11 minute read
Wild news
WILDNEWS
Highlights from Suffolk and national news from The Wildlife Trusts
Let a book take you on a wild journey this summer.
10 WILD READS
From wild places to wilding
WILD READS
The 10 books in the Wild Reads collection, all of which explore our relationship with nature.
A new campaign to promote the connection between the natural world and the written word is running throughout 2020. Wild Reads, organised by Suffolk Libraries and Suffolk Wildlife Trust consists of a collection of 10 books, spanning fiction and non-fiction, which explore our relationship with nature.
The Trust’s Head of Learning, Sara Holman, said she hoped the project will encourage people to engage with nature, whether it is through accessing the books at libraries or by taking part in book-related activities on the Trust’s reserves.
The 10 books include: All Among The Barley, by Melissa Harrison, The Peace of Wild Things, by Wendell Berry, The Wild Places, by Robert Macfarlane, Nature Cure, by Richard Mabey, Notes from Walnut Tree Farm, by Roger Deakin, Thinking on my Feet, by Kate Humble, Meadowland, by John Lewis-Stempel, The Overstory, by Richard Powers, The Salt Path, by Raynor Winn, and Wilding, by Isabella Tree.
The Wild Reads collection of books is available across Suffolk, with the full collection on display and available for loan at Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds library.
Find out more
suffolkwildlifetrust.org suffolklibraries.co.uk/wild-reads
Look out for our Walking Book Group starting later this year.
Coastal custodian
We look back on Alan Miller’s 40 year commitment to conservation on the Suffolk coast.
We are assessing the potential impacts of Sizewell C.
EDF ‘unlikely’ to fully compensate for Sizewell C SIZEWELL C
Suffolk Wildlife Trust is continuing to challenge evidence put forward by EDF Energy as part of their proposals to build a new nuclear power station at Sizewell. While our final written representation to the Planning Inspectorate will be comprehensive, the Trust is currently focussing efforts on understanding the potential impact of the loss of rare protected habitat within Sizewell Belts SSSI and the implications for rare species such as marsh harrier, bats and natterjack toad. Our current view is that it is very unlikely that EDF will be able to mitigate or fully compensate the damage to our wildlife that Sizewell C would cause. When EDF submit their plans we will let all our members know what we will be doing and how you can support us.
New species to science LACKFORD LAKES
A new species of stem-boring fly has been discovered at Lackford Lakes. The puparia of the fly was discovered in the stems of hemp-agrimony by a Trust volunteer,
Graham Moates. In recognition of Graham’s discovery, the species has been named Melanagromyza moatesi.
The holotype (the specimen upon which the description of the species is based) is now at the National History
Museum in London. The pupa were discovered in the stems of hempagrimony.
Alan started with the Trust as a volunteer and then in 1993 joined the staff as warden for Sizewell Belts where he led the restoration of the wet marshes – a specialism which has nurtured some of our best coastal wetlands, with the purchase of Dingle Marshes and the creation of Hen Reedbeds.
The transformation of Hen Reedbeds from mud, to one of the UK’s first new reedbeds to attract breeding bittern, was astonishing – and it is now a mainstay not just for bittern, but also for bearded tit, water rail and marsh harrier.
Alan’s impact on the Suffolk coast reaches beyond the reserves, working with neighbours and landowners to support breeding waders. He saw through huge changes in the scale and ambition of the Trust’s activities and many of our reserve staff started their careers being mentored and trained by him.
Incredibly active as a volunteer, Alan is a founder member of Suffolk Bat Group, the Suffolk Mammal Group and more locally with the Blyth Woods group, so nature will continue to thrive under his expert eye. Enjoy your retirement Alan!
A bottlenose dolphin leaps clear of the water in the Moray Firth.
UK UPDATE A big splash for UK seas – our 2019 marine review
Together, the Wildlife Trusts form the UK’s largest marine conservation organisation. Our Living Seas teams are the eyes and ears of the UK’s coast. Throughout 2019, with the help of over 5,000 volunteers, they did wonderful things for the wildlife in our seas, and there is more planned for 2020.
Careful monitoring revealed some fantastic good news stories around our shores, from bumper breeding seasons to amazing discoveries.
A new citizen science project logged 320 sightings of cetaceans off Yorkshire’s east coast, including minke whales, bottlenose dolphins and harbour porpoises. There was good news for seals too, with Cumbria Wildlife Trust counting a site record of 483 grey seals at South Walney, including seven pups. Elsewhere, an individual seal, nicknamed Tulip Belle, was discovered commuting between the Isle of Man and Cornwall.
Lara Howe, Manx Wildlife Trust’s marine officer, says: “It shows that seals will swim great distances for food and a place to pup, highlighting the importance of a network of Marine Protected Areas around the UK, so that wherever marine wildlife goes there are healthy seas to support them.”
Our fight to secure this network saw a huge victory last summer, with the designation of 41 new Marine Conservation Zones.
There was further good news with a welcome boost for some of our struggling seabirds. On Handa Island, Scottish Wildlife Trust counted 8,207 razorbills, the highest number since 2006, though the population is sadly still in trouble. In North Wales, Sandwich terns had a bumper year, with 800 chicks fledging compared to just 180 in 2018.
Sadly, it wasn’t all good news. Several Wildlife Trusts reported an increase in disturbance. Jet skis, kayakers, boats and drones have all been recorded causing distress to marine wildlife like dolphins, seals and seabirds.
Plastics, ocean litter and discarded fishing gear also continue to devastate marine wildlife, though Wildlife Trusts around our shores cleared up huge amounts of litter, including 2.5 tonnes picked up by the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust.
