7 minute read
Rewilding Suffolk
Suffolk Rewilding
The concept of rewilding has captured the imagination of many in recent years, giving hope we could once again live in a world where wildlife is abundant, and the natural environment is in good health. But can we rewild Suffolk and if so, what would it look like? BY STEVE AYLWARD
Suffolk
Black Bourn Valley nature reserve now has a naturally functioning floodplain that attracts large flocks of wildfowl.
Rewilding’ can excite and enthuse, rile and enrage in equal measure. Some see it as the way to restore the natural world while others simply dismiss it as a fad, but of course it is far more complicated than that. Rewilding is best viewed as an umbrella term to describe the action we can take to benefit nature at any scale, from leaving a patch of lawn un-mown to taking hundreds of acres of land out of conventional agricultural use and letting nature run wild.
Suffolk is an intensely managed county. Everywhere you look you can see the impacts of human activity, the mowing, the flailing, the draining, the ploughing, the building and relentless suppression of the natural environment. It feels as if there is hardly a corner of Suffolk not subjected to some form of human intervention or control. We no longer naturally fit into the natural world; it has to fit around us and that has had a devastating impact on nature. We are currently locked into a spiral of habitat Hullback's Grove, Arger Fen, is naturally regenerated woodland on former arable land and is now home to dormice.
decline, climate chaos and extinction, and the window of opportunity to stop this is rapidly disappearing.
We know that the biodiversity crisis and climate change are directly linked, and neither can be solved separately. Tackling climate change will hugely benefit wildlife and the natural environment and vice versa; restoring biodiversity and natural habitats can start to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and limit the impact of climate change. Rewilding is a model we can all adopt at any scale that will address both the biodiversity crisis and climate change.
Rewilding our rivers
Every river in Suffolk has been modified in some way. They have been deepened, straightened, embanked and polluted. There isn’t a single watercourse that can be described as entirely natural or completely healthy. In equally poor shape are their floodplains that have been drained and intensively farmed, which in turn contributes to the poor condition of the rivers.
Rewilding our rivers and river corridors can take many forms. Where possible, reconnecting a river to its floodplain can have huge benefits for nature and for us. Climate change is already creating multiple extreme weather events and while Suffolk has to date avoided any serious large-scale flood events, the risk increases year on year. Natural floodplains are one of the most effective flood protection measures for towns and villages, and also wonderful wildlife habitats that if connected, could create a county-wide network of nature-rich land.
Rewilding farms
Suffolk’s farms are essential and successful food production businesses that dominate the Suffolk landscape. Over 70% of Suffolk is cultivated arable land and much of that has been farmed
for hundreds if not thousands of years. Suffolk’s farms were not so long ago a rich environment for wildlife with an abundance of different species living alongside our livestock and crops. Modern farming has changed all that and today, most farms are a challenging environment for birds such as lapwings and sparrows, which were once a ubiquitous part of any farm. The demand for increased productivity has squeezed the ‘wild’ out, creating crop factories. The challenge is to find a new balance where there is once again space for nature alongside food production.
Some farmers have found a way. They have identified the field corners that will never be productive and are best left to nature. They carefully use crop rotations and leys to reduce pesticide use and build natural fertility. They value the hedges and margins that harbour the natural insect predators that keep crop pests under control and are happy to leave the farm looking a little less ‘tidy’. These are the farms where wildlife is recovering and in their own way, they are being ‘rewilded’.
Rewilding the coast
We might not like it, but the Suffolk coast will be unrecognisable in 50-100-years’ time. We are locked in to significant sea level rise and ‘holding the line’ will be physically impossible. We have no option other than to start
Saltmarsh at Simpson's Saltings is a resilient natural sea defence and important winter feeding habitat for wading birds. Oystercatcher.
Developing scrub and grassland habitat on former arable land at Black Bourn Valley.
planning for change as otherwise natural events will simply overtake us.
Natural coastal habitats are far more resilient than man-made defences and therefore allowing extensive areas of the coast and our estuaries to develop into new saltmarsh and mudflat habitats will provide multiple benefits. Not only do they support rich and diverse ecosystems for birds, fish, invertebrates and plants, they can lock up huge quantities of carbon in the mud and substrate. Of equal importance, planning for and applying this approach in the right places will protect our towns and coastal communities from the worst impacts of sea-level rise. This is ‘rewilding’ in the purest sense where natural processes are the dominant force and human intervention is almost absent.
Suffolk 30 by 30
The Trust’s Black Bourn Valley and Arger Fen & Spouse's Vale nature reserves are an alternative approach to management, recently joined by Foxburrow Farm. These are large areas of mostly ex-arable land that are at different stages on a rewilding journey. They are places where nature is being allowed to do its own thing, management interventions are minimal, and nature is responding in both spectacular and surprising ways. Nightingale and turtle dove have returned to Black Bourn and dormice are colonising the new woodland and scrub habitats at Arger Fen. Reptile and great crested newt populations are flourishing along with orchids and invertebrates.
These reserves will be the productivity ‘hot spots’ for both common and rare species that in time will hopefully
STEVE AYLWARD
Peacock butterfly.
repopulate the wider countryside with their ‘surplus’ offspring. We need more Black Bourn Valleys. Taking just 3% of Suffolk’s arable land out of farming could create another seventy Black Bourn Valley’s across Suffolk. Imagine seventy nature factories!
We have a hugely ambitious aspiration that by 2030, 30% of Suffolk will be managed in a way that is sympathetic to wildlife. We have to achieve that goal if we are to halt the loss of biodiversity and seriously address climate change. The Trust is leading the way on multiple fronts and rewilding is a core part of our strategy. We are helping farmers ‘wild’ their farms, we are rewilding rivers in partnership with the Environment
STEVE AYLWARD LEFT: Small and green-veined white butterflies taking moisture and salts from a muddy pond margin.
MIDDLE: Grass snake numbers have increased at Black Bourn Valley following the creation of more suitable habitat.
Grass snake numbers have increased at Black Bourn Valley following the creation of more suitable habitat. Linnet, a once common bird of scrubby grassland habitats.
Agency and landowners, and we are rewilding our nature reserves with fewer management interventions where we can.
The next decade will be the ‘make or break’ years. We know how to do it and we can do it, but it needs everyone to play their part. Every garden, farm, river, estuary and nature reserve must be wilder if we are to pass on to future generations a Suffolk that can feed us, nurture us and enrich our lives with nature.
Find out more
suffolkwildlifetrust.org/conservation Steve Aylward is Head of Property & Projects for Suffolk Wildlife Trust and has been closely involved in the Trust's wilding projects.
