Breaking News Feb 2017
Newsletter for Breaking New Ground Landscape Partnership Scheme
A newsflash for project partners and participants with news items, project updates, special features and forthcoming events.
Engine House Restoration starts on site
Bug Sorting Marathon
On Monday 30th January, work officially started on site to restore the Engine House in the grounds of Brandon Country Park.
We’d like to thank everyone who participated in January’s Bug Sorting Marathon at High Lodge, with our partners the Norfolk Biodiversity information Service. The two days of pizza-fuelled invertebrate sorting were really well attended and very much enjoyed. NBIS plan to continue holding these events on a more regular basis.
Brandon Park House, set in a country estate of extensive parkland, was built in 1826 by Edward Bliss. The main house was supplied with water, and then later electricity, from the Engine House. The engine was a Ruston and Hornsby and powered mechanical tools as well as the water pump. The building survives today, with some of its original machinery, and is a great example of a late C19th functional building.
A Landscape Revolution
The contractors (Gipping Construction) will be transforming the Engine House and adjoining ‘bothy’ using traditional techniques. It will be used as a meeting space, a base for events, volunteer training as well as for use by local community groups.
This UEA project has been researching various topics including parks and gardens, tree planting, roads, enclosure and estate maps to add to our understanding of how the Brecks landscape changed between 1700 and 1900. On Feb 11th, come to a talk on the The projected finish date is in July, so until then the site is out of bounds to the public, but main parts of the project, which will be followed by an opportunity to view and we’ll keep you informed of the project’s discuss some of the results and resources, progress in this newsletter and online including fieldwork results, contemporary sources, GIS maps and the new project website. Free but booking required: http://bit.ly/2kqVw7u
Project Focus C4: Wings over the Brecks On Saturday 17th December, Murray Brown, the RSPB’s Brecks Community Engagement Officer, led a well -attended walk, ‘Birds and Wildlife of the Forest’, at Brandon Country Park as part of the Wings over the Brecks project. One of the attendees Alin Tarca, who also volunteers with the RSPB Brecks team, was lucky enough to photograph a Stonechat in one of the heathland areas and on closer inspection of the photo, the bird was seen to be colour-ringed. Colour ringing is becoming increasingly useful in the study of birds’ movements and survival rates and is especially effective on birds with long legs such as waders and herons, wildfowl (where coloured neck collars can be attached) or long-winged soaring species such as raptors when wing tags are used. Colour rings often incorporate a bold number to further assist in identifying the individual bird. This method is facilitated when birds are studied in open habitats or when they can be viewed at close quarters. Stonechat is one of a number of species that have been intensively studied in Thetford Forest since 2007 and the breeding population has fluctuated considerably during this period. The current population stands at about 40 pairs. The majority move away for the winter and a number of birds that have been ringed as nestlings have been re-sighted up to 100km away. Murray forwarded the photos to partners at the British Trust for Ornithology who are also key players in the Wings over the Brecks project and who were able to identify the individual bird! It was a 1st year male that was ringed at the site on 16th October last year and surprisingly hadn’t been seen between then and the walk. It may have moved in from another part of the forest and, as long as the late winter is not too severe, it could remain to breed Not only were people enjoying their walk...they were collecting valuable scientific data too!
B1: People’s History of Thetford Forest As part of our People's History of Thetford Forest project with the Forestry Commission, volunteers were trained to collect oral histories of people who have lived and worked in the Forest.
The interviews captured their stories, memories, knowledge and experience to compare changes in forest working practices and the local community. You can listen to them all here: http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/beeh-9vnemt
C10: Journal of Brecks Studies Your opinions wanted! Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service are carrying out research into what people think about the ethics of recording Brecks’ wildlife as part of a paper for our Journal of Breckland Studies. The paper will investigate concerns regarding the ethics of wildlife recording, in particular, when recording species that are difficult to identify and therefore techniques must be used which results in the death of the specimens, i.e. pitfall trapping for beetles. The survey is open until Feb 14th. The survey will only take a few minutes. Thank you for your time! http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/M0YX8
Project Focus A6/9 A Platform For Wildlife This is one of our Small Grants projects, with the Friends of Thetford Station and the aim is to provide habitats for wildlife along the edge of the platform with planting, nest boxes and feeders. Additionally there will be a new interpretation board thanks to support from the Breckland Society to explain the project and historic and architectural significance of the station. We asked local artist Steve Mead to produce a painting to illustrate the board. This is the beautiful result and we look forward to seeing it installed on Platform 2!
Events Coming Up: Landscape Revolutions:: 11th February Santon Downham Centre 13:30-16:30 Archaeology of Bones Training Day: 23rd February, High Lodge 10:00-15:00 Fantastic Finds: 11th March Union House, Gressenhall 10:00—16:00 Find out more and book at http://www.breakingnewground.org.uk/events
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Picture of the Month Snow-covered heather on Brandon Heath
What the Brecks Means to Me... Having lived just over the Breckland border in the Fens for most of my life, stepping into the Brecks has always meant stepping into a beautifully contrasting and mysterious landscape for me. It’s magical to watch the landscape transform as the train passes through the Brecks from Ely to Norwich. Dry sands replace wet marshes, towering pine forest replaces never-ending skies, scrubby heathland replaces vast black fields. It always feels like entering another land, like going on holiday even though I’m so close to home. I love the combination of wooded expanse and meandering river. It’s a joy to follow the Little Ouse Path and watch the kingfishers darting along the water and buzzards circling above the trees. To wander through alder and oak listening to the songs of blue tits and the drumming of a great spotted woodpecker. To see cormorants glide over reeds and come face to face with a startled muntjac. There is an abundance of unique wildlife to see in the Brecks; striking stone curlews at Weeting Heath, huge flocks of calling lapwing at Lackford Lakes and secretive nightjar at Knettishall Heath. You might even be lucky enough to spot an otter emerging from the depths of the Little Ouse! To me, the Brecks represents mystery and hidden life; it’s full of surprises and offers complete peace and solitude. It’s the
place I go to get away for a day. - Sara Marshall (undertaking a BNG funded work placement with Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service)
Get your project noticed!: If there is something that you would like included in the next newsletter, please send details to Amy : BNG.Admin@suffolk.gov.uk 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