WildSuffolk The membership magazine for Suffolk Wildlife Trust
Autumn 2020
ON THE UP
The hope-bringing birds that are back from the brink
PEAT-FREE GARDENING
Help protect our precious peatlands
A WILDER FUTURE
Finding wildness
Lucy Shepherd discovers the unsung wildlife wonders of our county town
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
1
22
Welcome
Introducing our new CEO
JO SWEETMAN
When I was in my mid-20s, my first job in nature conservation was with The Wildlife Trusts, leading a citizen science project for children. It was a formative experience. I realised that being able to make good things happen was what excited me, and that local conservation was where my heart was. But that wide-eyed, twenty-something would never have dared to imagine that one day I would have the honour of taking the reins as Chief Executive of Suffolk Wildlife Trust – a Trust I admired even then for its far-sighted, people-centred approach to nature conservation. After two decades at Suffolk Wildlife Trust, latterly leading our fundraising for reserve purchases and major projects like Carlton Marshes, this still holds true. I have seen the collective impact our Suffolk community of members, supporters, volunteers and staff can have. Now, as we face the urgency of the ecological and climate crisis and the need to reconnect people to nature, our county-focus can bring together global thinking and local action. We can make change happen – from the ground up – safeguarding our rare species, proving natural solutions to climate change, and restoring the abundance of nature that we have lost from our lives. This is what motivates me. So let’s look to a wilder future, holding on to what makes the Trust distinctive – our localness, our people and being a ‘doing’ organisation, to lead the change nature urgently needs. Christine Luxton Chief Executive
Suffolk Wildlife Trust Wild Suffolk is the membership magazine for Suffolk Wildlife Trust info@suffolkwildlifetrust.org Telephone 01473 890089 Address Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Brooke House, Ashbocking IP6 9JY Registered charity number 262777 Website suffolkwildlifetrust.org Facebook @suffolkwildlife Twitter @suffolkwildlife Instagram suffolkwildlifetrust Flickr.com/photos/suffolkwildlifetrust
2
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
Get in touch Our Membership Manager, Nicola Martin is happy to help with any questions about your membership on 01473 890089 or membership@suffolkwildlifetrust.org. Wild Suffolk Magazine Team Editor Matt Gaw Designer Clare Sheehan Content editor UK Tom Hibbert Cover: Tawny owl Ben Hall
Suffolk Wildlife Trust is one of a national network of Wildlife Trusts dedicated to safeguarding the future of wildlife for the benefit of all.
36
24
PINEAPPLE MAYFLOWER: ALAMY, COMMON TOAD: DAVID KJAER
32
Contents 4 Your wild autumn
The best of the season’s wildlife and where to enjoy it on your local patch.
10 Our reserves
Wild places to discover this autumn and winter.
13 Wild thoughts
Melissa Harrison on getting creative with nature.
14 Gardening for wildlife How to go peat free. 16 Wild news Local and national wildlife news. 21 Focus on Sizewell C
All the latest on the Trust's efforts to protect the wildlife of Suffolk.
22 Taking action for insects
Why we need to take action now to reverse insect decline.
24 The hope-bringers
Conservation is not all doom and gloom; some feathered species are on the rise.
30 Visit Carlton Marshes
Your guide to Suffolk's newest and wildest nature reserve.
32 Finding wildness COMMON CRANES: ALAMY
Learn about the wildlife secrets on your doorstep.
36 Wilding our gardens Get your green space ready for autumn. 38 Caught in the act How trail cameras are letting us look at nature reserves with new eyes.
6 ways to get involved with Suffolk Wildlife Trust Volunteer Could you donate your
Stay in touch Enjoy the sights
Shop Our online shop and visitor
Tell your friends Introduce
Wildlife groups Join one of
Leave a legacy After a lifetime’s
skills and time to look after wildlife? A wide range of indoor and outdoor tasks need doing suffolkwildlifetrust.org/volunteer
someone you know to the Trust and share our beautiful landscapes and wildlife. suffolkwildlifetrust.org/nature-reserves
and sounds of nature from across the county on our social media channels. @suffolkwildlife
our network of local groups and help make a difference to nature where you live. suffolkwildlifetrust.org/wildlifegroups
centres at Lackford and Carlton stock a wide range of nature-related items and gifts. suffolkwildlifetrust.org/shop
pleasure from nature, please help ensure its future by leaving us a gift in your Will. suffolkwildlifetrust.org/will
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
3
Your wild autumn The best of the season’s wildlife and where to enjoy it in Suffolk
Covid-19
to follow We are continuing ce and to an Government guid y. Please gl in respond accord d social an ite bs check our we t up-to-date media for the mos r nature information on ou and reserves, centres events.
4
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
T h a n k y ou
Thanks to your m embership, we are working with farmers to ensure birds like ba rn owl, yellowhammer an d skylark remain part of ou r everyday experience of the natural world in Suffolk.
AUTUMN SPECTACLE
A ghost in the gloam With its heart-shaped face, buff back and underside of pure, moonish white, the sight of a barn owl quartering fields and fen is as unmistakable as it is beautiful. Famously hunting on wings silenced by a soft fringe of flight feathers, the barn owl uses its highly sensitive hearing and rod-rich eyes to hunt for small mammals during the nocturnal hours. Following the Trust’s ongoing work to improve farmland habitat, as well as projects with the Suffolk Bird Group to install nest boxes countywide, Suffolk is now one of the best places to see barn owls. Monitoring of hundreds of boxes carried out last year revealed 167 nesting birds, with at least nine producing second broods. For those hoping to catch a glimpse of a barn owl on the wing, a dry autumn and winter day is a good time, as they often extend their hunting hours into daylight to find the extra food they need to get them through the colder months.
ADOBE STOCK
SEE THEM THIS AUTUMN Redgrave & Lopham Fen Home to at least two pairs of barn owls, they are often seen on autumn afternoons and their hunting flights can even upstage the murmurations of the starlings. Carlton Marshes One of the finest settings to watch a barn owl hunt, with the chance to see shorteared owls later in the season. Lackford Lakes Whether you stick to the hides or walk around the Sayer’s Breck path, keep your eyes peeled for the barn owl.
Hit hard by the destruction of habitat, the number of barn owls in Suffolk fell to around 100 pairs in 2005. Following conservation action, this beautiful symbol of the rural night is now recovering.
Reserve info & maps suffolkwildlifetrust.org/nature-reserves
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
5
YOUR WILD AUTUMN
Autumn fungi With more than 15,000 species in the UK, fungi make up an entire kingdom of their own. These curious beings are neither plant, nor animal, and their diversity is stupendous. From chicken of the woods and King Alfred’s cakes, to elf cups, blewits and bolettes, every habitat is home to a great variety of fungi and autumn is, without a doubt, the best time to find them. Look under deciduous trees for beautiful earth stars, check the elder for the fleshy jelly ear fungus or sniff out the slimy head of the stinkhorn – a woodland species that smells like rotting flesh.
Scarlet elf cups: once thought to be a drinking vessel for wood elves.
SEE THEM THIS SUMMER Bradfield Woods Whether it is on fallen wood or living trees, Bradfield is full of fungi. Knettishall Heath With so many different habitats, there are some spectacular species to be found, including the rare nail fungus, which grows out of pony poo.
We ask visitors not to collect fungi on reserves. Please leave them for everyone to enjoy.
FIELDCRAFT
A murmuration swirls into a birdshaped pattern.
Follow nature’s stunt pilots
DAVID TIPLING
During the winter months, large numbers of starlings visit Britain from the continent, seeking out the relative warmth of our island climate. As the sun sets, the starlings set off for their communal roost in what is one of the most staggering natural spectacles of all. Flocks arrive from all directions, gathering in the skies above their roost sites. As the numbers reach into the tens and hundreds of thousands, the ‘murmurations’ take on incredible shapes in the sky, contracting and expanding as one flock merges into another, and taking on a life of their own.
6
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
How to
SPOT A MURMURATION Look up The starlings will gather
from all different directions, drawn together like iron filings to a magnet. Listen The starlings gather in large numbers for protection and warmth, but also to communicate. Enjoy the chitter of thousands of birds getting ready to roost. Stay up-to-date Murmurations can be seen at Trust reserves, including Redgrave & Lopham Fen, Hen Reedbeds and Lackford Lakes. For updates on sightings suffolkwildlifetrust.org
SEE THIS
Roe deer have a pelt that is dusty red during spring and summer. As the seasons change, their coats turn darker, into a dull, slate-grey colour.
DO THIS
Blackberry is the most familiar autumn fruit, but there’s plenty more to tempt the palate, including elderberries, rosehips and sloes for gin!
SPECIES SPOTLIGHT
Geese
ALAMY
SPECIES TO SPOT
PINK-FOOTED GOOSE has pink feet and legs – and a pink bill.
DARK HEAD and neck, often lowered to graze on grains and grass.
