Suffolk Wildlife January 2014

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SuffolkWildlife News from Suffolk Wildlife Trust

January 2014

Living Landscapes Living Gardens Living Seas

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P18 SuffolkWildlife January 2014

News from Suffolk Wildlife

Trust

On the cover Common starling Neil Bowman FLPA

Living Landscapes

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Seas Living Gardens Living

KEVIN SAWFORD

P16

STEVE AYLWARD

STEVE AYLWARD

P12

DAVID KJAER

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BILL JENMAN

JANUARY 2014

YOUR MAGAZINE

SUFFOLK WILDLIFE TRUST

Suffolk Wildlife is published by Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Brooke House, Ashbocking IP6 9JY 01473 890089 info@suffolkwildlifetrust.org www.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 Kerry Stranix DESIGN & ARTWORK Clare Sheehan ADVERTISING Today Magazines, Framlingham 01728 622030 PRINTING Five Castles Press, Ipswich

PATRON Lord Tollemache PRESIDENT The Earl of Cranbrook MA PhD FLS VICE PRESIDENTS David Barker MBE, Lord Blakenham, Lord Deben, Bernard Tickner, Peter Wilson TRUSTEES Ian Brown (Vice Chairman), Sir Kenneth Carlisle (Chairman), John Cousins, Robin Drayton (Treasurer), Nigel Farthing, Dawn Girling, Denise Goldsmith. Fred Goymour, Peter Holborn, Simon Roberts, James Robinson (Hon Secretary).

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.

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Welcome

EADT ARCHANT SUFFOLK

Marine conservation

The Stour and Orwell is one of the richest estuaries in the UK

YOUR MEMBERSHIP 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.

Samantha Grange Our Membership Manager would love to hear from you.

Please call on 01473 890089

We can tailor your membership to suit your family. If your children are aged betwen 6-14 they’d enjoy our Wildlife Watch magazine. Likewise do let us know if your children have grown too old for the magazine.

The Government’s recent announcement designating 27 marine conservation zones in England triggered both relief and disappointment amongst the Wildlife Trusts. Relief that, after months of uncertainty, the creation of a network of marine protected sites was beginning to take shape. But tempered by bitter disappointment that the Stour and Orwell estuaries would not be designated – one of four potential Marine Conservation Zones to fall at the final hurdle.

Julian Roughton Up until now decisions on environmental Chief executive protection, such as SSSIs, have been taken on the basis of scientific evidence alone. And the science is clear – the Stour and Orwell is one of the richest estuaries in the UK, not just for waders and wildfowl, but for marine habitats and its role as an important nursery for fish. Designation would have given these marine features the protection they otherwise lack.

The Minister’s announcement made it clear that the Stour and Orwell was not designated because of the burden it would create on the ports of Felixstowe and Harwich. A perception that the needs of the natural environment and the economy are in conflict ‘jobs versus wildlife’. It is a false premise and open to challenge.

Suffolk led the way in linking its natural environment with a healthy, prosperous economy through its ‘Creating the Greenest County’ partnership of businesses, local authorities and conservation organisations. Suffolk’s cultural legacy, from Constable to Britten, is inspired by nature. The natural environment attracts people to live, work and visit Suffolk.

The Stour and Orwell estuary was designated a Special Protection Area in 1994 because of its international importance for breeding and wintering birds.

Over those 20 years Felixstowe port has thrived. Designation did not prevent the expansion of the port but ensured the needs of the environment were taken into account. When bigger ships required deeper dredging the impact was assessed and inter-tidal mudflats were created to compensate. Economic growth and environmental responsibility went hand-in-hand.

If economic interests are set above those of the natural environment we effectively erode the natural resources that underpin economic prosperity.

Healthy marine habitats in the Stour and Orwell support fish nurseries and so commercial fisheries. If natural resources are exploited without regard we undermine the potential for sustainable development. The North Sea faces huge and varied demands from commercial fishing, aggregate extraction, pipelines, wind farms and shipping. Yet not a single Marine Conservation Zone has been designated between Essex and the north Northumberland coast.

The Marine Act promised an ‘ecologically coherent’ network of marine protected sites but we remain far from realising that ambition in the North Sea. Next year we will hear if the Alde/Ore estuary or Orford Inshore are to be considered for designation. What is clear is that we need to bring local pressure to bear if Suffolk’s coast is to get the protection it deserves.

Read more about the Alde/Ore estuary on page 16

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CONSERVATION NEWS

Carlton & Oulton Marshes

New wetland habitat at Carlton Marshes is attracting breeding lapwing

Thank you to all who were able to help with the recent acquisition of Camps Heath Marshes – an important piece of the Suffolk Broads jigsaw 4 SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

The autumn appeal for the purchase of Camps Heath Marshes was a great success. Plans are now afoot to fully incorporate the land into Oulton Marshes nature reserve.

For anyone wishing to find out more about Camps Heath Marshes, look out in your ‘What’s On’ leaflet or on the Trust website for details of summer guided walks when the marsh flowers will be at their best.

Over at Carlton Marshes the current

phase of habitat work has been completed, with the creation of a new wetland mosaic of pools and, in time, reedbed and scrub. The bare ground and shallow scrapes created during the phase one work have been hugely successful in attracting breeding lapwing. However, as reed becomes more established, the habitat will become more suitable for reedbed rather than open marsh birds.

The Trust is also working closely with a neighbouring landowner at

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The award winning carbon positive building includes a classroom and was built almost exclusively from timber from the surrounding woodlands

The Green Oak Centre at Bradfield Woods has now been open for two and a half years and in that time has become a wonderful addition to the woodland.

The centre is open to the public each weekend from April to October and during the week Trust education staff welcome school groups, families taking part in activity sessions and adults attending workshops and conservation courses.

Trust staff work with local teachers, training them to lead outdoor learning activities with their students. Forest Schools are an important part of the environmental education timetable at Bradfield and the sessions bring the woodland to life, with one six year old from Kersey CEVCP School declaring that her Forest School was “the best day of my life!”

Since the centre opened a new Wildlife Watch group has been established for local children aged 6–12. The group meets each month and the children have been finding out about trees, nuts and seeds and have been learning how to track animals that live in the woods. Beavers and cub

groups also use the woodland for their naturalist badge and other local groups, including the WI, visit for guided walks and talks.

We are delighted that in the past two and a half years more people are visiting and returning time and again to enjoy Bradfield Woods – and we are grateful to the volunteers that welcome visitors and are on hand to help people enjoy the woodland.

More information about Bradfield Woods can be found on our website suffolkwildlifetrust.org/reserves/bradfield -woods

Environmental education at Bradfield Woods has been supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund

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EMMA KERRIDGE

We are grateful to the volunteers that welcome visitors and are on hand to help people enjoy the woodland PAUL SAWER FLPA

Carlton Marshes with the aim of putting their 70 acres of adjoining marshes into a Higher Level Stewardship scheme.

This will extend the network of high quality habitat at Carlton Marshes with significant benefits for wading birds, wintering wildfowl and the plant and insect communities associated with the ditches. The scheme will fund the restoration of ditches and the installation of sluices to allow water levels to be managed more favourably.

Children have been learning about trees, nuts and seeds

EMMA KERRIDGE

STEVE AYLWARD

Bradfield Woods, a warm welcome

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CONSERVATION NEWS

JACK BARNES

Project Wild Thing

David Bond and his daughter Project Wild Thing is a feature length documentary directed by David Bond. It takes a funny and revealing look at the complex issue of the increasingly fragile connection between children and nature.

The release of the film in October coincided with the launch of an ambitious campaign, Project Wild Thing: Reconnecting Kids and Nature, which brought together

David Bond is concerned. His children’s waking hours are dominated by a cacophony of marketing and a screen dependence threatening to turn them into glassy-eyed zombies. Like children everywhere, they spend too much time indoors. He decides it's time to get back to nature – literally.

In an attempt to compete with the brands, which take up a third of his daughter's life, Bond appoints himself Marketing Director for Nature. Like any self-respecting salesman, he sets about developing a campaign and a logo. With the help of a number of bemused professionals he is soon selling Nature to British families.

organisations, including the Wildlife Trusts, to get children outdoors, enjoying the natural world around them.

In October screenings of the film were held across the country. Three Suffolk cinemas took part – Aldeburgh Cinema, The Palace Cinema in Felixstowe and Abbeygate Picturehouse in Bury St Edmunds.

Find out more at: www.projectwildthing.com

His humorous journey unearths some painful truths about modern family life

Knettishall Heath – the new New Forest first time in living memory that cattle grids have been installed on a public highway in Suffolk and this has only been possible because of the fantastic support from Suffolk County Council’s Highways Department.

