Breaking News Newsletter for Breaking New Ground Landscape Partnership Scheme
Dec 2017
A newsflash for project partners and participants with news items, project updates, special features and forthcoming events.
THANK YOU EVERYONE! This is our last BNG Newsletter, and we want to say a big thank you to everyone who has been involved with the scheme for the past few years: to the Heritage Lottery Fund, our colleagues at Brandon Country Park and Suffolk County Council for hosting us, to all our partner organisations, to everyone who has volunteered or taken part, and to you, for your support! Final Conference at Thetford There was an air of celebration at our final conference in Thetford’s Carnegie Rooms on Sat 18th November. It was wonderful not only to look back at the successes of all the BNG projects but to feel a real sense of excitement for the future of the Brecks area. With funding for the development of a new Landscape Partnership secured for the Brecks Fen Edge and Rivers, there is a lot to look forward to! The conference was very well attended, with lots of fascinating talks focusing on the BNG conservation projects. The day was rounded off with a music and poetry interlude inspired by the Brecks Speaking at the conference, Nick Dickson, our project manager said that the scheme has helped “put the Brecks on the map”, producing greater knowledge of the area in a wide variety of fields, such as habitat management techniques. “The partnership approach that was so important to us will carry on long into the future, with all the projects that Breaking New Ground delivered also having their own individual legacies,” he said. BNG was hailed as “absolutely amazing” by Lynnette Leeson, the external landscape consultant contracted by HLF to act as mentor for project development, and then as monitor for its delivery phase. “Over 40 projects were pulled together and I take my hat off to everyone who was involved,” she said. “All projects achieved what they set out to achieve as well as many other things and they all have their own legaciesthere are some fantastic spin-offs.”
Evaluation Wingspan Consultants have now carried out their formal evaluation report for us. Here’s what they said:
The vast majority of the projects achieved or exceeded most or all of their targets. In turn, the scheme as a whole significantly exceeded the majority of the output targets set out in its original plan (the Landscape Conservation Action Plan). Some of the achievements were remarkable for a scheme of this type. For example, the scheme managed to recruit nearly 1000 volunteers, and provided training for the majority of them alongside other training programmes it delivered. Over 5000 schoolchildren were also engaged. The scope of the work ranged from small grant schemes which allowed communities to work on the heritage of features in local villages, to a major refurbishment of a derelict building at Brandon Country Park. Feedback from those involved in the scheme was similarly positive. People enjoyed themselves, they learned new skills and gained new knowledge. Many of those we spoke to reported a greater sense of appreciation and value of the Brecks and its special qualities, and a stronger commitment to continuing to work to look after the area. Much of the work creates a strong legacy for the future. Not only have elements of the heritage been restored (including the reintroduction of a species of frog that had gone extinct in the late 20th century), or placed under improved management, but
Not everything has gone as planned. There were delays to some of the projects (which has in turn provided valuable lessons for some project teams), the scheme found it difficult to engage with less traditional audiences despite valiant efforts, and as the scheme progressed it became clear that some of the aims were perhaps described less clearly than they might have been, so success would not be easy to demonstrate. Again, these challenges provide lessons for the future. Overall this scheme has been a success. Well designed, well managed, and well lead, it can be seen as a strong example of a landscape partnership scheme, and we congratulate the people responsible for it. “
Breaking New Ground in numbers
“Breaking New Ground was a highly successful landscape partnership.
people involved in the scheme now know more about their area, what is valuable and how to look after it. This learning has been captured in a variety of ways – from film to academic journals, LiDAR images which allowed the scheme to see beneath the canopy of Thetford Forest, to improved historical records. Much of the information gathered as part of the work of the scheme has been used to create interpretation boards, or published in books, to share the message about what is important, valuable and fragile in the area and its heritage.
What’s Next?
The BNG chapter of landscape scale conservation may be over, but there are lots of exciting things going on with our partner organisations, and with other landscape partnerships in East Anglia.
Volunteering in the Brecks:
Other Heritage Lottery Fund Projects
Breckland Society
The new Brecks Fen Edge and Rivers project has been given the go ahead to develop a Landscape Partnership Scheme, which would start in 2019. Look out for a development consultation conference in Thetford in the Spring!
http://www.brecsoc.org.uk/joining-the-brecklandsociety/ Norfolk Wildlife Trust https://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/support-us/ volunteering Suffolk Wildlife Trust http://www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org/volunteer
Friends of Thetford Forest
Contact email for the new scheme is bfer.admin@suffolk.gov.uk, and further information will be available at www.brecks.org as the development phase gets going.
Email volunteering@fotf.org.uk or visit: https:// www.fotf.org.uk/content/ fotf_volunteer_groups.shtml
Water, Mills and Marshes Landscape Partnership for the Broads
RSPB https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/volunteeringfundraising/volunteer/about/
Helping to preserve and protect the distinctive drained marsh landscape, the Broads Landscape BTO Partnership Scheme covers an area of 200Km2 https://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/taking-part/ and links the urban hubs of Norwich, Acle, Great volunteering Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Beccles and Loddon. Water, Mills and Marshes will officially start on the 1st January 2018 and will run until the end of December 2022. Facebook: Water Mills and Marshes Twitter: @Broads_LPS Back from the Brink: Shifting Sands See over for an update from the Shifting Sands Team!
News from Shifting Sands
Shifting Sands is now very much in motion! We’ve had a busy few weeks at Natural England, working with our partners at UEA, the Forestry Commission, Plantlife, Buglife and Butterfly Conservation. We hosted five Brecks Bug Sorting Marathons at Natural England offices in Norwich, when members of the public helped to sort samples of insects into different groups. Thank you everyone for your valuable help. Zosia has continued to survey rabbits on five sites with volunteers and she’s just starting to plan some winter groundworks to improve their habitat and aid colonisation on five sites of special scientific interest, which depend on rabbit grazing and ground disturbance. Filming for Countryfile
Countryfile came to visit to see what we’re up to on East Wretham and Cavenham Heath – you can see the feature on 10th December on BBC1 at 6.15pm! If you’d like to find out how to get involved with the Shifting Sands project, you can find them online at https://naturebftb.co.uk/the-projects/shifting-sands/ where you will very soon be able to subscribe to their mailing list Or find them on social media: Facebook https://www.facebook.com/NatureBftB/ Twitter https://twitter.com/NatureBftB Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/NatureBftB
Bug Sorting Workshop
...and finally... I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone that worked so hard to help this project to succeed. All of the partners have delivered far more than we ever anticipated, both in terms of their own resources, and with regard to positive outcomes for heritage and biodiversity. Volunteers have achieved a an incredible amount of fantastic work across a wide variety of disciplines, and participants at our learning activities and community /education events have demonstrated how much interest and enthusiasm there is out there for the Brecks, it’s heritage and biodiversity! Nick Dickson, BNG Project Manager
Breaking New Ground 01842 815465 e: bng.admin@suffolk.gov.uk t: @TheBrecksBNG f: TheBrecksBNG. w: www.breakingnewground.org.uk