a patio or a whole garden, a few simple actions can make a difference

I

t has been estimated that 80% of the western diet depends on pollination by bees. So their steady decline is a cause for real alarm.

But British gardeners can actively nurture and conserve the wild bee population. Gardens are always a rich source of food for wild bees and with a little care, can be made even better for them without any trouble or loss of pleasure to the gardener.

You do not need rare or tricky plants.

In fact the opposite is true. Bees need 24 SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

Provide a water source

pollen and the smaller flowers of unhybridised species are likely to be a much richer source than huge show blooms on plants that are the result of elaborate breeding. Any flower that is open and simple, such as members of the daisy family, or any that are set like a lollipop on a stick, such as scabious, and

You do not need tricky plants. In fact the opposite

all members of the thistle family, are ideal for attracting honey bees, which have rather short tongues so need easy access.

Bumble bees have longer tongues so are better adapted for plants that have more of a funnel shape, such as foxgloves.

Bees love any flowering trees, so an apple or a pear is a huge bonus. All legumes such as peas, beans, clover and sweet peas, as well as dandelions, blackberries, asters, ivy, and willow, are as attractive to a foraging honey bee as your carefully cultivated borders.

Create potential nest sites

Plant flowering trees

Have long as well as short grass

A garden without bees not only reduces its fertility but also diminishes its beauty. You can keep bees as I do, or simply provide a source of food for them.

But one thing is certain: we cannot do without them. So as gardeners we should do everything we can to welcome them as an integral part of a beautiful garden. n MONTY DON is a gardening author and speaker, and presenter of BBC Gardener’s World@TheMontyDon

Bees don’t just need nectar and pollen. Nest sites and water are just as important

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE WILD BEE ACTION PACK To make it easy for everyone to help wild bees, we’ve produced a short e-booklet. In it you’ll learn how our many different types of bees live, why they are threatened and what you can do to help them flourish.

For example, you can revive a tired bee with sugar solution.

Find the booklet on wildaboutgardensweek.org.uk – our long-running collaboration with the RHS.

SUFFOLK WILDLIFE 25

UK WILDLIFE FOR PURPLE SPECIES EMPEROR SPOTLIGHT LIVING PEOPLELANDSCAPES Wildlife areas on school grounds

Wild play areas for young people

A NEW WAY TO BUILD

ILLUSTRATION: NIK POLLARD

New developments don’t have to squeeze out wildlife. In fact, they can enhance it – and benefit people at the same time

26 SUFFOLK WILDLIFE 26

Integrate existing trees, water and meadows

Wildlife permeable barriers between gardens and public green spaces

Green spaces joined up in large connected blocks

Sustainable Urban Drainage for biodiversity and flood relief

Integrated bat and swift boxes

Wildlife-friendly planting and landscape design

Green roofs and walls to provide habitat, and regulate pollution and rainfall

SUFFOLK WILDLIFE 27

UK WILDLIFE FOR PEOPLE housing and a healthy natural world are intrinsically linked.

The Wildlife Trusts have pioneered the integration of wildlife into new developments for many decades (see box below). Using our expertise and relationships with developers we have ensured that existing meadows, wetlands, hedgerows, trees and woods are retained.

We also aim for wildlife-rich gardens, verges, amenity green space, cycle paths and walkways. The result is natural

The Wildlife Trusts have pioneered this idea for the past decade

Some we did earlier...

Good housing and a healthy natural world are intrinsically linked corridors weaving through the development and reaching out beyond. These features add what is known as natural resilience: they reduce surface water flooding and improve air quality, for example. We also work with social landlords and residents to create natural places that encourage wildlife and benefit people.

The best new houses are energy and water efficient; have built-in roosting and nesting features; and provide easy access to safe, attractive green space for

EXISTING DEVELOPMENT

TRUMPINGTON MEADOWS: Beds, Cambs, Northants WT CHALLENGE: 1,200 new homes. RESPONSE: Habitats created and managed with the local Wildlife Trust.

The developer consulted widely about creating a new country park. They chose the local Wildlife Trust to advise on green infrastructure and to manage the land in future. Play areas, open ditches and tree

avenues weave through the development and the 58ha park is both a space for people and a ‘nature reserve’. Creation of 40ha of species-rich meadows, hedgerows, woodlands and floodplain meadows began before the first houses were built. Wetland features keep runoff to the River Cam at pre-development levels.

NEW DEVELOPMENT

Natural Estates: appreciated by 7,000 inner city residents

NATURAL ESTATES: London CHALLENGE: Little wildlife in many estates.

RESPONSE: Encourage residents to improve their area.

This was a partnership between London Wildlife Trust, Groundwork London and social landlords. More than 7,000 people from nine different London housing estates took part.

