Breaking News Newsletter for Breaking New Ground Landscape Partnership Scheme
Aug 2016
A newsflash for project partners and participants with news items, project updates, special features and forthcoming events.
Witamy na Brecks! Bem Vindo ao Brecks!
West Stow Church Clean Up
On July 16th, a group of volunteers spent a day We’re pleased to report that the Breaking tidying the New Ground website is now available in over churchyard at 100 different languages, just by choosing your St Mary’s West language from the Translations menu on the Stow, in homepage—see below. preparation for The translation is provided by Google the repair work which is to be done on the flint Translate and covers the whole website. walls there as part of one of our small grants projects Twinning Ceremony
We have also just set up two new Twitter accounts in the two most commonly spoken languages in the area (after English): Polish and Portuguese. The two accounts can be found on Twitter at
@BNG_Polski &
@BNG_Portugues We’re now looking for volunteer Portuguese and Polish speakers to help proofread these accounts—if you could help, please get in touch!
Grimes Graves has been twinned with the Hoshikuso Obsidian Mines in Japan, in what is the first ever twinning between two archaeological sites. To mark the occasion, a twinning ceremony was held at Grimes Graves with representatives from Japan and the Brecks taking part. Pool Frogs The Pool Frog project with Amphibian and Reptile Conservation is now in it's second year and we are very happy to welcome back a few more pool frogs to Thompson Common, Norfolk.
www.breakingnewground.org.uk
Project Focus Summer Holiday Fun in the Brecks: Barnham Cross Common Treasure Hunt Date: 11 August 2016 Time: 14:00 - 16:00 Location: Barnham Cross Common, Thetford IP24 3EB Come and take part in a treasure trail and activities to explore the Common and find out more about this important Breckland site with Suffolk Wildlife Trust. FREE: No booking necessary, just turn up. Meet at the carpark. Enchanted Forest Date: 26th August 2016 Time: 10:30 - 15:30 Location Brandon Country Park This is the first of two “Enchanted” events taking place this year—the next one will be Enchanted Heath at West Stow on 22/23rd October. A FREE event for all the family! Be delighted, dazzled and diverted by a world of mystery and adventure. In this spectacular event, the forest at Brandon Country Park will be transformed into a most amazing Enchanted Forest. Fun, interactive activities such as storytelling, arts and crafts, face painting and live music Activities include:
Wild About the Brecks Date: 20th August Time: 10am-6pm Location: King’s House Gardens, Thetford
Fairy Trail
Den Building
Body Music
Storytelling
Drumming Circle
Wishing Tree
Join the RSPB in celebrating the amazing wildlife and landscape of the Brecks with a range of other local organisations. Activities will include pond dipping, minibeast hunts, guided walks and nature trails. Part of Thetford’s Great Festival
Project Focus A6/5 Goshawk Tagging For the first time goshawks have been tagged in the Brecks, as part of our Secret Life of the Goshawk project with the British Trust for Ornithology. The birds have been fitted with high precision GPS tags, which will enable details of their dispersal and their habitat requirements to be revealed as never before. Recently, two birds moved away from Thetford Forest into Norfolk. One, a female, has moved 30 miles to Roydon Common near Kings Lynn. The second, a male, has moved 20 miles to woodland near Necton, west of Swaffham. For more detailed information about the project please visit: https://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/tagging-goshawks-brecks
Events Coming Up: Barnham Cross Common Treasure Hunt: 11th August 2-4pm Wild about the Brecks: 20th August, Thetford Kings House Gardens, 10am-6pm Enchanted Forest: 26th August, Brandon Country Park 10:30am-3:30pm Find out more and book at http://www.breakingnewground.org.uk/events
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Picture of the Month A painting from the Iceni Botanical Art watercolour workshop
What the Brecks Means to Me... I wasn’t born in the Brecks, nor was I raised here, in fact I didn’t arrive until I was I in my late twenties. I can’t say I fell instantly in love with the area; it was just a place I lived due to the location of my work. There were no jaw dropping mountain ranges or giant waves crashing against cliffs, just the Brecks. Slowly but surely though, I did begin to notice things. The Pine Lines, the vastness of the sky, the Heathlands. I began to explore more and found myself becoming more and more immersed. The wildlife, the history, the forest, the people. Now whenever I return to the Brecks no matter how long I’ve been away, it feels more like coming home than anywhere I’ve ever lived. I think of all its attributes it is the history that gets me the most. As fascinating as I find the Roman era, the Vikings, the Saxons and the medieval period, it’s the Iceni connection to the Brecks that is still so tangible and at certain times in certain places almost haunting. I wasn’t born or raised here, but I now call it home. West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village
Martin Wixey Estate Manager, Euston Estate
Get your project noticed! If there is something that you would like included in the next newsletter, please send details to Amy by 26th August: BNG.Admin@suffolk.gov.uk
Get in touch! Breaking New Ground c/o Visitor Centre, Brandon Country Park, Bury Road, Brandon, Suffolk, IP27 0SU 01842 815465 e: bng.admin@suffolk.gov.uk t: @TheBrecksBNG f: TheBrecksBNG. w: www.breakingnewground.org.uk