The habitat restoration work will include progressively clearing young birch and pine trees over time to restore a more open landscape. This will link what are currently isolated areas of heath and restore the landscape setting of important archaeological features such as the Hut Hill burial mound. Areas of woodland within the grazed area will also be thinned to

The habitat restoration work will include progressively clearing young birch and pine trees over time to restore a more open landscape

create more than 50 acres of wood pasture, preserving the oldest, most valuable wildlife trees and restoring patches of Breck heath beneath.

Public access will be further improved through the project. Removing more than two miles of internal fencing will make it possible to walk across the entire heath without having to negotiate gates and fences. Knettishall Heath is a popular dog-walking site, and a new year-round, dogs off lead zone will be created through the woodland along the southern edge of the Knettishall Heath reserve with the hope that less disturbance on the heath might encourage nightjars to breed once again.

A Vision for the Future

with A landscape scale project Commission, Natural England, Forestry and Suffolk County Council

The Brecks Partnership.

Lottery Fund Supported by the Heritage and WREN

Read more about our vision for Knettishall Heath at suffolkwildlifetrust.org/reserves/knettishall-heath

JAMIE MACARTHUR

Following the amazing news that the Trust was successful with its bid for a £223,383 grant from WREN for habitat restoration at Knettishall Heath, there has been a flurry of activity to help get the project started.

Several months of public consultation has confirmed that there is broad support from the local community and site users for the Trust’s vision for Knettishall Heath and, as a result, preparation work has now started.

This pioneering project will see cattle grids installed on the two minor roads that cross the heath, allowing all the heathland areas to be grazed as a single compartment. This will be the

EXMOOR PONIES STEVE AYLWARD

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CONSERVATION NEWS

Winter adventures at Lackford Lakes Summer at Lackford Lakes is wonderful, but it’s a site that has so much to offer in the winter months too…

With outstanding walks and hides overlooking 11 lakes, Lackford is alive with wildlife throughout the winter.

From regular visitors like goldeneye and goosander to spectacular evening gull roosts of 10,000 or more. Kingfishers are ever present and you may see overwintering bittern and snipe.

Stunning views The visitor centre’s viewing gallery gives panoramic views across the reserve and is the perfect place to enjoy a hot drink after a walk. Binoculars are available for hire and there is free use of a mobility buggy (booking advisable). Our young visitors love using the nature backpacks that are full of useful equipment for their walk.

Lackford Lakes regularly hosts adult conservation courses, as well as guided walks and family activities. Local schools enjoy visits during term time and the school holidays and weekends offer activities for all ages. The ‘What’s On’ section of our website has details of all courses and events.

Wildlife birthday parties are very popular at Lackford and are a great way to introduce children to the wonders of the natural world. Contact the centre or visit our website for more details about these.

Lackford Lakes is open Wednesday to Sunday from 10am to 4pm

Photography competition entry Up, up and away by Jamie MacArthur

Read more about the abundant bird life at Lackford Lakes in Mick Wright’s article on page 18

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CONSERVATION NEWS

Photography competition

PHIL MCLEAN FLPA

Overall winner Lee Acaster The old oak

runner-up Invertebrate category similus sub s anu Carl Wright Tab

and Young Photographer. A shortlist was selected by our panel of expert judges, with the overall winner chosen by an online public vote.

A gallery of winning shots is on our website suffolkwildlifetrust.org

Reptile category winner Charles WhitfieldKing Adders

In memorian William Jacob

1928-2013

William served as a trustee, vice-chairman and vice-president of Suffolk Wildlife Trust for nearly 20 years. Born in Suffolk, William loved the county and its wild places particularly.

His varied career included service in the Korean War as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm, Managing Director in the USA of BSA and Triumph motorcycles, chair of English Hops and founding director of Radio Orwell.

William’s experience and judgement steered Suffolk Wildlife Trust through changing times whilst his humour and entertaining stories enlivened many meetings.

Peter Lawson

1934-2013

Most people who knew Peter knew him as one of Suffolk’s foremost botanists. As a member of the Trust’s conservation staff from 1983 until he retired in 2000, his encyclopaedic knowledge of the county’s flora was a huge asset.

Amongst many other things, Peter helped identify and establish the network of County Wildlife Sites and protected roadside verges throughout Suffolk. Peter’s legacy is a substantial archive of botanical records and surveys that are still used today and will be equally valued as an important reference by botanical surveyors in the future.

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In September the Heritage Barns at Thornham Walks played host to a community wildlife conference. The free conference was organised as part of the Trust’s Heritage Lottery-funded initiative to support on the ground action for wildlife throughout Suffolk’s towns and villages.

As well as workshops and talks from experts in barn owl and orchard conservation, the conference heard inspirational stories from four community groups that are making a real difference for wildlife where they live. Speakers from Shotley Community Woodland, Gallowsfield Wood in Haughley, Bramford Water Meadows and the Bredfield Jubilee Meadow told how local communities had come together to create and manage valuable green spaces for local people and wildlife.

If you are involved in a wildlife project or would like to get something off the ground suffolkwildlifetrust.org/community webpages are a good source of information to find out about training, workshops, community events and funding.

Thank you 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 Margaret Atkins Mollie Burstall Dorothy Butler Anne Canham Phyllis Chase Rob Devereux Tony Eeles Barry Farman Paddy & Julyan Heazell

Peter Hewett Peter Lawson Denis Mills Doreen Morton John Shackles Joyce Smith Leslie Spinks Sheila Wilkin Harry Wilson

BILL JENMAN

Local action for wildlife 2013 saw the Trust’s wildlife photography competition go digital.

Thank you to everyone who made the move online with us, submitting entries to categories including East Anglian Bird, East Anglian Landscape

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Wild finds An archaeological dig at the Trust’s Hazlewood Marshes on the banks of the River Alde revealed one of the most important Saxon sites yet found in the county. Audrey Boyle joined archeologists at the site in September to find out more

Hazlewood Marshes

The site was a Saxon burial ground and very likely to be the earliest known Christian burial site in the area

F

ollowing its fourth and final major excavation, over 15 skeletons were uncovered at the Barber’s Point area of Hazlewood Marshes, leading to the conclusion that the site was a Saxon burial ground and very likely to be the earliest known Christian burial site in the area.

The HLF funded dig was the brainchild of the Aldeburgh & District Local History Society, led by Richard Newman, whose curiosity was piqued by a group of Edwardian amateur archaeologists who undertook a dig on Barber’s Point in 1907 and discovered Roman artefacts.

Richard explained why the site became more intriguing by the day and how, over the course of the last three

Jez Meredith Suffolk county archaelogist

digs, archeologists learnt to expect the unexpected: “Since the first recent dig here in 2004 early Roman and Saxon pottery was uncovered along with a beautiful Neolithic arrowhead found by some visiting local school children.

Boundary ditches were excavated and post-holes, Roman and Saxon, revealed the existence of buildings – some large.”

Richard told of an interesting discovery that was revealed by the 2004 bore-hole survey. It appeared that the water level in the river had changed radically during the period of settlement and that for a time Barber’s Point had been an area of raised land approachable only across muddy marsh at low tide. It was inhabited in the early Roman period (probably by people panning for salt) but SUFFOLK WILDLIFE 9

BILL JENMAN

BILL JENMAN

PHIL MCLEAN FLPA

WILD FINDS

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WILD FINDS total inundation around the year AD300 meant that it wasn’t inhabited again until the Middle Saxon period, around AD650.

Religious significance

Archives and analysis The funding has been used to provide professional archaeological supervision during each dig; to record, draw and photograph all archaeological remains and deposits and to produce records of archival standard. This will lead to a publication, which is hoped to be of regional if not national importance.

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Analysis will be carried out on the human remains, pottery and other artefacts

Hazlewood Marshes

Barber’s Point STEVE AYLWARD

By now the question on everyone’s mind was whether the Saxon settlement had religious significance. Was evidence of the large building an early church? Could this island site be a satellite religious settlement connected to St Botolph’s Abbey at Ikenhoe just across the river?

Would there be more burials?

There certainly were! In 2006 two bodies were found in the vicinity of a large building and in 2010 nine more graves were discovered dating between AD700– AD750. The graves were all thought not to be Pagan but Christian because they were within the settlement and contained no grave goods.

Richard explained one further interesting discovery that was made on the last day of the 2010 dig: “I came across a grave a long way from the others. This posed the question, is all the land across the 20 metres being surveyed one large cemetery? That’s what we aimed to find out on this final dig at Barber’s Point, clues as to the true nature of the site in the 7th and 8th centuries.”