Skein season If swallows and swifts make BODY the summer, then the sight of Pinkish grey, smaller skein upon skein of wild than a mute swan, geese, calling as they go, is a but bigger than a sure sign that autumn is mallard. here. Every year Suffolk’s wild coast, tracts of wetland and farmland, grow busy with birdlife as all kinds of geese, Other species SKEIN including pink-footed, greater Unlike the pink-footed goose, the Skeins are a V-shaped white-fronted and brent (along dark-bellied brent goose does not flight formation that with a handful of other fly in tight skeins, but travels allow geese to fly rare and accidental visitors) from its nesting grounds in efficiently. arrive for winter. Siberia in large flocks. Around One of the first to arrive in 91,000 dark-bellied brents Suffolk (often arriving in arrive in Britain each autumn, September) is the pink-footed gathering to graze in sheltered goose, which flies in from breeding estuaries and coastal marshes. grounds in Spitsbergen in northern The brent is the smallest species of Norway and sites in Iceland and Greenland. goose to be found in Britain. Not much bigger Smaller than a mute-swan, but bigger than a than a mallard, it is easily identified by a mallard, it can be identified by the pinkishgrey-brown back, and black neck and head, grey colour of its body, with a dark head and with just a small white patch on the neck. neck, a pink bill and striking pink feet and legs. Although diminutive in size, the brent is by no means quiet and flocks are known for What to look for their ronking, cronking conversations. About 360,000 pink-footed geese arrive in the UK every year, where they gorge on grass, SEE THEM THIS SUMMER winter cereals, grain and potatoes. While the Carlton Marshes The location of Carlton sight of geese feeding en masse is something on the eastern edge of East Anglia means that to behold, pink-footed are also very visible the reserve attracts many migrant species . when they arrive – flying in flocks, or skeins. Lackford Lakes The still waters of Lackford These Vs, stitching their away across are a perfect resting place for geese and a Suffolk’s broad and greying skies, are large number of wintering duck. accompanied by a mass of honking: the Trimley Marshes The estuary at Trimley is adults making a deep ‘ungh, ungh’, call, and a regular haunt for gaggles of geese. juveniles a higher-pitched ‘wink wink’. A Reserve info & maps rough translation would probably read, “stay suffolkwildlifetrust.org/nature-reserves close”, with a reply of “I am here”.
White-fronted goose A goose that lives up to its name – look out for the white patch on its forehead and around its bill.
Tundra bean goose If you see a bean goose in Suffolk, it’s most likely to be the darker, browner tundra bean.
Barnacle goose A yappy, black-headed goose, it was once thought the species hatched from barnacles.
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
ALAMY / ADOBE STOCK
ALAMY
Get set for a true seasonal wonder as thousands of geese arrive in the UK from their breeding grounds in colder, northern climates.
Top tips THREE
7
HEAR THIS
Visit a woodland this autumn to listen to the knocking masts of coppiced trees. If you press your ear against an ash tree, you can hear the flutter of the wood stretching.
FORAGE FOR THIS
Autumn is a time for hazelnuts. Look for the discarded shells to see what species has been feeding: has it been cracked by a squirrel or cut carefully by a dormouse?
NOT JUST FOR KIDS
Seven ways to enjoy nature this autumn Why should kids have all the fun? Feed your love of nature with these really wild things to do.
1
CONKER BONKERS Nothing beats a good game of conkers – no matter how old you are. Even if you don’t drill and string your finds, there is something magical about holding the smooth mahogany of a conker in your hand.
2
MARK HAMBLIN
WOODLAND COLOURS The changing colour of leaves is a familiar and sure sign of autumn. Head for one of our ancient woodland reserves to see some of the most spectacular displays, where the cooling weather and shorter days start a series of natural processes that create beautiful colours of yellows, reds and purples.
8
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
Hunt for dewy webs.
5
CAPTURE THE LIGHT There is a softness to autumn light that is not to be missed. Head out to where the sky stretches from horizon to horizon and soak it up – or capture it with your camera.
ADOBE STOCK
3
SPOT SPIDER’S WEBS The webs of spiders become particularly noticeable during the autumn months. Watch out for the drifting gossamer produced by baby spiders, which clings to plants and anything else in the garden. In what is known as ‘ballooning’, the young spiders climb to high points on plants and fences and sail off on silk threads.
ADOB E STOCK
4
ALAMY
ADOBE STOCK
FOCUS ON THE SMALL THINGS If Covid-19 has taught us anything, it is to appreciate the small things in life. While autumn can bring many amazing spectacles, don't forget to take notice of how the changing season appears in everything from the tiniest plants to the growing wind.
YOUR WILD AUTUMN
10 wild ideas
6
BIRD BOX CLEAN UP With the breeding season behind us and the winter in front, get your spring cleaning done early by cleaning out nest boxes with soap and water for next year’s brood.
Covid-19 resulted in the cancellation of most of our events earlier in the year. Where we can, we are gradually resuming our activity programme.
ALAMY STOCK PHOTOS
1 Learn a new skill Browse our programme of teen and adult learning courses. We also offer accredited Forest School and Wild Beach training.
7
MAKE A HEDGEHOG SHELTER As the temperature drops, hedgehogs will be getting ready for hibernation. If you’ve seen a hedgehog (or signs of one) in your garden, have a go at making a cosy shelter. wildlifetrusts.org/ actions/how-build-hedgehog-home YOU WILL NEED l 20mm FSC plywood boards l Hammer and nails l Soil l Dry leaves
l l l
2 Bring up a wild child Come along to one of our Wild Babies or Wild Tots sessions for wild play, discovery and a chance to chat to new friends.
N at u re cra ft
Straw or dry grass Newspapers Polythene sheeting
1 Construct the hedgehog house from
the following diagram and dimensions.
3 Make a difference Join one of our Young Wardens sessions or adult volunteer work parties and help to care for our nature reserves while learning. 4 Wild families Book a family pond or dyke dipping, invertebrate investigation or night walk session with us and become family wildlife experts!
6 Walks, talks and more Take your pick from our 50 nature reserves and enjoy a wild day, relaxed walk or tune in to a virtual talk. 7 Share your enthusiasm Volunteer with us and share your love of nature with others. Get in touch to find out about other volunteering opportunities. 8 Shop wild Support the Trust with a purchase from our online shop. Or why not give the gift of one of our vouchers? 9 Transform your local patch Create a haven for wildlife in your garden. Visit suffolkwildlifetrust.org/ gardeningadvice for ideas.
10 Wild Reads Put your feet up with one 5 Wet your whistle of our Wild Reads or join Meet like-minded people at our Wild Reads walking one of our events for 18-35 book group in Ipswich. Visit year-olds in Ipswich, followed suffolklibraries.co.uk/wildby a drink from a local pub. reads
We've missed running our full programme of events & activities, but have lots to look forward to.
ILLUSTRATIONS: CORINNE WELCH
2 Put the newspaper and
JOHN FERGUSON
Browse our events page for the latest news suffolkwildlifetrust.org/events
Hinged roof so you can clean the box.
straw or dry grass inside, cover the house with polythene sheeting, then pack soil and dead leaves around the outside.
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
9
Discover Captain's Wood Sitting on a crag ridge with commanding views over the River Alde and Orford Ness, Captain’s Wood is the largest remaining part of what once was a great wooded landscape. A visit in autumn, when the wind soughs through ancient branches and fallow deer gather in huge herds, is not to be missed.
10
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
The post-war years were not kind to Suffolk’s woodlands. The intensification of farming, the need to feed a shellshocked country, saw both trees and surrounding heaths fall to the plough. While Captain’s Wood survived, the bulk of the adjoining and much larger Sudbourne Great Wood was cleared for agriculture. The scale of the loss is hard to comprehend and there are still reminders of what happened on the edge of the woods: great hulks of ancient oak pollards, slowly decaying where they were pushed by the bulldozers 60 years ago. Captain’s Wood, which is surely one of Suffolk’s most beautiful woodlands, now stands in a very different landscape – dominated by featureless fields that produce turf, potatoes, carrots and onions on an industrial scale. It is through looking at old maps, going back over 300 years, that we can understand how this part of the country used to look. The large field called Black
Walks has always been an extensive clearing, while part of what we now call Captain’s Wood, was actually once a piece of Sudborne Common – what no doubt would have been an open landscape with scattered trees. The place that we know as Tunstall Forest was once part of an open heath, which stretched along almost the whole coast, effectively connecting Captain’s Wood with a great swathe of semi-natural habitat. Thinking of Captain’s Wood as a relic is understandable, but in truth, it is much more than that. The remaining veteran oak trees in the woods are a direct link to the past, having survived great changes. Yet these beautiful trees, some of which are thought to be more than 500-years-old,
Fallow deer are often seen in large numbers at Captain's Wood. ALAMY
OUR BEST AUTUMN RESERVES
Members helped us to buy Captain's Woo d and your continued su pport enables us to look after it.
the rut, for the fallow deer. Males can be heard making loud, belching groans, as they claim ownership of the females. Ten species of bat also depend on Captain’s, while barn owls are regularly seen hunting on silent wings in open parts of the wood from late afternoon. The circular trail around the woods is only 3km, but to soak up the atmosphere of this special place, it’s best to go slow!
Captain’s Wood is surely one of Suffolk’s most beautiful woodlands STEVE AYLWARD
Take a step back in time and walk amongst the ancient oak pollards of Captain’s Wood.
are also crucial for the future in that they are uniquely important for wildlife. The slowly rotting heartwood sustains rare fungi, such as beefsteak fungus and oak polypore, which is only known at six other British sites. Although the wildflowers of spring and summer may be long gone, the magic of Captain’s is surely in the trees whose twisted, sculptural shapes are exposed by the arrival of autumn. The fallow deer herd, which graze throughout the woodland, are also much more active as the seasons swing and can be seen at most times of the day. Autumn is also the breeding season, or
DID YOU KNOW Captain's Wood was shown as 'Cutmore Wood' on ancient maps – perhaps due to the importance of the timber from pollarding. Cutmore has slowly been changed to Captain over the years.