“It helped create havens for wildlife and attractive outside areas for people to enjoy, and built a sense of pride and wellbeing in the local environment,” said the Trust’s Gareth Morgan. More at:

KEITH HEPPEL

neighbourhoodsgreen.org.uk/casestudies/natural-estates The developer at Trumpington Meadows understood the value of high quality green space

28 SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

It created attractive outside areas for people to enjoy

HISUUDVGISDV

T

he Wildlife Trusts are calling on developers, local authorities and Government to embrace a new, more holistic way of building: one that avoids damage to protected sites, and works with the natural surroundings to create gains for nature, and better health and well-being for residents.

The next decade is likely to see hundreds of thousands of new homes built. In the past, housing developments have mostly destroyed habitats rather than created them. But done in the right way, on the right site, they can lead to a net gain for wildlife – and offer their incoming residents a healthier, happier place to live. And that’s because good

exercise, play and social interaction. Also they deliver the priceless treasure of wildlife on your doorstep.

The Wildlife Trusts believe that all new housing developments could and should be places where people and wildlife flourish with: l Access to wildlife whether in a town or country l High quality natural green space l A genuine, measurable net overall gain for wildlife l Connectivity to the wider ecological network.

With the urgent need to build so many new homes, the Government now has a perfect opportunity to reset the approach to housing. We believe it should refocus to

help wildlife, and to create healthy, cohesive and thriving communities, where residents can connect with nature and each other.

All the necessary knowledge, evidence and expertise to do this already exists, and so our vision is simple: it should become normal for all housing developments – whether new or established – to contribute to nature’s recovery. n

FIND OUT MORE iFIND OUT MORE wildlifetrusts.org/housing

“

We like living here

“We have attractive, varied open spaces with no need to get in the car. The area feels safe and the kids can play within walking distance of our home.”

Rachel Mortimer, wild development resident at Cambourne, Cambs

RACHEL HACKETT is Living Landscape Development Manager at The Wildlife Trusts @ RachelTassell

MY WILD CITY: Avon WT

PRIEST HILL: Surrey WT

CHALLENGE: Bristol is the UK’s fastestgrowing city. RESPONSE: To transform it into a place where wildlife can thrive.

Avon Wildlife Trust’s My Wild City idea aims to get whole streets joining up wildlife-friendly gardens, and communities and businesses transforming their local green spaces.

One starter project offered a wildlife garden makeover for 30 houses in Stanley Park. It is now a wildlife corridor between two neighbouring green spaces. All the My Wild City actions, projects and groups are recorded on an interactive map. See it on

THEN: abandoned playing fields and some developed land. NOW: 15 new homes alongside a new nature reserve.

Surrey Wildlife Trust worked with the developer and Borough Council to restore the 34ha reserve site, which helps reconnect a green

corridor into London. The Trust is recreating species-rich chalk grassland, wetlands and hedgerows, and many existing paths have been retained. Small blue, white-letter and brown hairstreak butterflies are increasing, as are common lizard, skylark and linnet.

NEW DEVELOPMENT

avonwildlifetrust.org.uk

EXISTING DEVELOPMENT

The new housing estate seen from the fast-developing nature reserve

...look like these?

GAYDON: Warwickshire WT CHALLENGE: A planned 3,000 home development. RESPONSE: To make it a net gain for wildlife.

Warwickshire Wildlife Trust has worked to shape this complex development since it was proposed as part of the local plan in 2013.

Final planning permission is pending but as part of the development a Local Wildlife Site will become a nature reserve with long term management. There will also be semi-natural buffers to protect nearby ancient woodlands; semi-natural habitat links to the nature reserve; and green infrastructure throughout the development.

NEW DEVELOPMENT

Wildlife on this site should increase after the houses are built

WARWICKSHIRE WILDLIFE TRUST

AVON WT

Why can’t all front gardens...

SUFFOLK WILDLIFE 29

UK SPECIES SPOTLIGHT

MY FIRST

nightingale T

30 SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

as to be ubiquitous. Now, as we continue along the broad track, I wonder whether in 100 years people will go on pilgrimages to hear blackbirds or robins. I hope not.

We’re not half way to the visitor centre when we begin to hear them: first one, then another, away among the trees. Even at a distance the sound is easy to distinguish from other birdsong, with an uncanny quality that no recording can capture. “The best notes of other birds... come distinctly from the point where the bird utters them, and seem to reach and terminate at the listener’s ear,” wrote Sir Edward Grey in 1927. “But the supreme notes of the nightingale envelop and surround us: so that we lose perception of the point whence they proceed: it is as if we were included and embraced in pervading sound.”

Melissa Harrison spent three years trying to hear the elusive nightingale.

