Breaking News Newsletter for Breaking New Ground Landscape Partnership Scheme
September 2015
A newsflash for project partners and participants with news items , project updates, special features and forthcoming events.
Pool Frogs Return!
Projects Round-up
One of our most exciting projects came to fruition on August 18th with the re-introduction of the rare Northern Pool Frog into the pingo pools on Thompson Common. These Pool frogs became extinct in the UK twenty years ago, and Thompson Common was their last known habitat, so it was a momentous occasion when the 400 tadpoles and froglets were released into the pingos by Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC). This followed years of hard work by ARC in successfully breeding these frogs from their genetically closest cousins in Sweden, and by our partners Norfolk Wildlfe Trust in clearing the pingos and creating the perfect habitat for these frogs to thrive
Munzee Trail
Adult male Pool Frogs have a very distinctive booming call, and we hope that in the not too distant future, once the frogs have matured, it will once again be heard in the Brecks!
The Thetford Munzee Trail is now live! Follow the clues to find the hidden QR codes, and then zap them with your phone using the Munzee App to be in with a chance to win prizes. It’s a great way to get out and explore the town’s fascinating history.
Forest Fest Our Family Fun Day at Brandon Country park was a great success, with over 500 visitors enjoying lots of fun events over the course of the day! See over for more!
West Stow Archaeological Test Pits Over fifty volunteers came to West Stow to learn how to dig 1x1m archaeological test pits and then record their finds. See over for more on this exciting project and what they found!
www.breakingnewground.org.uk
Project Focus It’s the Pits: Archaeological training at West Stow Dr Richard Hoggett, Senior Archaeological Officer, Suffolk County Council
was only 2cm tall and made of plastic – experts have dated the burial to the 1970s ‘Airfix’ period…
In addition to being a part of Breaking New The latest training session to be delivered as part of Ground, the test-pitting was also part the Discovering the Archaeological Landscape of the of the national Festival of Brecks project concerned the excavation of st th Archaeology and also coincided with a week of archaeological test-pits. Between 21 and 24 July, celebrations surrounding the 50th anniversary of the fifty volunteers joined experts from the Suffolk start of the excavations which revealed the main County Council Archaeological Service and the Norfolk County Council Historic Environment Service archaeological site. To mark this anniversary we have made PDFs of the reports freely available via to learn how to dig and record a series of 1m x 1m the Suffolk Heritage Explorer website: https:// test-pits in and around the area of the visitor centre heritage.suffolk.gov.uk/west-stow. at the West Stow Anglo-Saxon village. Ten pits were excavated during the course of the four days, each of which told us something new about the depth and nature of the buried archaeology on the site. Previous excavations have shown that further Anglo-Saxon buildings of the kind found on the main site lay in the area of the visitor centre, where they are covered by a thick layer of blown sand laid down in the medieval period. As a result of the week’s work we now have a much better understanding of how deeply buried these layers are, which will aid greatly in the management of the site.
Forest Fest
A wide range of archaeological artefacts was discovered, including medieval, Anglo-Saxon and Roman pottery, as well as large quantities of prehistoric worked flint. The ‘Find of the Week’ was made by a young girl joining us for her first ever day of digging who discovered a Neolithic (4000—2500 BC) flint blade core within her first 20 minutes on site. This core is the piece of flint which was left after a series of blades had been struck from it, giving it a characteristically angular appearance.
Participants collected a passport on arrival, gathered passport stamps as they completed activities, and then claimed a free goodie bag at the end.
The buried remains of an Ancient British warrior were discovered in one of the test-pits, complete with helmet, shield and sword. Unfortunately, he
This family fun day pn 19th August was all about discovering the forest; what lives in it and how it is used. Whole families got involved with diverse activities. These included “Cauldron Dell” with fire lighting, marshmallow cooking and bread making; “Wicked Willow” with willow weaving, art using hammers and flag making; “Woodland Crafts” with painting and sewing; Pond Dipping and Bug Hunts; Archery; and “Herbal Superheroes” with herb safaris and secret tea tasting.
David Falk, manager of Brandon Country Park said “The day was a great success, bringing lots of people to the park and helping to show what makes it such a special place.” The next Forest Fest is already being planned for Spring 2016.
Project Focus Barnham Cross Common - Skills for the Future Suffolk Wildlife Trust/Plantlife Family Morning Suffolk Wildlife Trust held a family morning at Barnham Cross Common on 6 August as part of the Plantlife project. As well as a plant quiz, a number of families took part in bug hunting, making peg bugs and collecting nature’s colours. A number of contacts were also made for future events. A monitoring day is now planned for early October.
Forthcoming Events: 1/09/15—14/09/15 Iceni Botanical Arts Exhibition , Moyse’s Hall, Bury St Edmunds 17/10/15 Painting Fungi in Watercolour 9:30-4pm Santon Downham Village Hall See www.breakingnewground.org.uk for more details.
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Picture of the Month Pool Froglet makes a bid for freedom!
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What the Brecks Means to Me... On a brisk February morning I strolled along the Little Ouse at Santon Downham and gazed into its mesmerising water. Mist upstream made the distance disappear. The river looped out of the woods. It seemed to spring from the tree roots then swirl along, deep and sparkling. I watched its current in the waterweed ribboning downstream. It was too cold for swimming but in my mind’s eye I saw myself remove my shoes and step in. There are fish in the Little Ouse and when I visited the river again in April I saw finger-length tiddlers nibbling the gravel near the berms. By then the trees were coming into leaf, the woods filling with green light and birdsongs, and the river took in all of this atmosphere and amplified it. I sat on the bank and closed my eyes. What I couldn’t see, I could hear and sense: the river’s travel, the trickle-click of water over shingle and the little pop of a fish breaking the surface; the sculling sound when a pair of mallard landed. When I think of the Brecks I think of rivers: the Little Ouse, the Thet, the Lark. Each one is an exquisite ecosystem and an enchantment. In May I followed the Thet to Nuns’ Bridges and saw it take on the character of a town river. In June, along the Lark, I heard my first cuckoo of the year from a riverbank fluttering with dragonflies and cinnabars. And at the Little Ouse that day in April, just as I was about to leave, a swan flew over, high above the trees, neck at full stretch – graceful and astonishing, a Brecks creature – following the river.
—Lois Williams, Sandlines
“Staff very helpful, we enjoyed our day, a great range of activities for all ages. Thank you!” Participant, Forest Fest Brandon Country Park Family Fun Day
Get your project noticed! If there is something that you would like included in the next newsletter, please send details to Martina by 22nd September Martina.North@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