Jezz Meredith, Suffolk county archeologist, joined us on site and explained the importance of the finds within the religious landscape of the time: “St Botolph is reputed to have set up his religious community in AD654, possibly at a site in Iken across the river. It would be intriguing to think that the Barber's Point settlement could be a satellite community of St Botolph's. Barber's Point is proving to be a site of major significance – witnessing the passing of paganism and the adoption of Christianity along the River Alde, a major arterial route during Cowrie Saxon and subsequent shell periods.”

River Alde Dig site

Barber's Point is proving to be a site of major significance – witnessing the passing of paganism and the adoption of Christianity along the River Alde The finds of the most recent dig which ended in September, included a beautiful Roman bronze dolphin and an amber coloured piece of Anglo-Saxon claw beaker together with several graves. One of these graves included artefacts such as beads, a spindle whorl and a large cowrie shell originating from the Indian Ocean – these have been found in other Saxon grave contexts too. One of the skeletons – a child of about 10 years – was found to have two symmetrical holes in the top of the skull, which archaeologists are speculating about. Perhaps it was to

release evil spirits; a way of treating epilepsy or mental illness. Evidence emerged of Neolithic settlement too.

This intriguing place has produced evidence of human activity ranging from Neolithic times through to the Saxon period. The presence of early Christian graves and the foundations of what may have been a large building suggest that this was quite possibly a more notable point on the river in Saxon times than originally thought.

The report resulting from the dig will be available in 2015.

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BILL JENMAN

Steve Aylward examines how the dig has revealed a little more about the local landscape and, not surprisingly, left a few more questions hanging

Child’s skull with two holes

One of the skeletons – a child of about 10yrs – was found to have two symmetrical holes in the top of the skull

Bronze dolphin and coins

One of the more fascinating aspects of this work has been what it tells us about the evolution of the estuary over the last 2,000 years. We know that sea levels have naturally fluctuated over that time and, coupled with the huge modification of the estuary by man in the past 300-400 years, this is today a very different place to that which our Saxon forebears knew.

It appears that the Roman occupation of the site ended around AD300 when changes in the river and sea levels led to the inundation of the site. It was several hundred years before further changes in the course of the river, coupled with a slight fall in water levels, allowed the area to be occupied once again by the Saxons. It seems that the small area of high ground at Barber’s Point existed as an island, only accessible at low tide or by boat.

This relative isolation together with good access to the river

is most likely what made the area an attractive place for a settlement. However, the precise details of the size of the settlement and why it was ultimately abandoned remain unknown.

Today the estuary is undergoing another comparatively rapid period of change. A significant part of Barber’s Point is already thought to have been lost to the river due to erosion. Twenty years ago it was possible to find fragments of Roman pottery on the eroding foreshore, but improved sea defences have for now halted the erosion. The small remaining areas of saltmarsh surrounding Barber’s Point continue to be under immense erosion pressure and will almost certainly be lost as sea levels rise further. The bigger question is how long the river wall around Hazlewood Marshes will survive and at what point might Barber’s Point become an island again?

DAVID KJAER

The ever-changing estuary

Hazlewood Marshes is one of the last un-drained, undisturbed marshes on the Suffolk coast. It is an important site for breeding waders and overwintering wildfowl

The dig was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund through Touching the Tide, the Landscape Partnership Scheme and Aldeburgh & District Local History Society

BILL JENMAN

STEVE AYLWARD

An example of a Saxon settlement at West Stow Saxon Village

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GOOGLE IMAGES

Relative isolation together with good access to the river is most likely what made the area an attractive place for a settlement

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LIVING GARDENS

This year the Trust is celebrating that sacred haven many of us retreat to at the end of the day. Christine Luxton, head of development at the Trust looks at why our gardens can be the best place to encounter wildlife

DAVID KJAER

As habitat in the wider countryside continues to fragment and disappear, gardens are becoming increasingly important for wildlife Common toad

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Living gardens

A

garden of delight

One of my clearest childhood memories is watching spiders. I lived on a boat and my spiders lived under the wooden footbridge we crossed each day to go to school. Spider-watching involved lurking under the bridge in a dinghy and whilst I suspect this was part of the fun, it is the spiders I remember.

When it comes to wildlife, it’s strange how these simple experiences stay with you. As an adult I’ve enjoyed larger than life encounters with wildlife in exotic parts of the world, but in truth these are not the memories I really treasure, it’s the ones much closer to home that spring most readily to mind.

Judging by the enthusiasm and sheer number of telephone calls and emails the Trust receives from people about bee orchids springing up on their lawn or grass snakes in their compost heap, I am in good company.

There’s pure delight in these chance encounters with garden wildlife.

Somehow, these encounters are even more precious if you have had a hand in engineering them. Caterpillars on your nettle patch and butterflies on your buddleia… blue tits in the nest box you built… gold finches on your teasels…

Wildlife advice For many years now the Trust has offered local advice, tailored to species in Suffolk, to help

people bring wildlife in to their garden. It’s something that really matters to us. Whether a telephone discussion with one of our advisers or simply a fact sheet on our website, our advice helps to get the best outcomes for wildlife from the energy and effort invested in Suffolk gardens.

With garden centres, TV programmes and magazines all offering advice, ideas and calls to action as well, there’s no shortage of task lists for gardeners – but where’s the magic? Our gardens have the potential to hold a wealth of wildlife if we give nature a chance, but we seem to have got so bogged down in the hows, whys and whens of wildlife gardening we are in danger of losing touch with the delight.

Chance encounters with garden wildlife are even more precious if you have had a hand in engineering them This is why the Trust is now starting to think much more in terms of Living Gardens, shifting our focus from tasks and target species, to celebrating gardens that are alive with wildlife.

Certainly wildlife ponds don’t dig themselves, but if we are to inspire more people to invite wildlife into their garden, sharing the sense of delight it will bring seems a good place to start.

Living Gardens Throughout 2014, the Saturday environment supplement in the East Anglian Daily Times will include a weekly series on Living Gardens. It will feature a wide range of gardens and gardeners as

Advice directory well as garden species.

If you would like to tell us about your garden, please send a photo and 250 words to give a sense of what makes your garden special to you.

Send to audrey.boyle@suffolkwildlifetrust.org or by post You can find us at facebook.com/suffolkwildlife

Hedgehog Posted by Alan Baldry Garden spider Posted by Colin Gillett

The new advice directory on our wesite can help you create your very own Living Garden.

Find it at suffolkwildlifetrust.org/advice

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LIVING GARDENS What’s that caterpillar?

Since my children have grown up and spend less time playing in the garden I have slowly been converting it in to my own nature reserve

STEVE AYLWARD

If you are fascinated by the insects in your garden but have no idea what they are, iSpot may be a good place to start. iSpot is an online identification tool that has been developed by the Open University. With thousands of users all helping to identify your sightings it’s a great tool to help you discover what species you have in your garden.

Simply upload a photograph and answer a few questions and then wait for other iSpot users to identify your sighting – there are also a host of online resources to explore.

Once you know what you’ve got take a trip to the other wildlife i – iRecord.

Adding your sightings to this website will make them instantly available to the Biological Records Centre and Suffolk Wildlife Trust. This will help build a picture of wildlife across the county. iRecord can be found at brc.ac.uk/irecord

Gardening courses

TOM MARSHALL

Trees & shrubs for wildlife February 8 at Foxburrow Farm Weave a willow plant wigwam March 8 at Foxburrow Farm

GARY SMITH FLPA

Prickly problems

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healthy populations of species such as hedgehogs.

In Suffolk, alarm bells are ringing for our hedgehogs. The Trust’s surveys in 2000 and 2010 suggest hedgehogs may have disappeared from much of our countryside. On a positive note, our towns still support important hedgehog populations, but we need to know much more about these remaining hedgehog hotspots to target our conservation efforts and get a better understanding of the role of gardens. Our 2014 Hedgehog Survey will help to do this.

Dr Simone Bullion will give an insight into the plight of Suffolk’s hedgehogs and introduce the survey in your May issue of Suffolk Wildlife.

DAVID KJAER

PHIL MCLEAN FLPA

The ‘State of Nature 2013’ report suggests about 9.5% of the UK is urbanised, increasing to nearly 15% in England. Crucially for wildlife, our towns contain open spaces such as parks, woodlands, playing fields and allotments, as well as gardens. For many species urban areas are becoming ever more important due to the loss of suitable habitat elsewhere. Species like house sparrows, swifts and several bats rely on buildings for nesting and roosting sites.