While the modern history of Captain’s Wood may be one of loss, its future is now secure. When Suffolk Wildlife Trust purchased the reserve in 2005 using a gift in the Will of Gloria Ford, together with donations from hundreds of members and The National Lottery Heritage Fund, it meant that a substantial part of the woodland could be protected. In addition, fields that had previously been ploughed were restored to dry grassland and heath, while the rhododendron that had been smothering some of the veteran oak pollards was cleared. The reserve and the Trust’s efforts have not just focussed on the old trees. A new generation of oak grown from the acorns of the oldest veterans are now taking hold. There is something special about walking amongst them and thinking how they will also live for more than 500 years – hopefully witnessing a restored landscape, rather than any further loss. Barn owl
PLAN YOUR VISIT
1
Captain's Wood
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO Location: School Road, Sudbourne, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 2BE How to get there: From Sudbourne village take School Road heading east, free car park 400m beyond entrance on right hand side. Please do not park on School Road within the village. Opening times: Free entry all year round, dawn to dusk. Access: Generally a dry, level trail all around the wood. Phone for information: 01473 890089 Email: info@suffolkwildlifetrust.org Website: suffolkwildlifetrust.org TOP WILDLIFE TO SPOT Fallow deer: Look out for males with large palmate antlers squaring up to each other as they claim territory and breeding rights. The rut display involves lots of groaning and stylised walking and often results in dangerous, physical contact as they lock antlers. Barn owl: The ghostly shape of the barn owl feels like a perfect fit for Captain’s Wood. Although it can be seen on dry days if the weather has been wet, it is more often spotted when the shadows in the wood are lengthening and the dark is beginning to rise. Chicken-of-the-Woods: This bright sulphurous-yellow bracket fungus grows on old oak trees. The multiple wavyedged brackets are the fruiting body of the fungus mycelia that grow within the host tree. THINGS TO DO The woods are in striking distance of Suffolk’s wild coast, whether it is at Aldeburgh with its shops and cafes or the strange beauty of Orford Ness. Visit Pump Street Bakery, Orford for its famous Eccles cakes and doughnuts (mentioned at the Oscars in a speech!) Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s Alde Mudflats is also close by and autumn is the perfect time to scan the reserve for incoming migrants.
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
11
ALAMY STOCK PHOTO / STEVE AYLWARD
T h a n k y ou
OUR BEST AUTUMN RESERVES
More Suffolk Wildlife Trust nature reserves for a great autumn day out LOWESTOFT
PLAN YOUR VISIT
3 3
Reydon Wood
Why now? The structure of this old coppice wood is laid bare in autumn and is one of Suffolk’s best-kept secrets. Although it is relatively small at just 41 acres (17 ha), it is a wood where you can easily lose track of time.
BURY ST EDMUNDS
1
STOWMARKET
ALDEBURGH
A143
HAVERHILL
2 IPSWICH
FELIXSTOWE
Know before you go Location: Wood Lane off B1126 near Wangford, Southwold, Suffolk IP18 6SL. Parking is available at the end of the lane. Open: Free entry, July-March, dawn to dusk Wildlife to spot: Look out for tawny owl, sparrowhawk, long-tailed tit, woodcock and treecreeper. Find out more: suffolkwildlifetrust.org/ reydonwood
PLAN YOUR VISIT
Groton Wood
Why now? The noise of Groton Wood in an autumn breeze really is a joy. The northern part of the wood is dominated by small-leaved lime coppice (a species which is likely a direct descendant of the original wildwood) and the sound of their branches knocking together is reminiscent of the ringing of masts in port.
STEVE AYLWARD
Know before you go Location: West of Kersey near Hadleigh, Suffolk IP7 6HD. Car parking is provided on the roadside pull-in at entrance to the reserve.
Don't just look at the trees, listen to them.
12
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
Open: Free entry all year, dawn to dusk. Wildlife to spot: Small-leaved lime, wild cherry, ash, hazel, along with nuthatch, treecreeper and roe deer. Find out more: suffolkwildlifetrust.org/ grotonwood The lowdown Groton Wood is a reserve of two halves, with the north made up of small-leaved lime and the south dominated by oak, ash, hazel and numerous wild cherry trees. The wood was once owned by the Abbey at Bury St Edmunds, but was confiscated and bestowed on Adam Winthrop by Henry VIII in 1544. Over the following 200 years a large part of what was the original medieval lime wood to the north was destroyed, while a new area of woodland was developed to the south. Beneath the ‘newer’ woodland is the ghost of a medieval landscape made up of ditches, ponds and raised banks. In all this time, the small-leaved lime has barely moved, constrained by a different climate from that which allowed it to spread in post-glacial times. Groton, together with a handful of other Suffolk woods, offers a direct link to a long-lost ancient landscape.
Lose yourself in Reydon Wood. The lowdown There is a sense of being pulled into Reydon Wood; poured down a tunnel of trees and into a fragment of medieval wood whose roots are sunk deep into history. Not only is this nature reserve a testament to time, but it is also attests to the resilience of nature. Standing in its ancient heart it is hard to imagine that this place of dappled light was once darkened and choked by a conifer plantation: a sterile pine needle mat in place of the rich humus mulch that now cushions every footfall. The circular trail that takes in about half of the wood can be walked in 30 minutes, but with so much to see, be prepared to spend much longer. Info & maps for all reserves suffolkwildlifetrust.org/naturereserves
STEVE AYLWARD
2
WILD THOUGHTS
Melissa Harrison
ILLUSTRATION: ROBIN MACKENZIE
Get creative with nature When was the last time you made something for no reason at all, save curiosity and fun? Children, for the most part, play naturally and with no clear goal in sight, and do so especially easily in natural settings. Yet, as adults we can become results-driven: when we spend time doing something we assess its worth by what we achieved at the end of it, not what it felt like to do at the time. But one of the best ways of nurturing a deep, imaginative connection to nature is through creativity, and at its purest and most powerful, creativity is about play. Recording the hum of bees in your garden for an ambient track, photographing a year in the life of a street tree, keeping a nature diary, writing a seasonal haiku – engaging with the natural world to make something that didn’t exist before can be a powerfully rewarding act. The key is finding something we truly enjoy doing, whatever the outcome – rather than it being a skill we want to acquire, or an activity to excel at. A neighbour recently took a class called ‘watercolour doodling’. The aim wasn’t to create an accomplished picture, but to have fun playing with paint. It made me think of the pictures I drew as a child of things in my garden, before school taught me that ‘good’ art was detailed and representative, and anything more offbeat or expressive – more fun to create – wouldn’t earn me a gold star. When I was first finding my way as a novelist I found exploring London’s parks and commons with a camera immensely important: unlike writing,
nobody was ever going to mark my work, A LITTLE BIT WILD and it didn’t matter whether I turned out The Yorkshire to be a good photographer or not. I just artist James loved taking pictures of the plants and Brunt arranges birds and insects that I saw, and by doing leaves, stones it week-in, week-out, as the seasons and other natural changed, my ability to notice wildlife of materials to all kinds increased, the natural world create breathseemed more and more detailed and taking patterns fine-grained, and my connection to my and shapes. The nearby green spaces grew stronger and impermanence of this deeper, rewarding me in turn by bringing kind of natural art feels richness to my life. Now I write about very liberating to make, nature for a living, but I still take a lot of and it’s something pictures, and enjoy jotting down rough anyone can have a go at. descriptions and even poetry that noone will ever see. Last year I had fun making cyanotypes using leaves and light-sensitive paper. A friend does a drawing a day – usually in her garden, but sometimes looking out of her window – giving herself just 10 minutes and not worrying about how polished the Melissa results are. Whatever draws you pleasurably into Harrison is the natural world, slows down time and focuses a nature writer your attention is worth pursuing. and novelist, Young, old, or somewhere in between, and editor of playing creatively in and with nature the anthologies is a truly life-affirming thing. Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, produced Discover more ways to connect with in support of The nature creatively. Wildlife Trusts. Visit wildlifetrusts.org/nature-at-home
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
13
Get your garden
peat free
From making our own compost to thinking before we buy, Kate Bradbury reveals how we can help protect peatlands from our gardens. Leaf mould Leaf mould is an exceptional material, made from leaves that have been left to break down on their own. The easiest way to make it is to fill old compost bags or bin bags with wet autumn leaves, add a few holes to the bag and leave behind your shed.
Compost heap Start a compost heap or fill a bin with a mix of ‘green’ leafy material, food waste (excluding cooked waste, meat and dairy products) and ‘brown’ woody material such as twigs and cardboard. Avoid adding large amounts of green material, like lawnmower clippings, as this can make the compost sludgy. Check regularly to ensure it’s breaking down.
Wild haven Compost mounds are great for wildlife. Rotting waste is a buffet for many invertebrates, which themselves attract predators like beetles, newts and shrews. Grass snakes lay eggs in compost heaps and toads will use them for hibernation sites.
14
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
Tree choice Leaves of ash, beech, birch, cherry, elm, hornbeam, lime, oak, poplar and willow will break down and be ready to use in a year. Leaves of hawthorn, maple, magnolia, sycamore and horse chestnut take longer to break down (up to three years).
ILLUSTRATION BY HANNAH BAILEY, PHOTO © SARAH CUTTLE
Peat forms when dead vegetation falls into waterlogged soil and doesn’t fully rot away. It’s found in wetland habitats, such as peat bogs and moors, and grows at a rate of just 1mm per year. These slowgrowing ‘peatlands’ are incredibly diverse habitats, home to rare bog plants and mosses, invertebrates like dragonflies and beetles, and birds such as golden plovers and curlews. They’re not just a fantastic wildlife habitat – peatlands store masses of carbon; over three billion tonnes are stored in British peatbogs alone. Tragically, despite its incredible value, peat is also widely used as an ingredient in potting composts. Lightweight, water retentive and low in nutrients, peat has long been regarded as the best growing medium for a number of growing situations. It’s highly likely that, unless you actively sought out peat-free compost, you will have unwittingly bought compost containing peat. This is dug out of peat bogs in the UK, Ireland and eastern Europe, damaging these wild habitats while releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
In 2010 the Government announced it was to phase out the use of peat in horticulture over a 10-year period, to 2020. Sadly we have missed this target and peat-based composts remain the most popular choice in garden centres. You can buy peat-free compost if you know where to look. Made from a variety of materials including coir, composted food waste, bracken and sheep’s wool, peat-free compost isn’t always the cheapest option and few garden centres have a wide range to choose from. Some garden centres don’t stock peat-free composts at all. However, it’s important to persevere. If your local garden centre doesn’t sell peat-free compost online, some suppliers offer a discount for bulk orders – why not group together with neighbours and save money? However you do it, always make sure you buy peat-free compost. Peat-based materials simply aren’t worth losing our wildlife, and our planet over.
