Sudbury Wildlife News

Many of the plants in our wild garden, created 2 years ago with the help of George Millins,  have now finished flowering.  However in recent weeks the warmer weather has led to a marked increase in insects, bees and butterflies.  This is encouraging because in the early summer the lack of activity was concerning.  The pond continues to host a lot of dragonflies and other flying things, and this year for the first time we have some frogs.

In previous years duck have eaten the frogspawn, but it seems that the arrival of a pair of ferociously territorial moorhens in the spring seems to have seen ‘ducklife’ off this year.

I have received a copy of the first edition of a local newsletter, Suffolk Wildlife News, which seeks to draw together the activities of ecological groups in the Sudbury area.  It has been created by Nick Miller of Bures, who can be contacted on nicknewmiller56@gmail.com.  Nick would like to hear from any groups that would like to be included and also anyone who would like to receive the newsletter on a regular basis.

I have put the newsletter under a tab above for a limited period.

An unkind cut? When should road verges be mown?

It’s the time of year that I start to receive calls from residents who are concerned that the verges have not been cut.

Full information about the Grass Cutting Programme across the county can be found on Suffolk County Council website HERE   I can divulge however  that on smaller roads the verge is only cut once a year .  The C road programme this year commenced on June 6^th.  The whole process will take around 6 weeks, so should be completed by the week beginning 18^th July.

It is very important that verges are not cut too early for reasons connected with biodiversity.  The charity Plantlife  has recently launched a campaign to encourage better management of verges.Information on this is available HERE.  If these are routinely cut too early some 700 species of plants are put at risk.  The practice is also bad for insect and birds that rely on plants for food. 

Suffolk’s policy, while better than cutting earlier, does not it seems represent absolutely the best practice.  Plantlife suggest that to achieve the best outcome for nature verges should not be cut until mid July to September.  However, the damage in Suffolk is somewhat mitigated by the fact that only a strip a little over a meter is cut, and a number of areas have been designated as wildlife sites, and are left uncut.  This is OK, but ideally some maintenance should be carried out on these sites from time to time.   I am not sure to what extent this happens, but at the end of the day as always limited resources have to be taken into account.

I spend a lot of time driving on C roads around the Division, and I am aware that one has to take a little more care at this time of year due to the occasional lower level of visibility caused by higher vegetation levels. Of course if a junction or corner becomes dangerous, the team will go out to remedy this as soon as possible.  Problems of this type should be reported on the County Council website.

I actually think that people drive much too fast on country roads, and believe that it is no bad thing if people find they need to slow down and enjoy the countryside at this beautiful time of the year.  In any event, we owe it to wildlife and the planet to go easy with the mowing machines. 

Compost Awareness Week

To celebrate Compost Awareness Week (Sun 1 May - Sat 7 May), the Suffolk Waste Partnership is giving away free compost and offering advice from Master Composter Volunteers to highlight the environmental and financial benefits for those who choose to make and use their own compost.

Green fingered residents will be able to pick up a 25 litre bag of soil improver at Recycling Centres across the county and loose compost will be available at one event. There will also be a number of 'Compost Clinics' during the week where Suffolk Master Composters will be 'on call' to help improve your compost. Find details of times and venues for give-aways and clinics here.

This week also presents another opportunity to remind residents of our fantastic offers which provide an opportunity to purchase a wide range of subsidised compost bins starting at £8.99. Specialist systems designed to process cooked food waste start at £14.99. More than a third of the material in the average domestic waste bin consists of food waste which could be composted at home for the benefit of your own garden! 

Branchlines update

News from Old School Wood, Great Waldingfield's community woodland.

Courtesy of Branchlines Chairman David Taylor.

'Thank you to all who supported the AGM on Friday 16th. There was an excellent talk by Adrian Walters on history and conservation on the Sudbury riverside, where he works as Sudbury Common Lands Ranger. The AGM business followed; no major news to report although we welcomed Amy Ward on to the committee. Amy is at Otley College studying wildlife management and conservation.

  

This month's working party at Old School Wood saw George Millins bring his motor scythe to cut the meadow and some of the ride margins. We deliberately leave a section uncut each year, on rotation, for the benefit of small creatures. 7 adults and 3 children were on hand to rake up the cut grass and make a giant habitat pile; the 3 children were then on hand to play on it! Thanks to all involved.

Work over the autumn and winter is expected to include hedge coppicing, checking tree stakes and guards, possible replacement tree planting and habitat building.

We now have a new padlock on the main gate after the old one became unreliable.

Next event; working party Saturday 28th November 09.30 -12.30 at the wood.'

Branchlines Quiz on June 5th

Branchlines, the Great Waldingfield Community Woodland, is holding one of its excellent quiz nights on Friday 5th June In Great Waldingfield Village Hall.

Tickets are £6 to include a light supper.  Please bring your own drink and glasses.

Proceedings start promptly at 7.30 and teams can contain up to six people.

Tickets are available from Faith Marsden on 01787 312002. 4 Chapel Close, Great Waldingfield.

The woodland is really flourishing,  with more work being done on the site by volunteers in recent months.  Do try to come to the quiz to support this great project.

Two visitors to the wildlife garden

We have had two visitors this week to the part of our garden that we have set aside to try to encourage wildlife of all sorts. 

The first was our charming and enthusiastic weekend houseguest, Charlie Bee, pictured left,  posing on the edge of the patch.  He seems to like sniffing about in the undergrowth and generally making himself at home.  Perhaps that is because where he lives in Thorpe Morieux he has a much larger area which is also specially kept to encourage biodiversity.

The second was local ecologist, George Millins, who came to see how the special plants that he had given us in the spring, chosen to attract and support butterflies, had survived.  At the moment the area is rather overwhelmed with rye grass, and also with giant thistles and ragwort.  However some of the field scabious, birds foot trefoil and other introduced species have survived and there are certainly signs of butterflies enjoying the area.  The ragwort has provided essential sustenance for the caterpillars of the cinnabar moth.  Some of the plants have been completely eaten bare by the distinctive yellow and black creatures.

George thinks it will take about five years to establish the area with the right balance of plants to create ideal conditions.  We will be mowing the area in October, and picking all cuttings up, to try to reduce the fertility of the soil and encourage the right wild flowers to grow.

Support Suffolk's Barn Owls

The Suffolk Community Barn Owl Project has been a huge success.  In fact, as one of the first such schemes, it has been widely copied in other counties.  Currently however the organisers are concerned that sebacks, both natural and man made, are halting progress, and are asking the public for help.

  

Some years ago the steep decline of Barn Owls in Suffolk was recognised and some 1700 nest boxes were mounted by volunteers.  At the same time farmers and others were encouraged to manage their land so that the voles and mice on which barn owls and their young feed would thrive, and the result has been a marked increase in the numbers of these lovely birds.

Volunteer monitors from the Project inspect the boxes every year, gathering valuable scientific data about the owls and their chicks.  Unfortunately last winter’s wet weather was not good for barn owls and many adults died, leading to a low level of breeding this year.  The problem has been compounded by a spate of vandalism that has destroyed 5 nest boxes, resulting in the death or, possibly, the theft of the chicks.  This is criminal activity, since barn owls are protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

Project members are asking that the public be vigilant if they live in an area that contains a nesting box. All legitimate box monitors are licenced so if you see a person looking into, or tampering with, a box you should ask to see their licence.  If they do not have one you would be right to have concerns.

  

If you see anything suspicious, or hear that barn owl chicks are for sale, you should call 101 and speak to PC Mark Bryant.  PC Bryant is Suffolk Constabulary’s dedicated officer for rural crime and wildlife, and he will look into the case.