Living Gardens are the local links in our Living Landscape, acting as connections between larger patches of habitat.

Without these wildlife corridors, even good quality green space can fail to support

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Suffolk WildlifeTrust staff introduce us to their own Living Gardens

The number and diversity of species visiting my garden has increased massively and it has become my favourite place to photograph butterflies. Plants like fleabane and knapweed make a wonderful setting for peacock and gatekeeper butterflies while orange tips can be photographed

Many years ago my family and I bought an acre of garden with thick old hedges and a natural pond. Along with the pond came seasonal Mike Wade wildlife which we volunteer encourage. conservation Moorhens nesting, adviser great crested newts in spring and summer, dragonflies, frogs and clouds of common blue damselflies that rise shimmering from their plant cover.

The hedges all had strips of rough grassland and flowers either side of them. We have expanded this habitat by planting more wildflowers that supply nectar and seed and we carry out a single cut once a year.

Now many insects and amphibians over-winter.

We have planted cowslips, wood anemones, snakeshead fritillary and daffodils into the grass under our fruit trees and this has created a colourful spring meadow. We leave dead wood for invertebrates and intersperse native and cultivated plants in our flowerbeds to create variety. Like a nature reserve, it is the combination of habitats and sympathetic management that support the best wildlife.

We are outside every day not just gardening but watching the seasonal changes taking place. Every year brings new and exciting encounters with wildlife.

Last spring our rosemary bush and the warmth from a south facing wall enticed a hare that was with us from leveret to adult and who was unperturbed by our presence in the garden. The year before, on a memorable birthday, a nightingale entertained party guests by singing all evening. The year before that a muntjac decided our shrub bed was a safe place to have its fawn… and so it goes on. These are just snapshots of the encounters we enjoy from butterflies, bumble bees, honey bees, mice, moles, hedgehogs, woodpeckers, willow tits, turtle doves, green finches, bullfinches and tawny owls, to a stoat enjoying the tall grass near the hedgerow.

We got more than just a large garden and pond; it's a place full of natural entertainment and wildlife experiences.

The best thing is that this has been incredibly easy on their food plant, hedge garlic. I’ve photographed frogs and toads in the pond, hedgehogs rummaging in the compost heap and large white caterpillars eating my nasturtiums.

The opportunities are endless with a succession of insects through the spring and summer, many different garden birds and what might prove to be the most challenging assignment yet, photographing the bats that circle my garden at dusk.

Having a wildlife garden is something I’d always dreamed of and on moving house in 2010 I finally realised that dream…

My garden has Sarah Colnet several different wildlife adviser habitats supporting and receptionist a wide range of flora and fauna. An ancient hazel wood, which hasn’t been coppiced in many years, provides fantastic standing deadwood as well as its yearly crop. A border of large oak trees, some draped in ivy, gives nest sites and cover for our garden birds, including our resident tawny owls.

I will never tire of the wildlife in my garden. I love every little change and encounter There are two ponds, one being the old cart pond with a cobbled flint floor, and one much deeper, larger pond, probably dug to source clay for daub when building the house.

Our friendly local farmer kindly restored the ponds earlier this year, and we have already noticed water plants appearing and an abundance of dragonflies.

Areas of grassland are cut regularly throughout the summer, but left long enough for flowering clovers to provide nectar. A small meadow to the side of the house is cut yearly, letting the grasses flower to attract butterflies and moths.

I will never tire of the wildlife in my garden. I love every little change and encounter, from the proud voice of the chiffchaff announcing his arrival in early spring to the flutter of fieldfare wings as they descend upon the laden hawthorn indicating that winter has well and truly arrived.

ELLIOTT NEEP

BOB COYLE

As an enthusiastic wildlife photographer, getting the best photos used to mean jumping in the car and driving to a nature reserve.

Steve Aylward However, since Head of property my children have & projects grown up and spend less time playing in the garden I have slowly been converting it in to my own nature reserve.

The lawn which was once somewhere to kick a football or play swing-ball is now a wildflower meadow (pictured left) and the borders are increasingly growing wild rather than cultivated flowers. The best thing is that this has been incredibly easy. Wildflower seed collected on walks has simply been sprinkled on the lawn and a casual approach to weeding has allowed a host of wildflowers to grow – most just appearing of their own accord.

Tawny owl

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Cucumber smelt CUCUMBER SMELT

T

he cucumber smelt, or sparling Osmerus eperlanus, is a euryhaline species mainly found in estuaries, migrating upstream into freshwater reaches in large shoals in early spring. The species has a broad distribution around the western coasts of Europe to north west Spain and there are several non-migratory populations in freshwater lake systems in Scandinavia. The species once supported significant fisheries for human consumption in estuaries such as the Thames.

Prior to this report the species was thought to be incapable of penetrating into full strength sea water

MARC BEDINGFIELD FLPA

Once a staple part of the local diet, smelt is a species of fish rarely referenced today. Steve Colclough, of Colclough and Coates SC2 and the Institute of Fisheries Management, gives us an overview of recent findings that highlight how important the Alde Ore estuary is for the species and how this could help designate the estuary as an MCZ

Smelt populations have been reported in the River Orwell. Levington Creek pictured

An indicator species are very prone to sudden crashes.

The species is considered vulnerable in Europe and rare in the British Isles and was adopted under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan as a priority species in 2007.

In 2010, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee determined that the biology and known distribution of the smelt merited inclusion as a featured species or

BUITTEN-BEELD

Smelt can form the dominant part of the fish communities found in estuaries and are an important indicator of environmental quality. They are very sensitive to a broad range of environmental degradation pressures, including over-fishing, dredging programmes, loss of spawning habitat, blockage to passage and water quality impacts. As a result populations

16 SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

When removed from the water, smelt exhibit a characteristic strong smell, reminiscent of cucumber!

Focus for Conservation Importance in the designation of Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) associated with the Marine and Coastal Access Act, 2009. The Environment Agency (EA) conducted a status review in 2010 in support of the MCZ process.

Modifications to salmon and freshwater fisheries legislation in England and Wales, made through the Marine Act, have brought the smelt into the legislative stream as a migratory species. Regulation of smelt fisheries is now operated by the EA, through a process of authorisation, rather than licensing. Conditions are applied to each authorisation to promote sustainable fisheries and environmental management. Smelt have now been positively identified in 36 watercourses in England and Wales. The EA conducted a further review of studies in 2013 in view of the legislative status changes.

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There has been frustratingly slow progress regarding the designation of a countrywide network of MCZs. It has just been announced that of the 31 sites put forwards for protection in the first tranche, only 27 have been designated. To the Trust’s disappointment the Stour/ Orwell estuary was one of the sites to be dropped. The Trust and other local conservation organisations including the RSPB, will continue to campaign for other Suffolk recommended MCZs to be included

In 2003 smelt were reported in the Alde and Ore and it was adjudged that this was probably a population common also to the Deben, Orwell and Stour. Between 2003 and 2006 smelt were taken on six occasions, as well as at Iken Cliffs in October 2003 and July 2004, July 2005 and October 2005. A single smelt was taken at Shingle Street in October 2003.

One hundred and twenty eight smelt were captured in an electrofishing survey in the freshwater Alde at a site upstream of Langham Bridge (up river from Snape) in the spring of 2003. These were mature fish ranging from 160-210mm in length. Given timing and size, this probably represented a spawning migration. It was concluded that in order to access the freshwater river, the fish must have passed through the tidal sluice at Snape Maltings.

Comprehensive 24 hour sampling of

fish impingement at Sizewell B power station has been underway since 2009.

Smelt have been reported in this programme. Prior to this report the species was thought to be incapable of penetrating into full strength sea water.

The nearest estuary with a known smelt population is the Alde and Ore, some 25km to the south of Sizewell. The nearest estuary to the north is the Blythe, some 12km away. No survey work has been conducted in the Blythe. The only other possibility is RSPB Minsmere Reserve, some seven miles to the north.

The smelt is a relatively weak swimmer.

Current penetration into many catchments may be improved significantly if their passage is eased at all sluice structures.

Penetration of smelt into the freshwater Alde through the sluice at Snape Maltings is of note in this context since this is a rare report in England and Wales. Given Water Framework Directive requirements and the expected nature of the forthcoming fish passage and screening legislation, adequate passage for smelt (as well as other migratory species) will have to be considered for all such structures where smelt may be present.