Kate Bradbury is passionate about wildlife-friendly gardening and the author of Wildlife Gardening for Everyone and Everything in association with The Wildlife Trusts.
Gardens of all sizes are an essential part of a Nature Recovery Network. For more tips visit wildlifetrusts.org/nature-recovery-network
Leaf piles Make sure to leave some leaves for your garden wildlife throughout the year. A leaf pile can shelter moths over winter and provide nesting material for hedgehogs in summer.
Peat-free potting mix You can make your own peat-free compost easily, using one part garden soil, one part leaf mould and one part sieved garden compost. For mixes requiring lower nutrients (for example if you’re using it to sow seeds), use one part garden soil, one part leaf mould and one part horticultural sand.
Pot plant background check Many potted plants are grown in peat compost. Check the labels and ask your garden centre to make sure the plants you’re buying weren’t grown in peatbased compost.
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
15
WILD NEWS Highlights from Suffolk and national news from The Wildlife Trusts
1,480 £XXX
In the past year, over 1,480
Number factoid in this space and volunteers have contributed description here. Number around 70,000 hoursfactoid of in this space and description here. volunteering time. THANK Number factoid in this space YOU. We couldn’t achieve and description what we dohere.
without you.
Caption style here xx xxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxx xx xxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxx
Picture hiss: Young grass snake in the garden by Jane Henderson. Runner up in the 2019 competition On the doorstep category. REGIONAL
PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION
Be in it to win it
16
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
COMPETiTiON
the natural world and what it gives us a whole lot more this year. Perhaps it’s time to capture, share and celebrate the wildlife that gets your creative juices flowing. Who knows what might happen?! The Trust’s annual photography competition is open until midday on Monday 2nd November 2020 for you to enter up to three images in eight different categories, including an under 12s and 12-18 category. Free to enter and donations welcome. Find out more Details and entry form can be found at suffolkphotography.org
JOHN FERGUSON
Have you ever wondered who wins wildlife photography competitions? The answer is straightforward: those that enter! Over the past decade, Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s annual photography event has been won countless times by first-time entrants - including first time entrants to any photography competition. Those receiving their awards (this year, the first prize features £300 cash!) often say it was a friend or family member that encouraged them to enter as they had always felt their images weren’t good enough. So, come on. No excuses. We’re spending more time in our gardens, outside and noticing
Photography
Together
Pine martens have a slim body and long tail. They are a rich chocolate brown in colour, with a cream-coloured bib and prominent, cream -edged, round ears.
we’re stronger
Here are some of the ways your membership has been helping to protect local wildlife.
850
You are part of an army of
thousand
people across the UK, who as members of a Wildlife Trust, support the push for nature’s recovery.
ALAMY
600
species of flowering plant
PINE MARTENS
Pine martens in Suffolk? This summer Suffolk Wildlife Trust received a report that a pine marten had been found dead on Felixstowe beach. The discovery, which is the first confirmed sighting for many years, is potentially exciting. Unfortunately, its body was not recovered so we were not able to obtain a sample for DNA analysis to establish where the animal had come from. It is possible it may have been a stowaway on a ship, we just don’t know. Pine martens were once common throughout Britain, but the clearance of our woodlands and widespread persecution diminished the population to such an extent that it is now extremely rare in England. Translocation
recorded in Suffolk’s hedgerows, making them some of the best habitat for invertebrates.
projects are beginning to help natural re-colonisation elsewhere, but populations are still very small. Therefore a positive sighting in Suffolk could be of great importance, so the Trust is asking everyone to keep an eye out and to obtain photos or camera trap footage if at all possible. Pine martens are omnivores, feeding on fruit, berries, birds, eggs, amphibians and small mammals and are about the size of a medium-sized cat with chocolate brown fur and a creamy white bib.
Thank
you!
3,000 lapwing
In the unlikely situation that you should see a pine marten in Suffolk, please do let us know by sending an email to info@suffolkwildlifetrust.org
made the most of new habitat at Carlton Marshes last winter.
700
CARLTON MARSHES
Tern up for the books
trees & shrubs
planted along the River Gipping to provide riparian habitat. One hundred more have been planted along the Little Ouse, with 200 at Knettishall and 320 along the Blyth.
White-winged black terns have been spotted at Carlton Marshes, in what is Suffolk’s first ever record of a flock. The species, a rarer relative of the vagrant black tern, joined huge numbers of overwintering birds including: lapwing, widgeon, teal and great-white egret.
The owners of 65 County Wildlife Sites have received advice from Suffolk Wildlife Trust; an area of land covering ALA MY
In winter the white-winged black tern’s sooty body and head fade to dappled smudges. The head becomes largely white, apart from a black skull cap and ear muffs!
8,000 ha Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
17
UK NEWS UK UPDATE
Leading the change
18
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
Craig Bennett has been in post as Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts since April.
protected these UK sites for future generations. But we all know that nature conservation is no longer enough; we now need to put nature into recovery. Much as we like to imagine we live in a green and pleasant land, the truth is that the UK is currently one of the most nature depleted countries in the world. I’m 48 years old and the science is clear; in my lifetime 41 per cent of wildlife species in UK have suffered strong or moderate decreases in abundance. Species that were once common have become rare and with that the role or function they are performing in our ecosystems has also declined. At The Wildlife Trusts, we want to see 30 percent of our land and sea being managed for nature’s recovery by 2030. That’s the bare minimum needed to restore nature in abundance to the UK and to start getting our ecosystems working properly again; capturing carbon, pollinating crops, storing water, rejuvenating soils and cleaning our rivers. We want to work with farmers and other land managers to create a Nature Recovery Network, using field margins, river valleys, hedgerows, roadside verges, railway cuttings and back gardens to protect, connect and restore nature
across our countryside, and into our towns and cities. And we want a comprehensive package of policy measures put in place to help this happen. That includes improvements needed to the Agriculture Bill, the Fisheries Bill and the Environment Bill (all of which are going through parliament in the next few weeks and months) but also better use of planning policy to make sure new developments help nature’s recovery, rather than speed its decline. Our vision is one where nature is in full, healthy abundance all around us; skies filled with birds, snowstorms of butterflies and moths, armies of invertebrates, vast expanses of wetland and wild landscapes, and seas teeming with life. And our vision is also one where there’s a positive relationship between humanity and nature, rather than constantly behaving as if we are almost enemies. This won’t happen overnight, but it could happen over the next decade if all of us, people, politicians and business leaders put our minds to it. And if it does happen, it will be thanks – in a very large part – to your support as one of The Wildlife Trusts’ 850,000 members across the UK. Contact Craig on twitter @craigbennett3
COMMON BLIUE ON KNAPWEED © JON HAWKINS
CRAIG BENNETT © THE WILDLIFE TRUSTS
I
was delighted to start in the role of Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts UK this spring (even if it was in rather odd circumstances given the Covid-19 lockdown). I’ve long seen The Wildlife Trusts as the most powerful movement for nature in the UK. Made up of 46 individual Wildlife Trusts, ranging from those covering urban areas, to county Wildlife Trusts, groups of counties, the devolved nations and finally island Trusts – we are embedded into the heart of our communities. Together, we care for over 2,300 nature reserves ranging from Camley Street Natural Park right by London’s Kings Cross station, to the spectacular Skomer and Skokholm islands off the coast of Pembrokeshire. In total, we directly manage or provide management advice on 332,697 hectares (822,112 acres) of land for nature. We all play our part – but it’s worth mentioning that this collective effort amounts to even more land cared for than by the National Trust! But what matters to me most is that our federated structure means that the majority of this is close to where people live; over 60 per cent of the UK population live within three miles of a Wildlife Trust nature reserve. And it’s clear that, during the Covid-19 lockdown, millions of people have come to a new realisation of just how important local nature is to them. I sometimes wonder if, over the last 100 years or so, the nature conservation movement in the UK has focussed a little too much on the identification, categorisation and conservation of rare species and habitats, and not enough on the abundance of nature everywhere, and the preservation and restoration of ecosystem processes. Don’t get me wrong; we owe a huge debt of gratitude to the conservation pioneers that identified the first nature reserves and
UK HIGHLIGHTS
UK UPDATE
Tuning into wildlife during tough times The Wildlife Trusts created a range of online nature activities to encourage everyone to tune in to wildlife at home throughout the coronavirus lockdown – and to help people find solace in nature during tough times. Wildlife Trusts across the UK provided new ways of helping us feel more connected to the wider world and each other, via their online and social channels. Wildlife experts who are usually found leading school visits, events or talking to visitors on reserves turned to leading wildlife-spotting tours through their gardens, blogging about the life cycle of oil beetles or sharing
heart-warming sounds of a dawn chorus on a sunny April morning. There was a clear demand for new ways to experience nature from home, with more people than ever tuning into our wildlife webcams – a 2,000 percent increase on this time last year. From the reactions and messages received on social media, it was apparent that people were treasuring the wildlife they found close to home. For example, hundreds of people got in touch to tell us when they spotted their first butterflies, or to share new visitors to their gardens. These are joyful moments that people hold dear during difficult times.
Discover how The Wildlife Trusts brought wildlife to homes across the UK 2
1
3
1 Birdsong bonanza
Cheshire Wildlife Trust shared daily recordings of birdsong in the run up to International Dawn Chorus Day on the 3rd of May. In total they introduced the songs and calls of 30 different species, helping people enjoy this fantastic spring spectacle wherever they were.
Golden plover, a bird of upland moors that winters on lowland farmland.