Finally, with Essex Wildlife Trust’s help, she struck gold

Even at a distance the sound is easy to distinguish from other birdsong Our faces are joy-struck, lit from within by the birds’ liquid, ventriloquial recital. When we move on, I follow reluctantly; surely we should stay and hear more? But I needn’t worry: this beautiful site yields more, even closer and clearer, for there are around 30 males here and more yet to arrive. At last, in a thicket by the mudflats of the wide River Colne, we find one only a few feet away, spilling out vivid, liquid phrases completely unconcerned by us.

As dusk fell, female birds were doubtless listening, assessing the parenting potential of competing males.

But to me, the song’s meaning was more ineffable: loaded with myth and legend, and a bittersweet reminder of a wildliferich world we must not let slip away. n MELISSA HARRISON is a wildlife writer and author of Rain: Four walks in English weather @ M_Z_Harrison

BRIAN DAVID STEVENS

ere’s one!’ says Charlie, almost as soon as we get out of the car. He looks at me, smiling, one finger aloft. I freeze and listen: surely it can’t be as easy as that? But if one was singing distantly it’s stopped now, and after a moment I zip up my coat, shoulder my binoculars and put on my gloves.

We’re at Fingringhoe Wick, near Colchester, on a cold spring evening. Essex Wildlife Trust’s Charlie Oliver has promised me nightingales – my first ever – and while I’m looking forward to hearing them, of course, it’s a complicated feeling. I caught a packed train here from central London after a long day at work and now I’m worried that the sound won’t live up to the hype I’ve been absorbing about them all my life.

We begin to walk up the track. The hawthorn is coming into bloom and the wood to our right is a froth of spring green; the sky is clearing to apricot, the sun low and golden.

Three years ago I realised I’d never heard a nightingale, and wanted to put it right. Bookham Common, in Surrey, reportedly had several; it was also somewhere I knew well. But it was too late for me to hear them that year. The following spring I had another go. The common was loud with song thrushes, blackbirds, robins, blackcaps and warblers, but I didn’t hear anything that sounded like the nightingales I’d listened to online.

I went twice more and still drew a blank. The brief window passed, for the males fall silent as soon as they have attracted a mate. Last year I tried again; numbers had reportedly fallen to a single singing male at Bookham, but I couldn’t find him. I tried nearby Capel, a private reserve whose numbers were up, and tried to persuade myself I’d heard a ‘jug-jug-jug’ in the distance, but I couldn’t be sure.

At one time, the song of a nightingale was so familiar to people in the south-east

VISIT sts. ifetru wildl rdsong bi / org OUR EAR RUS H TO O H NC DAW YLIST PLA

THE MORNING SYMPHONY IN YOUR GARDEN

AMY LEWIS

Blackbird

Blackbirds have the sweetest voice.

Mellow and tuneful, they open the dawn chorus while it’s still dark.

ANDY ROUSE

Wren

Next comes a metallic, frenetic, high-pitched trilling and zipping. This little brown bird uses his huge voice to proclaim his territory.

RICHARD STEEL

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaffs join in a bit later, as the sun rises. They simply repeat their name, two notes going up and down, welcoming in the morning.

Song thrush

AMY LEWIS

Nothing will prepare your ears for the sound coming out of that beak Loud and boisterous, the repeating tunes of the song thrush carry over the rest. They get faster and faster until they’re barely pausing.

SUFFOLK WILDLIFE 31

Market Weston Fen

James and Phyllis Webb moved to Suffolk in later life and spent many happy years here. When James died he remembered Suffolk Wildlife Trust in his Will.

Mr Webb was an avid cyclist and the Suffolk countryside was dear to his heart. He covered many thousands of miles on his bike, including touring Europe in the late 1940s and early 50s, around the time this photograph (inset) was taken.

We were delighted therefore, to dedicate Mr Webb’s gift in his Will to buying the woodland that links the two halves of Market Weston Fen nature reserve. Known as Fen Belt, this new land is an interesting mix of dry and wet woodland and part of the Site of Special Scientific Interest.



There is no doubt that for nature reserves, bigger is always better – and the addition of these 6½ acres will benefit the whole reserve. Legacy gifts enable the Trust to seize unexpected opportunities like this one, to secure more space for wildlife.

   

 

MARKET WESTON FEN

James Arthur Webb Postcode: IP22 2RF Map ref: TL983789

Adding Fen Belts will considerably improve the opportunities to walk and enjoy the reserve and we plan to extend the trail through the woodland to link up the two parts of the fen. Mr Webb’s generosity and foresight will enable more people to enjoy the countryside, as he did.

MARSH HELLEBORINE: STEVE AYLWARD

Fen Belt bought with legacy gifts in 2017   

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

Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Brooke House Ashbocking, Ipswich IP6 9JY 01473 890089 info@suffolkwildlifetrust.org suffolkwildlifetrust.org Registered charity no 262777

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