Blacktailed godwit

all on the East Coast. The total catch was 11269kg. The majority of the catch is directed at the angling market where the smelt is used as a dead-bait for pike fishing. A small part of the catch is sold for human consumption in Eastern Europe. No directed fishing is known to occur in the Alde, but occasional bycatch may be taken by marine fishermen operating near the mouth. Most of the potential for future fisheries lies in estuaries and tidal rivers. Close coordinated management between the EA and marine regulators will be very necessary to ensure that future management of the species is truly sustainable.

Recommendations in the 2013 review for the Alde were to investigate and protect the spawning site above Langham Bridge, to investigate and facilitate fish passage at the Snape Maltings sluice and to support the MCZ designation process.

To read a full copy of the report please email srcifm@gmail.com

Commercial sustainability The new EA authorisation process to regulate commercial exploitation for smelt began in 2011. Two individuals fished with fyke nets and pots in seven locations in Eastern England.

The total reported catch was 3240kg. The fishery expanded in 2012. Authorisations were provided to three individuals to fish with fyke nets and pots in 11 locations, again

DAVID BURTON FLPA

Smelt in Suffolk

in the second tranche.

The Alde/Ore estuary is the only site that has been put forward in the region for the protection of smelt and we hope the evidence presented in this report will support its future designation. As Ben McFarland, area manager at the RSPB is keen to point out “this is not about stopping current activities, more about protecting what we have.

Supporting the MCZ process should be in everybody’s interest.”

BILL COSTER FLPA

Suffolk MCZs

The majority of the catch is directed at the angling market where the smelt is used as a dead-bait for pike fishing SUFFOLK WILDLIFE 17

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WINTERING WADERS AND WILDFOWL

Greylag geese

Suffolk’s location on the east coast makes it one of the best places in the country for wintering wildfowl and waders. Mick Wright, local bird expert and retired Trust warden, shares his tips for enjoying winter birdlife at our reserves 18 SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

L

ast winter was cold and unseasonably long and the summer was a long time coming.

The weather, in all its forms, can be disastrous for our birds so I was hopeful this year would be kinder.

Seasonal spectacles Early autumn is a time of changeover when our summer migrants head south to many regions in South Africa and the first of our waders return. The Trust’s wetland reserves have seen a wealth of passage migrants, which have included green and common sandpipers, spotted redshanks and ruffs. Greenshank peaked at a record

high of 39 at Trimley Marshes and the coastal reserves saw curlew, sandpiper and little stint. A white-rumped sandpiper appeared at Trimley Marshes and a Baird’s sandpiper at Levington Lagoon. At Levington, by September, there was already a flock of 400 golden plover; these birds stay all winter and their numbers may increase to over 1,000.

In the winter months, large areas of some reserves are deliberately flooded to provide ideal habitats and feeding opportunities. It is quite normal to see fantastic winter wildlife spectacles with several thousand ducks and geese bathing, preening, squabbling or feeding

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DAVID KJAER

Wintering waders & wildfowl

STEVE AYLWAR D

Listen for a squealing pig-like sound, a give away call to let you know that the water rail is close by

Dingle Marshes

The wader spectacle coupled with all the geese and ducks coming to the saltmarsh to feed on the plants and seeds completes a wonderful scene

would have had some breeding success and will still be in family groups. The juveniles are easy to tell apart from their parents as they lack the white neck collar and their wing coverts are distinctly barred buff. Each winter the juvenile and adult birds are counted to determine how successful the breeding season has been, sometimes there are no juveniles at all.

If you wish to see brent geese then visit Trimley Marshes or Levington Lagoon. Your best chance to see whitefronted geese is to visit Hazlewood Marshes.

At Dingle Marshes, or further up the coast at Carlton, you may see the daytime hunting short-eared owl as well as good numbers of winter wildfowl. When walking up the beach at Dingle keep a look out for lapwings and snow buntings and the shore pools usually have a flock of twite.

A special place

Bitterns and buzzards Should you visit Hen Reedbeds, Hazlewood Marshes or Trimley Marshes there is a very good chance that you will see the elusive bittern, as many winter at these sites. Trimley Marshes is also an

excellent place to watch peregrine falcons hunting and buzzards are always present.

Although the winter solstice on 21 December marks the beginning of the days getting longer, the coldest weather is often still to come. This mid-winter period is my favourite. I savour the crisp cold mornings, more so when I am able to watch hundreds of brent geese flying in from the estuary and tumbling to the grazing marsh to feed.

The large flocks we see are the darkbellied brent species, which have been breeding on the islands and coast of central and western Siberia. If the summer months have been kind to them they

Snipe

DAVID KJAER

frenetically – a hive of activity. Should you be birding from one of the many Trust hides you can be guaranteed stunningly close views of pintails, pochards, wigeons, teals, gadwalls and many other species.

You may also catch a glimpse of a water rail, a very shy bird, feeding between patches of reed or other waterside vegetation.

I never tire of visiting the Orwell estuary, especially Levington Lagoon and Trimley Marshes. If you have never visited these places then I fully recommend you to do so; without any doubt you will see large flocks of waterfowl and more species

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during the winter months than anywhere else in Suffolk.

On a flooding tide thousands of waders fly to the saltings at Levington to pre-roost or to feed in the remaining muddy fringes of the creeks and pans.

There could be several thousand each of dunlin, redshank and knot and hundreds of black-tailed godwit, curlew, grey plover, lapwing and golden plover as well as ringed plover and turnstone. Their swirling masses are a real treat. Sometimes it appears that they are on the wing all through the high tide period. The wader spectacle coupled with all the geese and ducks coming to the saltmarsh to feed on the plants and seeds completes a wonderful scene. Scan the river for red and great northern divers, mergansers and great crested grebes.

At Trimley Marshes the situation is similar, especially on the highest of the spring tides when wading birds have to find a safe, disturbance-free refuge; there is none better than this reserve.

Oystercatchers and avocets along with many other species pour into the reserve.

Throughout the winter the reservoir is full of birdlife including pochard, tufted duck and coot, while hundreds if not several thousand wigeon and teal will be grazing on the marshes.

Being out during the winter months, enjoying the fresh crisp air, whilst visiting the Trust’s wetland reserves to witness these wild bird spectacles is amazing.

Waterbirds, like so much of our wildlife, face many threats, which makes me appreciate the work of the Trust, especially the site managers and their small armies of volunteers, who work tirelessly to safeguard these oases for wildlife.

This winter, enjoy your walks.

It is quite normal to see fantastic winter wildlife spectacles with several thousand ducks and geese bathing, preening, squabbling or feeding frenetically

The Trust Facebook page often has wonderful photographs posted by visitors to our nature reserve and this winter has been no exception: facebook.com/suffolkwildlifetrust

Oystercatchers

Information about all of these reserves can be found on our website. You can also download a spotter sheet to help younger visitors identify what they have seen

DAVID KJAER STEVE AYLWARD

DAVID KJAER

WINTERING WADERS AND WILDFOWL

20 SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

Levington Lagoon

Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserves that are particularly good for winter birdwatching include Lackford Lakes near Bury St Edmunds, Oulton Marshes and Lound Lakes near Lowestoft and Trimley Marshes near Felixstowe. The site managers for each of these nature reserves look at what a winter visit may bring:

Lackford Lakes Lackford Lakes is a superb site for wildfowl throughout the year.

This autumn saw more snipe arrive at Lackford than usual. This was because some of the Will Cranstoun pools and lagoons West Suffolk struggled to reach sites manager normal levels after the dry summer which resulted in more exposed mud – perfect for snipe to gather.

The small lagoon in front of Bernard’s Hide has been home to more than 10 snipe exploiting the wet mud around the island fringes, with more birds in and around the short vegetation. Green sandpipers have joined them out on the Slough to feed, as well as the occasional greenshank.

Lapwing began to arrive at Lackford in the autumn, seeking a place to feed and roost. We have been encouraged by their relatively good numbers, despite the rapid national decline.

Creating and maintaining good quality habitat at Lackford is key and we have

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Avocet

Wigeon

recently completed work on two ponds and a shallow scrape – this will benefit lapwings and other wader species by giving them areas to feed, roost and possibly breed.

After a gradual build-up of duck and goose numbers on the lakes, we usually see duck counts in the low hundreds. Up on the Sailing Lake you can usually see good numbers of tufted ducks, gadwall and goldeneye. Goosanders can often be seen and there are plenty of greylag geese and the occasional brent and barnacle goose too.

Enjoy a hot drink at the visitor centre after your walk and you may be lucky enough to catch a spectacular gull or starling roost.

Oulton Marshes Oulton Marshes is an excellent place for wintering wildfowl. Since 2009 when the Trust bought the expanse of marshes and undertook management to restore dykes and wet features, wigeon numbers have started to build year on year, with current numbers in excess of 700.