2 Skomer Live
With Skomer island closed to visitors, The Wildife Trust of South and West Wales brought all the action and excitement of island life to us. Live webcams filled our days with puffins, whilst the island team joined up with presenters Iolo Williams and Lizzie Daly to provide weekly round-ups of the seabird season so far. wildlifetrusts.org/wtsww-videos
3 Weekly wild news
The climate crisis continues to be one of the most pressing concerns in modern times, linked inextricably with the ecological crisis faced by our wildlife. The Wildlife Trusts are working to emphasise natural solutions, which are essential to fighting the climate crisis, as
well as allowing our wildlife to recover. By restoring precious habitats like seagrass meadows, saltmarshes, wetlands, woodlands and peatlands, we can repair the natural processes that store carbon and create more space for nature. wildlifetrusts.org/climate-emergency
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
SKOMER PUFFIN © LYNNE NEWTON
GOLDEN PLOVER/ALAMY
Natural solutions to the climate crisis
We recognised that many people were unable to get out to their muchloved nature reserves during lockdown, so we brought the wildlife happenings directly to homes in the shape of our weekly wild news updates. From fabulous wild flowers, the first chick hatchings to rare sightings, you can catch up with what's been happening across the county here: suffolkwildlife trust.org/blog/tag/reserve-news
19
We bet you didn’t know... There are more negative ions (charged molecules that have been linked to biochemical changes and boosts in brain activity) in the air around waterfalls and beaches.
Eggcellent news
Get arty at Carlton.
ISTOCK
Swifts have laid their first ever eggs in the swift boxes at Lackford Lakes visitor centre. The boxes and speakers playing swift calls have been installed for a number of years, but this summer saw the first egg. The birds, which pair for life, are nest faithful so here’s hoping for a swift return next year.
RESERVES
Get involved suffolkwildlifetrust.org/swifts
A Suffolk Wildlife Trust learning centre has become the first nature reserve in the UK to offer young people the chance to grow as artists. The Arts Award, which is managed by Trinity College London in association with the Arts Council, is a range of unique qualifications that supports anyone up to the age of 25 to develop as art practitioners and leaders. The Trust is proud to be able to offer teenagers between 13 and 16 the opportunity to
complete the Discover level of this nationally-recognised award at Carlton Marshes. The course will be delivered by local artist and experienced Arts Award advisor, Ruth Wharrier, who regularly runs adult art courses at the reserve.
Thank you
SWT AGM
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. Stella Bryant Peter Fox Brian Goodwin Michael Hall Vincent Horton Edna King Ernie Lucking Monica Mellor
20
Jean Elsie Panter Peter Payne John Pemberton William Smith David Steward Ann Wieland Betty Wisbey Helen Wyles
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
Get involved For more information, please contact carlton.learning@ suffolkwildlifetrust.org DIARY DATE
Our AGM will be on 24 October at 2pm. Due to the restrictions on large gatherings, it will be held via Zoom. The AGM is an opportunity to hear about the Trust’s activities and finances and for members to participate in the appointment of new Trustees. Following the formal meeting, Dr Simone Bullion, Conservation Manager will talk about the changes to the county’s mammals over the past decade. All welcome – to book please email AGM@suffolkwildlifetrust.org Full details are on the enclosed flyer.
Suffolk medal
A volunteer whose work was pivotal in the creation of Lackford Lakes has been given Suffolk’s highest honour. Lifelong naturalist, Grenville Clarke, received The Suffolk Medal for his selfless contribution to the county, its people and wildlife. During his 22-year involvement with the Trust, which included positions as a trustee and chairman, Grenville played a key role in the building of the current visitor and learning centre at Lackford Lakes. Through his work with the Green Light Trust, Grenville has helped hundreds of disadvantaged adults and children benefit from the restorative and educational power of nature. He was instrumental in establishing 62 community woodlands across Suffolk and Norfolk, now owned by the communities which surround them.
HAWK HONEY
Art reward at nature reserve
SIZEWELL C
FOCUS ON Sizewell C
Keep updated For the latest news regarding Sizewell C please visit our website.
JOHN FERGUSON
Standing up for nature Nationally important habitat After years of waiting, EDF’s application to build Sizewell C has been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate. By the time this magazine comes out, the Trust will have begun the long job of sifting through thousands of pages, analysing potential impacts on wildlife and writing detailed comments. Our main areas of focus will include the damage caused to the nationally important fen habitat within Sizewell Belts Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). We believe well over 10 hectares
SARAH GROVES
"We will do everything we can to protect Sizewell's wildlife". Ben McFarland, Head of Conservation.
Standing up for wildlife
of SSSI will be lost, directly covered by concrete. This is at least ten football pitches; a shocking amount. Not only that, but we also believe there is a high degree of risk that the rest of the SSSI will be adversely affected by changes in groundwater and surface water. In our response we will robustly question whether the loss of such habitat can really be justified. We believe it cannot and there are other solutions that would significantly reduce this loss. Not convinced The Trust also remains to be convinced that this habitat can be fully compensated for and EDF will need to come up with a remarkable plan if we are not going to end up with net loss of biodiversity as a result. Changes in water levels in such a complex hydrological system are incredibly hard to predict and so we will be expecting EDF’s monitoring plans to be very robust, to be able to respond as soon as possible, if impacts occur. In terms of species, one of our main areas of concern is the short, medium and long-term impacts on nationally
important bat populations, none more so than barbastelle. We believe it will be incredibly hard, if not impossible, for EDF to be able to mitigate the impact of such a large construction site, cutting right across land the bats use to forage from Sizewell estate to Minsmere. Sharing expertise There are many other areas of concern and whilst we will invariably raise these in our response, we feel it best to focus most effort on the most significant impact in the national context. We are also working closely with colleagues in other organisations, including the RSPB, to make the best use of the resources we have available. Of course, we still don’t know precisely what EDF’s proposals will look like but if we find them unacceptable and the impacts on key wildlife habitats and species cannot be avoided, mitigated or compensated, then we will strongly object and we will do everything we can to protect our wildlife. Find out more suffolkwildlifetrust.org
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
21
Taking action for
insects Research published last year suggested that the UK’s insect populations were on the brink of collapse. But The Wildlife Trusts believe that if the Government takes key actions there is still time to reverse the decline.
CRUCIAL TIME
The report comes at a critical time for insects. There is ongoing evidence for insect declines and the future of insects – and all life that depends on them – hangs in the balance as trade deals threaten to increase the use of harmful pesticides. The Agriculture Bill, which is progressing through Parliament, presents a unique opportunity to encourage insect-friendly farming methods. We know insects are important. In a Wildlife Trust's report last year, leading scientists concluded that "if insect declines are not halted, terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems will collapse, with profound consequences for human wellbeing.”
REVERSING THE DECLINE OF INSECTS
At the heart of a new report published by The Wildlife Trusts is a very simple message: if we are to protect insects, the cornerstone of life on this planet, everyone, in every part of society, must take action. We must all become insect champions. The report, called Reversing the Decline of Insects and published in July, sets out just how easy that could be –calling for the Government to take action and showing how some farmers, communities, councils and charities are already leading the way.
22
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
THE POWER OF LOCAL
The Wildlife Trusts are calling on the Government to reverse the decline of insects by: l Setting an ambitious pesticide reduction target, as good as, if not better than, the EU’s target to reduce by 50% the overall use of – and risk from – chemical pesticides by 2030.
CANARY IN THE COAL MINE
Lead author of the report, Professor Dave Goulson of the University of Sussex said “If we get it right for insects we get it right for everything else. Insects are the canaries in the coal mine – their collapse is an alarm bell that we must not ignore. Action is needed from every section of society – we all need to change this together.”
l No weakening of UK pesticide standards through future trade deals, including the UK’s current hazard-based approach to pesticide authorisations l Support for farmers to adopt Integrated Pest Management and other agroecological practices. The Wildlife Trusts believe that reversing the decline of insects is possible, but it is dependent on the creation of a network of nature-rich areas that covers 30% of the UK alongside legally enforceable targets for nature’s recovery.
TAKE ACTION
FREE GUIDE
A new survey of over a thousand people who have already signed-up to take Action for Insects with The Wildlife Trusts, reveals the most popular actions people have been taking:
84%
This 20-page guide is packed full of tips, useful information and links to find out more, all aimed at helping everyone to make simple, yet crucial, changes to support insects. You can also download the full Reversing the Decline of Insects report.
HAVE LEFT SOME OF THEIR GARDENS TO GO WILD
74%
HAVE BUILT HOMES FOR INSECTS LIKE LOG PILES OR BUG HOTELS
83%
HAVE PLANTED THINGS THAT INSECTS LIKE
Download your free guide wildlifetrusts.org/take-actioninsects
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
23
LADYBIRD: ALAMY, STAG BEETLE: ADOBE STOCK, TRACTOR: ADOBE STOCK, BUMBLEBEE: ALAMY, DRINKER MOTH CATERPILLAR: STEVE AYLWARD, WREN: ADOBE STOCK
REDUCE PESTICIDE USE
But action needs to be taken where we live too. Local councils need to prioritise green recovery and create more nature-rich places where insects can thrive and make cities, towns and parishes pesticide-free. Craig Bennett, Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts UK, said it is crucial that the Government maintains current environmental standards and does “not let them slip and jeopardise the wildlife we have left”.
hopebringers
The
It’s easy to be downhearted in the face of what seems to be almost endless news about environmental devastation. But in the midst of it all there are feathered glimmers of hope, signs that our work to conserve wild places and wildlife is not in vain.
