Local Wildlife News
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Local May - August 2017 A news and events diary from wildlife and conservation groups in Wildlife the Ipswich area News © Joseph Hullis Kingfishers in the park - see page 15 Produced by the Big Wildlife Challenge Kiln Meadow, Ipswich Saturday 10th - Sunday 11th June Help us record all the wildlife at this fantastic site. Lots of activities over 24 hours including moth watch, bat walk and night mammal search on the Saturday evening; dawn chorus walk, moth trap emptying, and small mammal surveying on Sunday early morning; throughout Sunday – expert-led walks and surveys for birds, plants, reptiles, insects, spiders, aquatic life, fungi, lichens, butterflies and many more - along with wildlife homes making and other children’s activities and stalls. See Suffolk Wildlife Trust website for more details: wwwsuffolkwildlifetrust.org More information from: 01473 890089 (SWT) or 01473 433995 (Greenways). Kiln Meadow is in the heart of the Belstead Brook Park – a 250 acre informal country park stretching around the south-western edge of Ipswich. Location between Bobbits Lane and Marbled White Drive, off Ellenbrook Road, Pinewood. From the event location in Kiln Meadow, we can easily reach: Ancient Woodland; wet woodland, new dryer woodland, dry grassland, wet meadows, open water, the Brook itself, reedbed, hedgerows and other habitats. Partnership between: Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Greenways, Ipswich Wildlife Group, Ipswich Borough Council, Suffolk Biodiversity Information Centre and other conservation groups. Welcome Welcome to the summer edition of Local Wildlife News – produced by the Greenways Project to help promote the huge amount of excellent events and activities going on in and around Ipswich, to help wildlife to thrive. The RSPB local group pages highlight the excellent house sparrow survey carried out by large 6 numbers of volunteers last year – although the study tends to back the national trend of a worrying decline in this iconic (and increasingly urban) species, there is also some good news about growing colonies and returns to areas where the species had been previously lost – for more information and to see how you can help this species - see page 14. The Suffolk Wildlife Trust Ipswich Hedgehog officer, Ali North, is very keen for volunteers to help her make Ipswich the most hedgehog friendly town in the country – so if you’d like to help this (like the house sparrow) iconic but declining species – do get in touch (details on page 21). 9 This June (10th and 11th) the Big Wildlife Challenge is coming to Belstead Brook Park – experts on all forms of wildlife will congregate to survey for as many species as possible in a 24 hour period, and we would love you to help! The more eyes looking, the more we should find! There will be moth and bat surveys on the Saturday night along with night vision equipment to search for hedgehogs and other nocturnal species. Then on the Sunday there will be walks, surveys and activities for all the family throughout the day from a dawn chorus bird walk to an aquatic invertebrate search in the Belstead Brook itself. It’s an incredible opportunity to learn from the county’s premier wildlife experts – and help us better understand the range of species in the Park – more details opposite. 15 In this edition there are well over 100 events and opportunities to get involved with nature – from practical work parties to indoor illustrated talks and everything in between. I sincerely hope you get to enjoy as many of these as possible and soak up some of the beautiful sites and precious wildlife that we have close to hand in this part of Suffolk. Mailing lists – Please note We are aware that some who are members of several conservation organisations may well receive more than one copy of the newsletter. If this is the case we would be very grateful if you could pass on the spare copy. 16 If on the other hand you don’t currently receive LWN regularly, but would like to, please consider joining one of the groups that distributes LWN to its members (i.e. Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Ipswich Wildlife Group, RSPB etc). LWN is available online at www.greenlivingcentre.org.uk/greenways/ James Baker 1718 Contents Page Suffolk Wildlife Trust 4 Ipswich Wildlife Group 8 Friends of the Dales 9 © Colin Hullis 19 Greenways Countryside Project 10 Local Wildlife News is published by Greenways Countryside Project. Wild Ipswich 12 Editor: James Baker [email protected] Portal Woodlands Conservation Group 13 Tel 01473 433995 Production Editor: Colin Hullis RSPB Ipswich Local Group 14 [email protected] Tel 01473 728674 Friends of Christchurch Park 16 Artwork production: Chris Saunders [email protected] Ipswich Borough Council Wildlife Rangers 17 Tel 01473 721550 Suffolk Ornithologists’ Group 18 Printed by The Five