The creation of scrapes and footdrains provide wet muddy edges, perfect for feeding waders and wildfowl.

Each year groups of pink footed geese visit the site from their normal wintering areas on the Norfolk side of the Waveney. The viewing platform on the river wall is a great place to spend some time and possibly see species like teal, green sandpiper, redshank, greenshank and short-eared owl.

DAVID KJAER

STEVEN ROUND

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Redshank

I savour the crisp cold mornings, more so when I am able to watch hundreds of brent geese flying in from the estuary and tumbling to the grazing marsh to feed

Lound Lakes Lound Lakes sits just outside the Lower Waveney Valley in a tributary to the River Waveney and is an excellent area for wintering wildfowl. The Matt Gooch best place to view many Broads warden of the species is from the hide that spans the width of the lake.

Here you may see mallard, gadwall, wigeon, pintail and tufted duck.

Primarily, the lakes provide drinking water for Lowestoft and the surrounding area, but they also provide excellent wintering grounds for large groups of greylag and barnacle geese, who spend time on the acid grassland edges. If you’re lucky you may catch a glimpse of wintering bittern on the reed fringed edges.

Lound Lakes is one of the Trust’s newest nature reserves – discover it using the colour-coded trails that guide you round the site.

Trimley Marshes In winter, a visit to Trimley Marshes means vast numbers of birds.

The reserve is specifically managed through late summer Andrew Excell and autumn to attract South East Suffolk as many migratory and sites manager resident populations of birds on to site through autumn and winter, and several thousand birds can be

on site at any one time.

A golden winter’s afternoon watching large groups of brent and greylag geese, wigeon, shelduck, pintail and teal, with flying flocks of dunlin, redshank, avocet, black tailed godwit and oystercatcher moving between the estuary and the reserve lagoons cannot be beaten!

From the car park at Searson’s Farm, there is a two mile walk through pleasant farmland and woodland to reach Trimley Marshes, so wrap up warm and start your wildlife watching as soon as you leave the car. The hedgerows and thickets can be full of wintering thrushes, and bullfinches and waxwings are regularly seen. Alternatively, cycle down to the reserve, reducing the journey time to about 10 minutes.

If this is your first visit, aim to come down on a rising spring tide, giving you the spectacle of waders and wildfowl at high water, when many birds flock to the reserve to roost while adjacent mudflats are temporarily covered. For local tidal information, visit www.tidetimes.org.uk/harwich-tide-times – and note that when high tides exceed 4.2 metres in daylight, the best numbers of bird movements normally occur.

Almost anything can turn up at Trimley Marshes any day of the year, including national rarities. Be prepared, bring binoculars (and a telescope if you have one), a good bird identification book and a flask of hot drink. Enjoy the birds on the reserve from any of the five hides, or scan the estuary for skeins of geese and floating rafts of ducks from the river wall.

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Water voles disappearing

UK NEWS

The value of nature The Wildlife Trusts are promoting a positive vision for the future of these beautiful islands – Living Landscapes and Living Seas. In many places local people are getting involved with the work their Trust is doing, and this vision has also inspired decision-makers to embrace the idea of restoring wildlife across the UK. Far from being harbingers of doom, Trusts are routinely upbeat. We know we can help wildlife to return in greater abundance and diversity for us, our children and grandchildren to enjoy. Our progress is thanks to members who provide Trusts with the confidence and funds to make a difference.

Reversing wildlife decline goes hand in hand with improving our mental and physical health. Both are possible as long as we don’t lose any more of what we have left – our remaining flower-rich meadows, purple heaths, romantic woods and wetlands and beautiful seas.

Unfortunately, we rarely value what we have until people threaten to take it away.

There were bleak messages in The State of Nature report launched in May (and featured in the last issue), but it reminded people how much our wildlife needs us, and how much we need nature. RSPB led this initiative and The Wildlife Trusts were grateful to play our part, feeding in our extensive knowledge and experience and using our spokespeople to promote it.

I am delighted that in recent years, cooperation between the main wildlife charities has deepened and that social charities such as Mind, are recognising the value of nature to their missions. Together we can create real momentum for change.

ew maps produced by the National UK Water Vole Database and Mapping Project show that the mammal’s range may have shrunk by 22% between 2007-2011 when compared with the previous recording period (2004-2008).

The maps identify areas of England – especially the south west, south east and parts of the north west – where the species is vulnerable to further decline and extinctions. The reasons for the continuing losses are long-term habitat loss, mink predation and extreme weather such as 2012’s spring drought.

There are still strongholds in areas with more extensive wetlands, or where the non-native American mink is absent or at low levels. However, some of these have reduced in size since the first mapping period. Wildlife Trusts are also succeeding in restoring water vole populations through targeted conservation efforts in some areas, but this work needs to be sustained and extended to stop the wider decline.

In part, the new data reflects a reduced survey effort due to a reduction

N

in available funding. But there is clear evidence from some areas that water voles are disappearing fast.

“This latest information is a real cause for concern,” said Paul Wilkinson, The Wildlife Trusts’ Head of Living Landscape.

“Not enough is being done to secure this charismatic species’ future. We must protect the remaining strongholds and renew efforts to save this species, through targeted conservation and sustained monitoring. We need to create and maintain large-scale, good quality habitat, good for voles and other wildlife. We must also control mink, and conduct reintroduction schemes. A lack of funding for these crucial projects is a real threat to their success.”

The Wildlife Trusts and the Environment Agency are calling for a national water vole monitoring programme to be established. Annually recording populations in key areas would show how this vulnerable mammal is faring over time.

Read what The Wildlife Trusts are doing and submit sightings: wildlifetrusts.org/watervole

There is not enough habitat at a landscape scale to support viable populations

JULES COX FLPA

Stephanie Hilborne OBE Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts

Habitat loss, mink predation and extreme weather have produced a dramatic drop in just five years

FRAN SOUTHGATE, SUSSEX WT

UK NEWS FROM AROUND THE WILDLIFE TRUSTS AVON

BCN

BBOWT

CHESHIRE

CUMBRIA

DERBYSHIRE

Endangered white clawed crayfish have been moved to a new safe haven in Dorset.

It’s part of the South West Crayfish Project, led by Avon Wildlife Trust, with Buglife and the Environment Agency. wtru.st/AvonCrayfish

The Trust has launched an appeal to secure another huge piece of the Great Fen Project by unlocking a £1.9m HLF grant. This would increase the area of traditional fen habitat by almost a fifth. wtru.st/FenJigsaw

Thousands of people raised £270,000 to save Meadow Farm, 28ha of irreplaceable wildflower meadows on the River Ray, where true fox sedge survives in the medieval ridge and furrow fields. wtru.st/ MeadowFarm

The Trust is restoring Delamere’s lost mosslands thanks to a £250,000 grant from WREN. This rare habitat is home to specialist plants and animals such as the white-faced darter. wtru.st/ DelamereBogs

A 15-year project to restore 300ha of peat bog at Foulshaw Moss is complete.

Conifers have been removed and miles of drains blocked to bring water levels back to their natural state. wtru.st/ FoulshawRestored

The Trust’s Woodside Farm meat box scheme is raising funds for wildlife. The meat comes from the Highland cattle and rare breed Jacob sheep that graze the nature reserve. wtru.st/ DerbysMeatBox

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UK-wLatest i and de new wild issues: s lif org/ etrusts. news

Critical areas for water voles South east Despite records across the south east of England, there are no viable long-term populations. Kent Wildlife Trust aims to find isolated populations and reconnect them, allowing populations to expand.

River Ock and Ginge Brook BBOWT’s Water Vole Recovery Project has focused on survey and mink trapping for many years, allowing water vole populations to expand in some areas.

Devon and Cornwall Water voles are now extinct in the south west due to predation by American mink.

Habitat restoration on the River Tale in east Devon should allow a future reintroduction.

Lincolnshire Coastal Grazing Marsh A complex system of drainage ditches make this farming landscape surprisingly good habitat for water voles. Continuous survey effort and support by land managers mean the population is also well documented.

Habitat showing signs of water voles is disappearing at a frightening rate.

This is the 2007-11 map of water vole presence

Lancashire Wetlands Farm ditch systems are amongst important strongholds for the species in the north west, but the future of the water vole in these areas relies on sensitive management.

Uplands Headstreams in the Peak District and Pennines, Snowdonia and the Cairngorms are important strongholds, although mink remain a threat even at high altitudes.

DORSET

DURHAM

GWENT

KENT

SUSSEX

NORFOLK

Record numbers of rare silver-studded blue butterflies have appeared at Upton Heath reserve. The species only lives on heathland, limestone grassland and dunes.