DARTFORD WARBLER: CHRIS GOMERSALL
BY JOHN GRANT
24
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
25
DAVID SLATER ALAMY
H
ope is our fuel. Hope fires up the engines of nature conservation, keeps them ticking over, keeps driving us on. Without hearts filled with the fuel of hope, what would be the point? Without hope we might as well all give up. We might as well just accept nature’s catastrophic losses, just accept the extinction of a species here, another depressing decline there, until an inexorable and insufferable apocalypse of habitat and species depletion finally robs us of the last of our world’s natural wonders. A light in the dark But where do we find even the most meagre morsel of the impetus we need to carry on caring, to carry on conserving? Where, when we are bombarded on a daily basis by heartbreaking news of environmental devastation, callous abuse of wildlife
and the nightmares of climate change, where can we glean a glimmer of hope? It can be hard. Sometimes seemingly impossible. But I find it in Suffolk’s wide, wide skies when they are traversed by a copper-coloured kite’s spiky, spindly silhouette. I find it in the common crane’s wild and achingly evocative call. I find it in the banjo-billed bizarreness of Eurasian spoonbills, in the explosive staccato bursts of Cetti’s warbler song and in the scolding utterances of slurred disdain issued by our burgeoning
wonder that is inspired by Suffolk’s landscapes and wildlife need only to look around us – to peer into a hedgerow, to scan across a reedbed or marsh, to walk a woodland or to stroll a shore – to top up our tanks with the fuel of such hope. Yes, we’ve lost so much, but we have retained, and indeed gained, more than most. As for Suffolk’s birdwatchers – who can undoubtedly tell more than a tale or two of species loss and population decline – we can take special comfort in the comebacks and the colonisers.
It’s as well to consider the plusses rather than the minuses because it helps us keep our sanity, because they are the bringers of hope population of Dartford warblers. These ‘Famous Five’ species are, for me, the hope-bringers. Either with a little help from conservationists, or through their own natural urge to explore new lands, they’ve burst onto the Suffolk scene – and very welcome they are too. Those of us blessed with a sense of
Profit and loss In many cases, bird species such as my ‘Famous Five’ – species that were either once gone and have returned or are newcomers that have pioneered extended world ranges – have surprised and delighted us by breeding within the county’s bounds.
ALAMY / FLPA
John Grant's 'Famous Five' species: Dartford warbler (main photo p24/p25), red kite, common crane, Eurasian spoonbill and Cetti's warbler.
Red kites are becoming an increasingly common sight in Suffolk.
On a wet and windswept lockdown day recently, when birding was out of the question, I conducted a far-fromscientific, rather rule-of-thumb survey. It was a sort of profit-and-loss account of Suffolk’s birds from the end of the Second World War to today. I first counted up the species that have bred for the first time in Suffolk, or had shown what I considered to be substantial population increases in our county, since 1945. The grand total I came to was 30. Then I counted up the number of our county’s breeding species that have been
lost, or that I judged to have suffered the most clear-cut population declines, in those post-war years. The total was also 30 – rather tellingly most were insectivorous and we’ve all heard about the appalling ‘insect-ageddon’ that is wreaking such havoc in the natural world. So it was a score draw. Such a frivolous exercise should certainly not mask the all-too-obvious and lamentable reduction in our county’s avian biomass – the numbers of individuals that make up populations. And, of course, any loss is to be grieved and deplored. But this
BELOW: Life-long
birder, John Grant.
admittedly casual totting up did at least offer some respite from those depressing downward-spiralling population graphs that we see so often in just about every ornithological publication these days. It gave a few reasons to be cheerful instead of a few reasons to be fearful. You can certainly be cheerful when you see, say, a red kite circling in a Suffolk sky. There are some staggering statistics relating to this raptor. Since the UK’s re-introduction scheme began in 1989 with releases in Scotland and the Chiltern Hills, red kites have built up their UK population to an estimated Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
27
TOBY HOULTON ALAMY
The avocet is one of Suffolk's most iconic birds.
Cranes at Carlton Seeing, or better still seeing and hearing, common cranes in Suffolk is surely enough to melt the hardest of hearts. Such a stirring sight and sound has lifted the spirits of many visitors to the RSPB’s Lakenheath Fen in recent years. In 2009 a pair made joyous history there, raising the first common crane chick to be reared in the Fens for more than 400 years, and the success story has repeated regularly since.
Common buzzard have increased substantially in Suffolk.
ALAMY
46,000 breeding pairs. Between 1995 and 2015, numbers rocketed by 1,231%. The UK Breeding Birds Survey recently reported that since it was set up in 1994, red kites have increased by 413% in Wales and an amazing 21,795% in England. It is a species that will spread geographically rather slowly, as individuals tend to return to their natal areas to breed after their immatureyears’ wanderings. But, thankfully they have reached Suffolk and we now host a breeding population that is probably into double figures, mainly in the west, after the first nesting in modern times in the north-east of the county in 1996.
Hope fires up the engines of nature conservation, keeps them ticking over, keeps driving us on
MINDEN PICTURES FLPA
Indeed, this majestic species is being seen more commonly on the Suffolk coast nowadays and, hot off the press, news is filtering out regarding a breeding attempt in the east of the county this spring. Don’t bet against this wonderful species colonising Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s wonderful Carlton Marshes nature reserve in the not-too-distant future. Our common cranes have benefitted from outstanding habitat creation and management, and so too have Eurasian spoonbills. An impressive total of 289 youngsters have fledged at Holkham, north Norfolk, since 2010, thanks to careful habitat management. There is much interchange between Holkham and other Norfolk localities, wetlands just across the North Sea in Holland, and Collared sites in Suffolk such dove as Carlton Marshes
28
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
Osprey have been sighted at Lackford Lakes as they made their way to their wintering grounds in Africa. It is hoped that adults will return to northern breeding grounds.
BELOW: Boom not
bust: bitterns are turning Suffolk into a stronghold.
and the species is currently establishing a breeding population in our county at one location. Surely, others will follow. The third of my ‘Famous Five’ hopebringers is not quite as showy as red kite, common crane or spoonbill – in fact it is positively dowdy and secretive. But wow, what a song it has. Cetti’s warbler shouts at you from his wetland hideaway bushes. A brief, bombastic blast that never fails to stop you in your tracks. From warblers to buzzards First recorded in Suffolk in 1971 – after it had surprised the birdwatching community with a relatively sudden northern range expansion into the UK from the Continent – this insectivorous interloper is vulnerable to hard winters. It suffered a setback in 2018’s infamous Beast from the East but seems to have bounced back and can be heard, if not always seen, at several of the Trust’s nature reserves, including Lackford Lakes. The fifth of my hope-bringers is a personal favourite – Dartford warbler. A bird of my boyhood, seen in forays to
THE HOPE BRINGERS
POTENTIAL NEWCOMERS TO SUFFOLK
plusses rather than the minuses because it helps us keep our sanity, because they are the bringers of hope. And any glimmer of hope needs to be gleaned from wherever it can be found. It is the fuel that drives us all on. Info & maps for all reserves suffolkwildlifetrust.org/naturereserves John Grant is a retired environmental journalist. A lifelong birder, he is currently President of the 400-strong Suffolk Bird Group. suffolkbirdgroup.org
Glossy ibis
MALCOLM SCHUYL FLPA
Hampshire’s New Forest, this was a species lost to Suffolk’s heaths for some 60 years. News of one at Felixstowe Ferry in November 1987 came as a bolt from the blue – the species was entirely off the radar. Thankfully, and quite unexpectedly, a natural colonisation took place from the early 1990s and now the species is thriving on our Sandlings. The recent population explosion of common buzzard, the romantic post-war return of the avocet, the weird colonisation of the UK by collared doves, the recoveries of marsh harrier and great bittern – all these and more are stories that raise the spirits. We rightfully mourn and decry the passing of species and the crashes of populations, but sometimes it’s as well to consider the
1 Black-winged stilt 2 Yellow-legged gull 3 European bee-eater 4 Eurasian penduline tit 5 Great white egret 6 Purple heron 7 Glossy ibis 8 Little bittern 9 Cattle egret 10 Osprey ALAMY
DAVID TIPLING
At a time of such great change in Suffolk’s avifauna, perhaps we can indulge in a little crystal ball-gazing. Which species might breed in the county for the first time in the next few years? It’s a game many birders like to play. Here are my top ten candidates, in no particular order. And here’s hoping…
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
29
water wonderland
Walking in a
After all of the planning, all of the hard work, Carlton Marshes has been transformed. Come and see how the dream of a landscapescale nature reserve has become a reality. BY STEVE AYLWARD
2
The Tower gifted in memory of Jane Margaret Forbes.
People and wildlife It is always a challenge with wetlands to bring birds and people close together, as 30
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
most birds are wary of us and easily disturbed. However, as we were starting from scratch we could design the wetland habitats and associated viewpoints in parallel. We were also acutely aware that the viewpoints must not detract from the wonderful Broads landscape and therefore careful design and choice of materials was critical to our vision. A Norfolk-based company, who specialise in timber structures, was chosen to build the viewpoints using East Anglian oak timbers and larch cladding that will weather down beautifully over the years and blend into the background. The structures were
mostly designed with a low profile and, in the case of the Peto’s Marsh viewpoints, made to resemble traditional lean-to cattle shelters. Viewpoint locations were chosen that were accessible and where possible, linked by either stone-surfaced paths that are wheelchair accessible all year, or by good grass paths that will suit all-terrain chairs and buggies during the drier months.
Enjoy views of wildlife from horizon to horizon
MARSH HARRIER: DONALD SUTHERLAND
C
arlton Marshes was always a special place. But now that the original reserve has been joined with the neighbouring 400 acres (162 ha) of former agricultural land, it is a truly vast and complex wetland that bursts with life. And all of it can now be enjoyed from a network of new trails and viewpoints. At the heart of Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s vision for creating new wetland habitats at Carlton was an ambition to ensure that all visitors – no matter their age or ability – could enjoy the closest possible views of the wildlife that is drawn to the new scrapes, pools and reedbeds. A total of six new viewpoints have been built, linked by a network of over 10km of trails, including: 3 2km of stone-surfaced all access paths and 100m of boardwalk suitable for wheelchairs and buggies. Almost every corner of the reserve can now be explored following the three principal way-marked trails that weave through grassland, fen, marsh and reedbed, crisscrossed by dykes and dotted with mini broads, pools and scrapes.