OUR COASTAL WORK n Over 5,000 volunteers supported coastal Wildlife Trusts with beach cleans, surveys and shore-based events. n More than 200 sharks, skates and rays were tagged as part of Ulster Wildlife’s SeaDeep project, helping us monitor these vulnerable animals. n Two giant gobies were among
1,310 species recorded in just
24 hours as Devon Wildlife Trust’s Wembury Marine Centre celebrated its 25th anniversary. n 27 tonnes of litter and fishing gear collected by fisherman for Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s Fishing 4 Litter.
Get involved
We need to put nature into recovery on land and at sea. Join us on our campaign for a wilder future:
wildlifetrusts.org/wilder-future
UK UPDATE
100 miles of wilder landscape Space for nature should be at the heart of our planning and farming systems. This is the only way we can create a Nature Recovery Network, enabling wildlife to thrive across the landscape and bringing nature into our daily lives. But current proposals for developing the land between
Oxford and Cambridge do not have nature at their heart. Without proper assessment, the government cannot know whether the area could support the current proposals for housing, road and rail and stay within environmental limits for nature, carbon and water.
Special habitats are under threat, including ancient woodland and grazing marsh, which supports rare and declining wading birds like curlew and redshank.
The Wildlife Trusts have created an alternative vision for this land: 100 miles of wilder landscape in which people can live, work and enjoy nature. By protecting and connecting the wildest places, we can introduce a new way of planning that has nature and people’s wellbeing at the centre. Find out more wildlifetrusts.
org/100-miles-wilder
New leader for The Wildlife Trusts
The Wildlife Trusts are delighted to welcome Craig Bennett as our new Chief Executive Officer.
One of the UK’s leading environmental campaigners, Craig joins The Wildlife Trusts from Friends of the Earth, where he was Chief Executive.
In a conservation career spanning over 20 years, Craig has led a movement to end peat cutting on important moorlands, helped secure better wildlife legislation through The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and, more recently, led successful campaigns to highlight climate change and to protect and restore bee populations.
Craig Bennett said: “The Wildlife Trusts are an extraordinary grassroots movement that is uniquely placed to work with local communities to restore nature and ensure a wilder future, and I could not be more pleased to have been asked to lead them at this incredibly important moment.”
wildlifetrusts.org/new-leader
A new report, Insect Declines and Why They Matter, commissioned by an alliance of Wildlife Trusts in the south west, concluded that drastic declines in insect numbers look set to have far-reaching consequences for both wildlife and people. The report concludes: “If insect declines are not halted, terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems will collapse, with profound consequences for human wellbeing.”
Together we’re stronger THANK YOU
Here are some of the ways your membership has been helping to protect local wildlife.
12,000
hours of work and support have been donated to Suffolk Wildlife Trust by volunteers in the past 12 months.
by Suffolk Wildlife Trust's experts over the past four years. 150 landowners advised
Thank you!
31
green-winged orchid spikes were counted at Mellis Common last year – we hope to beat the record this year!
130
male silver-studded blues were recorded last summer following a reintroduction campaign at Wenhaston Common.
Volunteers help to plant trees along the River Blyth.
We bet you didn’t know...
There can be more than 1 million microscopic fungi in a single gram of woodland soil. There are more than 3,000 species of fungi in the UK.
Hen harrier
River of trees
RESERVES
More than 300 trees have been planted alongside the River Blyth as part of the Trust’s ongoing campaign to improve the waterway’s health and habitat.
The first stage of the scheme, which is partnered with the Environment Agency and funded by a Water Environment Grant, saw a kilometre of the river improved with log jams and flow deflectors. These woody features were fixed into the river channel to help vary the flow and reduce sedimentation, improving the habitat for fish and other river wildlife. Further upstream, nine "leaky" log jams were installed to help slow the flow during heavy rain.
Since January the Blyth River Warden volunteers planted riverside trees and shrubs, further improving the habitat by providing shelter for fish and invertebrates in their root systems, which also help to stabilise the riverbanks. When mature, these trees will shade parts of the channel, regulating water temperatures in the summer and controlling the growth of in-channel vegetation.
Get involved
contact alice.wickman@suffolk wildlifetrust.org or call 07826 897009
Thank you
LEGACIES
We are grateful to the families of the following friends of the Trust who have recently remembered us in their Will or through an In memoriam donation. Ruth May Burkin Adam Campbell Christopher Clarke Martin Crook Margaret Curwen Duncan Day Pete Dowling Frankie James Garnham Beryl Johnson Christopher Jolly James Kemp Paul Anthony Kiely Peter Stanley Lawrence Dick MacGregor Gladys Murphy Doris Punchard Malcom Reid Barry Shaw Victor Talmadge Edna Thompson Nicholas 'John' Watts Thank you to Reeman Dansie Auctioneers and Valuers for supporting the sale of items from Mrs Pamela Ford's estate, proceeds from which will directly support wildlife in Suffolk. The collection is planned later in the year. Please check Reeman Dansie website for details. An overwintering hen harrier regularly thrilled visitors at Black Bourn Valley. It is thought the harrier, one of the most critically endangered birds of prey, was drawn to the reserve due to the number of voles, mice, and small birds to be found on the ex-arable fields.
Can you help deliver our vision?
Do you have a passion for wildlife and the skills to help deliver our vision?
Suffolk Wildlife Trust is seeking committed individuals to join our board of trustees and influence the strategic direction of the organisation.
We welcome applications from a diverse range of backgrounds, experiences and skill sets. Experience in finance / accounting, land agency, business management, strategy development or environmental law is particularly welcomed but all applications will be considered.
The role provides an exciting opportunity to influence wildlife and conservation across Suffolk as well as the chance to develop your skills and knowledge.