Dark green fritillaries also did very well. wtru.st/RareSilvers

A survey of otters on the county’s streams and rivers has found a population in good health. Of the more than 500 sites surveyed in April, 42% were found to show signs of otter activity. wtru.st/ DurhamOtters

The Trust opposes plans for the Circuit of Wales which would see a 350ha MotoGP circuit built in Blaenau Gwent. The development threatens heathland, marshy grassland and peat bog. wtru.st/ GwentMotoGP

A moth previously unrecorded in Kent has been discovered at the Trust’s Holborough Marshes reserve.

Harpella forficella has only been found in the UK four times before. wtru.st/ HolbroMoth

Wild About Worthing is a new project made possible thanks to an HLF grant. Residents will be offered wildlife activities including a Forest School programme and wildlife gardening competition. wtru.st/ WildWorthing

Volunteers from a local brewery have built an artificial otter holt at Hickling Broad reserve. Now it has received its first otter visitor. The Trust hopes breeding activity may be filmed there in the future. wtru.st/HicklingHolt

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A long old job LIVING LANDSCAPES

From the 1950s to the 1980s Yorkshire’s peat uplands were drained for farming. It turned out to be a disaster. Fixing the damage is Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s toughest challenge yet

REPAIRED The overhanging edge is gone, to be replaced with a smooth slope. New vegetation will stabilise it

Rob Stoneman Chief Executive Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

aze pollution in Singapore hasn’t got much to do with the North Yorkshire Moors, you might think. After all, the noxious fumes which shrouded the South Asian city-state last June were caused by the deliberate burning of tropical peatlands in Borneo and Sumatra to create oil palm plantations.

But the unfolding ecological and economic catastrophe in South East Asia – driven by short-sighted biofuel subsidies in the US and Europe – is part of a problem that affects the UK too. Largely as a result of palm oil demand, Indonesia

H

24 SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

is one of the world’s leading carbon emitters. The draining and burning of South East Asian peat forests contributes eight per cent of the world’s carbon emissions as damaged bogs release their once-safely stored carbon to the atmosphere.

This is why peatland restoration, through re-wetting, is a critical part of the world campaign to stop catastrophic climate change. Re-wetting has two effects: first, it keeps the remaining stored carbon in the land; second, it re-starts the natural process of taking carbon out of the atmosphere and laying it down as peat. Achim Steiner, Head of the UN

Environment Programme, calls peatland restoration, “a low-hanging fruit, and the most cost-effective of options for mitigating climate change”.

So the world’s peatlands could help reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. But past and present damage all over the world means that, for now, those peatlands emit more carbon than they absorb.

International conservation organisations are urging World Governments to do more. In the UK, the IUCN-UK’s peatland programme aims to restore all UK peatlands as an exemplar to the global community. That pressure is

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DIGGERS They’re special low ground pressure versions, designed to tread lightly on delicate peat

EROSION This entire gully was once a narrow drainage ditch. All its peat has blown or washed away

having an effect. All four UK country environment ministers have signed a joint declaration to restore our British and Northern Irish peatlands.

But it’s one thing talking a good talk, quite another to take action on the ground – which is, of course, where The Wildlife Trusts come into their own, spearheading peatland restoration across the UK. In Yorkshire this work started in 2008 with a legacy from Mrs Joyce Mountain allowing Yorkshire Wildlife Trust (YWT) to work with the Yorkshire Dales National Park to map out the issues and propose solutions. The scale of damage was huge. Much of the county’s upland

peat was damaged by massive drainage works during the 1950s to 1980s, funded through agricultural subsidies. Over time, some of the drainage ditches (known as grips) have eroded into huge gullies, or allowed fires to burn deep, leaving vast scars with miles of bare peat eroding into the rivers or being blown off the hillsides.

Our scoping project discovered damage on an immense scale. Of the 65,000ha of deep-peat blanket bog in Yorkshire, 40,000ha (about 150 square miles) needs restoring. There were 3,100 miles of drains, 1,500 miles of eroding gully and at least 400ha of eroding bare peat. Taking on the task of restoring so

much land was going to be one of the largest, most expensive projects The Wildlife Trusts had ever undertaken.

Yet the funds were there, through Natural England’s agri-environment Higher Level Scheme. But with their staff stretched, and peatland restoration a rather technical discipline, they needed a crack team of dedicated conservation advisers who could work with land managers to survey upland peatlands, assess the damage in fine detail, and set out plans and, ultimately, contracts for restoration.

And so the Yorkshire Peat Partnership was set up, with YWT employing staff and SUFFOLK WILDLIFE 25

MATTHEW ROBERTS

Diggers smooth the exposed sides of eroding gullies at High West Moor above Nidderdale.

The restoration work across Yorkshire will last for years

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LIVING LANDSCAPES HABITAT

Yorkshire peatland restoration

3,073

Restored peat uplands support scarce birds, reptiles, invertebrates and specialist plants

miles of drains digitally mapped

CARBON STORE

17

A healthy peat bog will keep on absorbing CO2 for thousands of years

restoration sites

23,932 hectares of land surveyed

689 miles of drains blocked

577 miles of gullies reprofiled

50 hectares of bare peat re-vegetated

POOL Sphagnum mosses are already here. When their old growth dies it will fall to the bottom to make new peat

MATTHEW ROBERTS

1,053 hectares of peatland restored

managing contracts for a broad range of partners: the National Parks, Nidderdale AONB, Yorkshire Water, the Moorland Association, the National Farmers Union, the Dales Rivers Trust, the National Trust, Natural England and the Environment Agency.

This team set about surveying the upland peatlands of Yorkshire using geographic information system (GIS) technology, deploying aerial photograph digitisation of grips, gullies, hagging and bare peat. Sites identified for restoration were then ‘ground truthed’ by workers walking hundreds of miles across the moors with digital mappers to record 26 SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

vegetation, depth and width of grips and gullies, peat depth, slope, and so on. This information was used to set out the right restoration techniques for each site.

Finally, these huge datasets allowed restoration plans to be drawn up to allow contractors to start work.

By April 2013, the now multi-million pound project had restored nearly a quarter of Yorkshire’s damaged peatlands – an area of around 38 square miles. It is estimated that this work has prevented 29,500 tonnes of CO2 from reaching the atmosphere – the equivalent amount of carbon produced annually by 62,000 UK households.

Partnership with landowners has been critical. Richard Johnson, a landowner in the Yorkshire Dales whose advice and cooperation will allow us to restore 435ha, says: “Working with organisations to deliver restoration can be a challenge. But with cooperation, communication and, often, compromise, the best outcome can be achieved. That’s best for Yorkshire’s peatlands, and also for those who derive their livelihood from the moorland areas.

And that benefits the local economy.”

Of course a restored peatland is richer in wildlife than a degraded one. Birds, reptiles, insects and plants will all benefit.

But returning Yorkshire’s peatlands to their

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How to restore a peatland

DAM There’s little sign a digger was here, damming the ditch at regular intervals to create peaty pools

DAM THE GRIPS Dig out a lump of peat, place it in the grip (aka drain) and carefully re-cover with its original vegetation. Behind the dam, the grip fills with water. Within a few years, Sphagnum mosses colonise the trapped water.

Eventually they begin to form new peat.

RE-PROFILE THE GULLIES Most are too big to dam. Instead, turn the overhanging sides (dotted in black in the diagram) into smooth slopes, covering bare surfaces with vegetation. This stops the gully from eroding any further. Hags (eroding stools of peat) get a similar treatment, to become smooth mounds.

Restoring peatlands isn’t just about wildlife or climate change.

It reduces the cost of water too previous Sphagnum-dominated state is not just about conservation, or even just tackling climate change. It also reduces the cost of producing drinking water.

Seventy per cent of the county’s drinking water comes from peaty landscapes.

Damaged peatlands give off brown water full of organic matter, which turns into a carcinogen once chlorine is added.

Currently, Yorkshire Water has to remove this matter chemically at great cost to water users – us, in other words. It makes

more sense to treat the problem at source, which is why Yorkshire Water is already spending millions on restoring peatlands across the county.

More than this, returning pristine blanket bog to the uplands of Britain restores some of our country’s essential wildness, and sets an example to the global community.

It could even improve the quality of life in Singapore, and save us all from catastrophic climate change.

RE-VEGETATE BARE PEAT The trickiest task. We harvest Sphagnum-rich heather brash from less damaged peatlands and spread it across the bare peat. The brash reduces wind erosion and desiccation while the heather seeds and Sphagnum fragments establish.