However, the sheer scale of the reserve meant that the furthest viewpoints on Peto’s Marsh would always be a challenge but we hope to add an additional accessible viewpoint in the near future. The Lookout (3) on Share Marsh is the largest all-access viewpoint on the reserve. It’s a light airy space with full height glass windows providing a vista across one of the new scrapes that will give great views of waders, egrets and wildfowl. The Tower (2) in contrast, gives an elevated view from which the horizon-tohorizon scale of the reserve can be enjoyed with long views north to the river. From here it will be possible to watch barn and short-eared owls, hobbies, marsh harriers and a favourite summer visitor, the cuckoo.
WATER WONDERLAND
Covid-19
Please check our edia website & social m ate -d -to up t os for the m e information on th centre and hide opening.
3
4
LAPWING: DAVID KJAER
Quiet contemplation Round Water Platform (1), part of a 100m boardwalk through the Sprat’s Water fen, is a place for quiet contemplation overlooking one of the three small Broads thought to have been created by peat digging hundreds of years ago. In summer, dragonflies can be enjoyed circling the Broad and with a little bit of luck a grass snake or water vole might be spotted swimming past. Walking quietly on the boardwalk it is possible to glimpse common lizards basking on the oak planks on warm days. Venturing further, there is the The
Come and visit Starting at the new visitor centre, there is much to explore and enjoy at Carlton Marshes whether you are a seasoned wildlife watcher, a walker who enjoys the great outdoors or someone wanting an up close encounter with some remarkable wildlife. Do come and visit. Find out more suffolkwildlifetrust .org/ carltonmarshes
STEVE AYLWARD / JOHN FERGUSON / MAP: MICHAEL PETTERSON
R
E N EY
Peto’s Marsh is the wildest, most remote part of the reserve and where we hope that one day common cranes might breed. An expanse of reedbed, pools and scrapes, it has already been colonised by avocets and lapwings that have successfully bred, and in the winter months hundreds, if not thousands, of waders and wildfowl will descend.
Octagon (4), a raised platform that gives 360 degree views of several scrapes and views along the dykes. From here, avocets, godwits, swans, geese and an array of other wetland birds grace the landscape. For the most adventurous there are the Turnpike Hide (5) and North Hide (6). These two structures sit just below the river wall overlooking a vast wetland expanse and are semiopen giving the option of full protection from the elements when needed or a more 6 connected experience when the weather is kinder. The first of the two structures 5 can also provide shelter while waiting for the foot ferry to the Waveney River Centre on the opposite bank.
AV
BIRDS GALORE
The Octagon
W
The Lookout
IV
E
R
PETO'S MARSH
250m
Foot ferry to Waveney River Centre Oulton Broad
4
SHARE MARSH 3 1
2
WW P New visitor centre
A146
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
Central Lowestoft
31
Finding wildness Suffolk is a county that is still rich in wildlife and wild places. But while we may be drawn to the remote and the unspoilt, even our larger towns offer up a chance to experience the natural world in all its heart-quickening glory. BY LUCY SHEPHERD
32
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE
STAG BEETLE: ALAMY
Unsung urban delights It isn’t, however, all about the big, cute, well-known species. For me, some of the best pleasures come from seeking out the unsung wildlife wonders: the microscopic, the unusual, the unappreciated, or the plain unseen species. Plant galls are abnormal growths that have been induced by another species, such as wasps, mites, flies or fungi, when they lay their eggs in their host. Plant galls are some of the most fascinating natural structures, with 2,000 different galls present in the UK. Forming completely different shapes but all present on the same host, and probably some of my favourites, are those
that can be found on oak trees. Artichoke galls, which look like the scaled head of the globe artichoke, are caused by the wasp Andricus foecundatrix; ramshorn galls, induced by the wasp Andricus aries, are elongated and horn like, while oak marble galls, caused by the wasp Andricus kollari, sit rotund on branches. They are all aptly described by their name, helping with identification, and
Suffolk's county town boasts spaces teeming with wildlife although they form in mid-summer, they remain on branches well into the winter allowing us to spot them easily once leaves have fallen. To the plant host, galls are often just a cosmetic complaint and cause no harm, but they certainly provide nature-seekers with another buzz as the seasons turn. Pavement plants And of course, there is pineapple mayweed! Stick with me on this one, but there is an incredible variety of flora sat just waiting to be noticed in the cracks of our pavements in urban areas and pineapple mayweed, Matricaria discoidea, or wild chamomile as it’s sometimes known, is bursting out of the seams right underneath our feet. Being described as a weed has negative connotations, but this weed is one of the most charming you can come across: cheering up kerbsides and pavements, preferring to grow in compacted soil and flowering until late October. When squeezed it smells like pineapple, and if you can find a patch that you can guarantee
Golden hoverfly is a genuine rarity.
ALAMY
I
’m often met with disbelief when I tell people about how wild Ipswich is, but with over 513 hectares of green spaces, Suffolk’s county town boasts ancient woodlands, grasslands, heathlands, and coastlines; all of which are teeming with wildlife. Ipswich also is home to species that are found in greater numbers than in many of the UK’s towns: we have a bumper population of stag beetles and the density of hedgehog numbers was the reason Suffolk Wildlife Trust based our ground-breaking study here. There are also genuine rarities found in Ipswich. The golden hoverfly – recorded in only four UK sites – has been seen in Ipswich’s green spaces. Christchurch Park is a well-known haunt for tawny owl and downy chicks can often be seen perched in the veteran trees practising their hooting, but in reality delivering pubescent peeps. Kingfishers flash blue along Holywells Park’s network of ponds; glow worms delicately light up the landscape in Landseer Park and Pipers Vale and otters can be seen playing in Bourne Park. There is so much to see but often much of the wildlife in urban areas goes unnoticed. As Wild Learning Officer for Ipswich, it's this wildlife that I love to point out and get people excited about.
CIRCLE BELOW:
Knopper galls on an oak leaf caused by gall wasp.
ALAMY
hasn’t been “watered by any passing dogs”, a few sprigs steeped in water makes a delicious tea. I would highly encourage you to cast your gaze down to the ground next time you’re pounding the pavements in an urban area as you are more than likely to see this plant growing in abundance. Ipswich is well known for its famous feathered friends and many residents are familiar with Mabel, a much-loved tawny owl who slept in the open in Christchurch Park, for all to admire. This summer, Matilda, who is claimed to be Mabel’s daughter, has taken up the role of delighting passers-by, myself included, and has achieved this by proudly showing off her two young chicks (who, like their mother, sleep out in the open during the day). The town is also home to many other birds of prey, with little owls nesting year-after-year in the Chantry and Rushmere area, buzzards occupying the skies in Ipswich’s outskirts and this month I had the pleasure of finding a kestrel box that was occupied by three chicks. It goes to show that these impressive birds aren’t exclusively living out in the countryside and they seem to quite like the attention.
Spider spotting During the summer months in town, a great haunt for wildlife is in long grass patches such as those managed for wildlife in Holywells Park. There, hanging in all their striped glory, are wasp spiders, Argiope bruennichi. These spiders, with their jasper-striped abdomens, can be found here in good numbers each year. This harmless species is striking in many ways: from their black and yellow banded bodies to their beautifully zigzagged or “stabilimentum”-decorated web, a unique trait known only to this species of spider (ecologists are still discussing the reasons behind it). Next time you’re walking past a long patch of grass, stop to search for wasp spiders. A handy tip for finding them is to search for the stabilimentum (the webs look like stretched out springs) rather than
Wasp spiders with their striped abdomens can be found in long grass in Holywells Park in good numbers every year. 34
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
Pineapple mayweed can be found growing through cracks in the pavement. When squeezed it smells like pineapple.
PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE
JOHN GOODAY ALAMY
Moon jellyfish drift between the boats on the Ipswich waterfront.
the spider itself which is surprisingly well camouflaged. These spiders can be seen well into October with warm summers extending their activity. Living in a town with a waterfront also provides a fantastic opportunity to see coastal species without needing to head to the seaside. Moon jellyfish, like all jellyfish, have no brain, blood or heart, something I often marvel over whilst watching them swim ethereally between the boats. Although likely not to be everyone’s first thought as a crabbing location, Ipswich waterfront provides hours of fun with legs dangling off the keyside catching crustaceans. Last year when doing just this, I was delighted to capture several as well as gooseberry jellyfish, enjoying watching their bioluminescence in my bucket, before carefully releasing them. You might even be lucky enough to see a seal.
The bright lights of town Some of the best evenings I have spent in Ipswich have been looking for the gentle green luminous lights of the female glow worm. Competing with the lights of the town, female glow worms climb up a long grass stem and light up their posteriors to attract a male, who are scanning for mates with their photosensitive eyes. Found in the adult forms in June and July, glow worms and their light displays are a summer treat to experience and can be found in long grasses on sandy soil, but their larvae can be spotted the rest of the year feeding ferociously on slugs and snails. Through a series of toxic bites, they inject their prey with digestive proteins that will eventually cause paralysis allowing the glow worm larvae to feed upon them. They certainly know how to travel
Some of the best pleasures come from seeking out the unsung wildlife wonders
in style too as they can often be found on top of a snail’s shell after having infected it, waiting for paralysis to kick in whilst cleverly keeping away from its slimy trail. One of the reasons I think urban wildlife is so great is that it is often on our own doorsteps. Fantastic wildlife experiences are almost expected on our nature reserves but often brushed aside and not thought of as a possibility in our towns. So I hope that next time you’re in Ipswich you are able to take some time to wander through the town’s historic parks and green spaces, or waterfront area or just to have a closer look along the pavements and trees near where you live to discover some of Suffolk’s best urban wildlife. Lucy (pictured) is the Trust's Wild Learning Officer in Ipswich ipswich.learning@suffolkwildlifetrust.org Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
35
GLOW WORM: NATUREPL.COM
CHRISTCHURCH PARK: JOHN FERGUSON / NATUREPL.COM / STEVE AYLWARD
ALAMY
Christchurch Park is a well-known haunt for tawny owl and downy chicks can often be seen perched in the veteran trees practising their hoots!
Common toad
Wilding our Gardens, Wilding our Lives Wilding our gardens is great fun and full of surprises. If there is one thing you can be certain of, it is the sheer unpredictability of just what wildlife might turn up.
T
he Covid lockdown during spring and early summer confined most of us to our homes, and consequently gardens assumed an ever-greater importance as our outdoor ‘escape’. For those of us who would normally visit a nature reserve for a wildlife fix, we had little option other than to look a little closer to home, and for many that was quite a revelation. Species-rich Despite the precipitous wildlife declines in the wider countryside, our gardens are still home to a great variety of mammals, birds, butterflies, moths and wild plants. Hedgehogs are more commonly found in the gardens of villages and towns than the wider countryside as are frogs and toads. However, with a few simple changes to ‘wild’ our gardens, we can easily do even more for the wildlife around us. As autumn approaches, this is a great time to start planning what we can do to 36
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
help many species get through the winter and make our gardens even more attractive to wildlife next year. For some species the winter means finding a safe refuge to hunker down until the spring. Hedgehogs, for example, just need a quiet corner where a good pile of woody hedge or tree cuttings can be covered with leaves and grass cuttings to provide a perfectly insulated winter home, while a pile of logs or bricks could easily be a cold weather shelter for frogs, toads or newts. All insect species have to over-winter as either an egg, a larva or in their adult form. Butterflies such as the peacock or small tortoiseshell over-winter as adults and our gardens can provide many opportunities. While cool, dark sheds and garages are
BY STEVE AYLWARD frequently utilised, dense growths of ivy are equally good at providing a multitude of nooks and crannies and a stable micro-climate. The orange-tip butterfly spends the winter as a chrysalis attached to a plant stem, while meadow brown and gatekeeper butterflies spend
The less tidy we can be, the more we will be doing for wildlife the winter in their larval state hidden in a grass tussock. Therefore, the easiest way to help these species along with a vast number of other insects is to just leave patches of vegetation uncut right through the winter. Very simply, the less tidy we can be, the more we will be doing for wildlife. Food supply The other great challenge for those species that do not hibernate or spend the winter in suspended animation is to find enough food. REDWING: ALAMY
COMMON TOAD: DAVID KJAER / STEVE AYLWARD
GARDENING FOR WILDLIFE
Many of us feed the birds in our gardens, which is both hugely rewarding for us and a vital lifeline for them during cold weather, but not all birds will come to feeders. Berry eating species, such as thrushes, and if you are really lucky waxwings, will be drawn to berry-laden hedges in gardens. So waiting until the berries have been eaten before trimming a hedge is an easy way to help. Resisting the temptation to rake up leaves is another way to feed many species. Fallen leaves on a lawn are a magnet for earthworms that pull leaves into their underground burrows, while many other invertebrates also feast on the decaying leaves all of which in turn become food for hedgehogs, blackbirds, dunnocks and many other creatures.
The natural recycling of vegetation underpins most animal food-chains and therefore leaving dead wood and other plant matter to the multitude of fungi and micro-organisms that process it helps support a whole garden ecosystem from the bottom up.
Wild and wonderful Wilding your garden can certainly create a riot of colour. Stop mowing the lawn for a few weeks in the summer and the green monotony of grass will quickly be replaced by the yellows of dandelions and buttercups, the whites of daisies and blues of speedwells. Go a step further and sprinkle wildflower seed
ISTOCK / ADOBE STOCK / NATUREPL.COM
The less tidy we can be, We try and lead by the more we will be example at the Trust's doing for wildlife. offices in Ashbocking.
Cool dark sheds, offer butterflies such as the peacock refuge to over-winter. here and there and watch red poppies, blue cornflowers, purple knapweeds or whatever else you choose add yet more colour. And then most exciting of all, enjoy the bees, bumble bees, butterflies and hoverflies gorge themselves on this buffet of nectar and pollen. Wilding a garden is easy and certainly no more work than maintaining a perfectly manicured one. And even a few small changes, can make a big difference – so give it a try, rewild your life! Find out more suffolkwildlifetrust.org/ gardeningadvice Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
37
Caught on camera
TRAILCAM FROM SCOTLAND: THE BIG PICTURE/NATUREPL
Revealing the hidden wildlife on our nature reserves.
Gordon Buchanan
WOLF © GORDON BUCHANAN, WILDCAT © ELLIOT SMITH
The power of trail cams
With the use of trail cams, Gordon has got up close and personal with many wild species.
38
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
In the early days of my career, as I wiled away many hours waiting for wildlife to show up I would have this nagging desire. More of a wish than a desire, given that what I longed for was impossible. I wanted to be invisible. With invisibility my job would be so much easier. I could get closer to animals to observe their behaviour. Filming wildlife would be much less time consuming and much more revealing. Although technology has marched on a startling pace over the past three decades, I think invisibility is going to be beyond even the most talented tech boffins. But in many ways camera traps are the next best thing when it comes to wildlife watching. They never tire, get cold, fall asleep or have families that they need to get back to! I first used camera traps with real success back in 2007. I realised immediately
their value for filmmakers, zoologists and conservationists and have continued to use them to this day. They have given me views of creatures that would have been impossible to see in any other way. Giant otters and jaguars in South America, snow leopards and tigers living at high altitude in the Himalayas. Red pandas, wolves, leopards and illusive Scottish wildcats and pine martens closer to home. The worlds of secretive, seldom seen animals have been opened up to us in startling and exciting ways. I now wile away moments in nature with another wish… I just wish I had more camera traps!
CAUGHT ON CAMERA
footage at Trimley Marshes, including the talon-locking of loved-up kestrels. The trail cameras, along with a thermal imaging camera, secured using funding from Water, Mills & Marshes: The Broads Partnership and Suffolk Coast AONB, are also useful reserve management tools. At Captain’s Wood, the thermal image camera has helped establish the size of the fallow deer population, while in Rendlesham it was used to locate breeding nightjars. At Trimley Marshes, trail cam footage helped the Trust to locate effective fencing to protect breeding waders from foxes and badgers. This summer the cameras were used to count rabbit numbers at Martins’ Meadows.
ALAMY
Trail cameras and camera traps at Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s reserves have provided valuable insights into the behaviour of some of our most secretive wildlife. Species such as otters, whose crepuscular habits mean they are often not active when the reserves are at their busiest, can often be hard to spot. But trail cams at Carlton Marshes, which are both ever-present and completely silent, mean the sight of otters shape-shifting from hump-backed landlubbers to watery muscle is a regular occurrence. Even in the day time it can be hard to have eyes everywhere, but trail cams have successfully recorded some wonderful wildlife
KENT WILDLIFE TRUST Kent have been using trail cameras at Ham Fen for the past few years to enable them to view the activities of reintroduced beavers, an animal that is crepuscular – mostly active at dawn and dusk. The footage has allowed them to watch the construction of a dam, observe the beaver coppicing trees and feeding on the branches, and revealed a little of the interactions between individuals. They’ve watched adults grooming each other, seen a family group stripping bark from branches on the bank of the stream
and observed the interesting interaction between a young beaver and a large adult when they met nose to nose in the stream – the adult made a huge tail splash and disappeared under water! As well as providing some very interesting and entertaining viewing, the images and videos obtained from the trail cameras are helping Kent Wildlife Trust build a better picture of the activity of these elusive animals and understand more about the group dynamics at Ham Fen. Kent have been watching their reintroduced beavers build a dam!
SHROPSHIRE WILDLIFE TRUST
Pine martens have made a comeback in Shropshire. Camera traps have been an essential tool in helping Shropshire Wildlife Trust’s Stuart Edmunds prove the presence of pine martens in the county, where they were presumed extinct for decades. Although there were reported sightings as far back as the 1960s, they were impossible to verify until Stuart began using camera traps. The first Shropshire pine marten appeared on camera in July 2015, in woodland previously deemed unsuitable habitat for the evasive mammals. Pine martens are usually betrayed by their scat, but camera traps have now recorded them inhabiting several woodlands across south Shropshire, despite no scat being found. Camera traps can also be used by bait stations, where martens are encouraged to give a clear view of their chest “bib” pattern, which is an essential way of telling individuals apart. Without camera traps, we wouldn’t have realised there are pine martens living across the wider landscape at all. They are now a key tool in monitoring the population and distribution of martens in Shropshire and beyond.
BADGER AND OTTER © SUFFOLK WILDLIFE TRUST, BEAVER © KENT WILDLIFE TRUST, PINE MARTEN © SHROPSHIRE WILDLIFE TRUST
CAPTURING SUFFOLK'S WILD SECRETS
Behind the wild scenes
See more photos and footage from trail cams and webcams across the UK and find out how to set up your own. Find out more wildlifetrusts.org/ caught-on-camera
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
39
A legacy for
Suffolk's wildlife
T
he extraordinary generosity of Trust members and friends who remembered Suffolk Wildlife Trust in their Will has protected some of the county’s most inspiring natural places, for people to cherish for generations to come. Buying or enlarging our nature reserves is one of the most powerful ways in which we secure a
better future for wildlife. Legacy gifts make this possible. Indeed, they have been instrumental in every nature reserve purchase in recent years. A gift in your Will to Suffolk Wildlife Trust will be kept separate from the Trust’s day to day finances to be used for projects that have a direct and lasting impact on the county’s wildlife.
Thank you
40
Wild Suffolk | Autumn 2020
suffolkwildlifetrust.org
CHIFFCHAFF: RICHARD BOLWER
To find out how a gift in your Will could help Suffolk's wildlife, please contact Christine Luxton 01473 890089