More experimentally, in areas destroyed by industrial pollution or severe fires, we have spread chopped Sphagnum from healthy areas. If this technique proves successful, we intend to grow Sphagnum specifically for this purpose.

SUFFOLK WILDLIFE 27

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Treasured islands LIVING SEAS

The Government wants huge amounts of scientific evidence before it will act to set up marine reserves. Here are three Wildlife Trust Island projects providing exactly that

28 SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

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Off the coast of Alderney sit Les Etacs and Ortac; two rock formations which together are home to nearly 8,000 breeding pairs of northern Victoria gannets.

Warwick-Evans Gannets feed on fish Seabird researcher such as mackerel, Alderney WT herring and sand-eels.

They are threatened by disturbance from offshore developments such as wind farms, and by marine pollution, including a recent and highly publicised

polyisobutelyne spill.

This year marks the beginning of a three-year gannet-tagging study on Les Etacs to learn more about these special birds. The Alderney Gannet Tagging Project, run with the University of Liverpool, aims to gain detailed data on the foraging behaviour of Alderney’s gannets and use this to create predictive models. This should allow us to analyse the effects of potential changes to their environment.

In June this year project workers caught 27 gannets from their nests. They fitted the birds with a GPS tag and either an accelerometer or a barometer. The GPS

tags recorded location data every two minutes for up to 13 days. Accelerometers allow us to record flying and diving during foraging trips. Barometers measure atmospheric pressure, which gives us altitude. Combining GPS data with behaviour will allow us to pinpoint important marine hotspots for this colony.

We’ll analyse the data in detail this winter, but at first glance it looks like the birds might have travelled further from Alderney in 2013 than they did in 2011.

Seabird breeding in Alderney (and all around the UK) appears to have been affected by the long cold winter. This behaviour could be the result.

The gannet colony at Les Etacs, with Alderney in the background.

Most of the counts are done from the adjacent cliffs, with a telescope

SUFFOLK WILDLIFE 29

MARTIN BATT MARTIN BATT

Gannets in Alderney

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LIVING SEAS Sharks in the Isle of Man The Isle of Man is famous for its basking sharks, but there are several smaller shark species in Manx waters too. The Trust has begun new research into these Eleanor Stone apex predators, working Marine officer with the Manx government Manx WT and the Scottish Shark Tagging Programme.

With the help of local anglers, the Isle of Man Shark Tagging Project catches sharks such as tope, spurdog and bull huss, tags them and releases them unharmed. If the shark is caught again, its ID tag will give an indication of how far it has travelled, how much it has grown and how long it can survive. This evidence can then be used to introduce better protection measures.

We need lots of tags out there to get as many re-captures as possible. Luckily, enthusiasm has been high and already we have over 20 anglers trained. Going out with one of our keenest participants I saw two large female tope caught in an hour.

Up close they are fantastic animals: big, powerful and perfectly designed for long distance migration. Both tope were measured, sexed, tagged and returned to

Dorsal fin tag attached, this fine female tope is ready to go back

the sea. Scotland’s tagging project shows that they can travel as far as the Azores and Iceland!

The big factor will be the reporting of recaptures. Please spread the word that if anyone catches a shark with a tag in it, record the shark’s length and tag number, release it and report the details to the website on the tag (tagsharks. com). To find out more, contact eleanor@manxwt.org.uk

Seabirds in Scilly The UK is globally responsible for maintaining Manx shearwater populations

ISLAND HAVENS Discover the famous Skokholm and Skomer off Wales, Crane Park Island in London, the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Handa island and many more at wildlifetrusts.org/islands

30 SUFFOLK WILDLIFE

The Isles of Scilly (IoS) Seabird Recovery Project is a new, 25-year plan to provide a safe future for our internationally important seabird populations. Funded by Sarah Mason the Heritage Lottery Fund Manager, Isles and EU LIFE programme, of Scilly WT it’s partnered by the IoS WT, RSPB, Natural England, the Duchy of Cornwall and the IoS AONB. The Trust helped design and implement the project, which is run from our new offices on St Mary’s.

The Isles have 14 breeding seabird species, around 20,000 birds in all, including storm petrel and Manx shearwater.

The project aims to reverse recent declines in these two species by removing invasive brown rats from St Agnes and Gugh, and to encourage residents to improve visitor access to the Islands’ natural assets, which will boost local incomes and secure the seabirds’ future. Many schoolchildren got involved this summer, and there have been weekly seabird safaris by boat to get locals and visitors up close to these wonderful birds. More at ios-wildlifetrust.org.uk

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The miracle of ecotherapy ECOTHERAPY

Paul Farmer reflects on the mental health charity Mind’s partnership with The Wildlife Trusts

Y

ou might not think that Mind and The Wildlife Trusts have much in common, but by working together we’ve discovered that we have.

Over the past four years, Mind’s Ecominds scheme, with help from the Big Lottery Fund, has supported 14 Wildlife Trust projects that have introduced hundreds of people with mental health problems to ecotherapy. The projects range from nature conservation schemes to community gardens. They’ve helped people reap the benefits of the natural environment, make new friends, feel part of their communities again, and learn new skills to get back into work.

A wonderful example of the difference this can make to someone is Wayne, who has attended Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust’s Idle Valley conservation project.

Wayne is an ex-serviceman who has been managing post-traumatic stress and depression since leaving active service 14 years ago. He joined the Notts Idle Valley group in November 2010 following a hospital admission, and immediately showed an interest in woodworking and conservation. After a year Wayne’s Community Psychiatric Nurse reduced her visits from every week to every two weeks, and then every month. His medication was also reduced, Paul Farmer is and finally, after a chief executive of year and a half, he Mind, the mental was discharged by health charity his nurse.

For most of us, the benefits of getting outdoors and doing some exercise are obvious. However, few people think of ecotherapy activities such as gardening or walking as valid treatments for diagnosed mental health problems.

In truth, ecotherapy could be offered on its own as a treatment for short-term conditions such as depression or mild anxiety. With medication or talking treatments it can also help longer-term conditions such as bipolar disorder.

Recently, we surveyed a group of GPs and more than half of them said they see ecotherapy as a valid treatment for anxiety

feeling less depressed.

We have also found that ecotherapy helps people to gain the confidence, skills and qualifications to get back into work.

Two in five people who attended an Ecominds project were helped back into employment, training, education or another voluntary position.

Last year more than 50 million antidepressant prescriptions were written out, at a cost to the NHS of £211 million.

Currently one in five people are waiting up to a year to access talking treatments. As more traditional treatments such as antidepressants don’t work for everyone,

Few people realise gardening or walking are valid treatments for diagnosed mental health problems and depression. Sadly only 11% felt that they could prescribe it for a condition such as schizophrenia, even though the Ecominds scheme has made a difference to people with such mental health problems. We clearly need to hear more stories like Wayne’s, and see more evidence of the impact of ecotherapy.

We published our Feel Better Outside, Feel Better Inside report in October.

Developed by the University of Essex, the report provides academic research to show the impact of ecotherapy projects on psychological health and wellbeing. For example, we found that 63 per cent of people with mental health problems felt more positive about their lives by the time they left an Ecominds project. In another survey, 76 per cent experienced improvements in overall mood after a single Ecominds session, with 48 per cent

and access to talking treatments is patchy across the UK, it is so important that people are given a wider choice of treatment.

That’s why we want to celebrate The Wildlife Trusts’ fantastic achievements.

They have helped more people with mental health problems to access ecotherapy – a holistic treatment that is cost-effective and tailored to an individual’s needs. We hope to continue working with them to spread the message about mental health.

Read the report and find your nearest Wildlife Trust ecotherapy project at mind.org.uk/ecominds For a good dose of restorative nature: wildlifetrusts.org/reserves

The joint Mind/ Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust project at the Idle Valley nature reserve

SUFFOLK WILDLIFE 31

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STEVE AYLWARD

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Discover... Newbourne Springs Underneath the secret meandering hushways tip-toeing through heath, marsh and fen, crag and clay combine to celebrate the forgotten feeding of a seaside town and evocative spring warbling’s emanating from this extraordinary narrow, wooded valley.

Newbourne Springs

Newbourne Springs offers one of the most attractive nature trails in Suffolk and provides a lush home for the melodious nightingale.

Waldringfield

MAP: MICHAEL PETTERSON

What you need to know Please note there are kissing gates, narrow boardwalks, steep slopes, steps and damp path sections all year round Map reference TM274433 Andrew Excell Reserve size Postcode Site manager 47 acres IP12 4NY

Nature trail

P

suffolkwildlifetrust.org/newbourne-springs

Newbourne village

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

www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org