Castles Press Tel 01473 718719 Friends of Holywells Park 19 Paper produced from well-managed forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council Friends of Belstead Brook Park 20 The opinions expressed in Local Snippets 21 Wildlife News are not necessarily those of the Greenways Project. Events Diary 22 3 Ipswich Group Newsletter Chairman: David Munday 01473 217310 [email protected] Secretary: Wendy Brown 01473 259674 c&[email protected] Treasurer: Tony Clarke 01473 741083 [email protected] Newsletter Editor: John Ireland 01473 723179 [email protected] Group contact: [email protected] We are the Ipswich Group of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. We offer an interesting range of monthly meetings with guest speakers which take place usually on the third Wednesday of the month at 7.30 p.m. in the hall of St Margaret’s Primary School, Bolton Lane, Ipswich. Trust members and non-members are equally welcome. During the summer months we offer a variety of trips, some local, others by coach. Details of these and our monthly meetings can be found in our ‘Diary’ section which follows, or on the SWT website, www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org. Chairman’s Letter Welcome to the Spring Newsletter. Derek Moore Memorial Talk This time we have two articles by our own members. Malcolm Derek Moore, whose commemorative meeting we shall be Clark talked to us some time ago about his recording of hosting in November, was instrumental in dropping entrance birdsong. Here he tells us how he got into his fascinating charges for all SWT reserves. So why not take advantage of hobby and how he sets about his recording. The pictures this and visit some of our wonderful reserves this summer. show him at work in his garden, picking up birdsong in a tall tree some fifty yards away, and then editing his results on his Please note that this splendid evening with Dr Mark Avery computer. has now been confirmed as taking place on Wednesday 15th November (not 18th October). It is being held in the Great Martin Cant makes boxes for wildlife, anything from bee and School Hall, Ipswich School, with a 7.30 start. Admission is wasp ‘hotels’ to bird nest boxes and hedgehog shelters. by ticket only, available from SWT Headquarters: see details His article and photographs tell of how and where he makes elsewhere, or contact the Trust at www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org. them and where he locates them to the best advantage of the occupants. Dave Munday (Chairman) No doubt there are other activists in our Ipswich group, pursuing their wildlife interests. If you are one such consider contributing an article about your activity to the SWT newsletter. You are sure of an appreciative readership. Martin Cant completing a Swift nest box in his workshop 4 Ipswich Group Newsletter Martin’s Boxes Having retired six years ago, I was enticed to join the Friends of Holywells Park as I wanted to help put something back into the park as our kids had grown up using the park in their youth and I found that the Friends were actively working to conserve nature and wildlife in the Park and run events for families and children to enjoy the park facilities. IBC Rangers in the park were busy with building bird boxes and helping them helped hone my skills for box building. I soon found that getting involved and joining the Friends committee got me deeper and deeper into work parties. I started making bug boxes as a side line and soon found that families, especially children really enjoyed building boxes and using hammers. The Greenways Countryside Project was based at Holywells and joining their work parties also helped broaden my skills. At that point one tree looked just like any other to me. James Baker, Greenways manager was interested in promoting Homes for Nature and as I showed an interest in making bug boxes, it was only time before I was Completed boxes for hedgehog, bugs and birds reeled in. At IWG, we also work with schools and get invited to a variety As I had met several enthusiastic conservation volunteers, of schools all over Ipswich, hoping to educate the youngsters several who were members of Ipswich Wildlife Group, it into making homes for nature and sowing seeds of interest became apparent that the box making would help at various towards conservation and helping wildlife survive. I also work IWG events including school visits, as it drew families and with several Friends groups, IBC Rangers, SWT, Greenways, children in to help make wildlife homes, which they could take Butterfly Conservation and other volunteers to promote home for their garden. I also started making hedgehog houses homes for nature. which have also taken off, especially with the mammals being in decline, as everyone wants to help them survive. At this stage, I was making kits in my garage with help from Peter Locke, but as the kits became more popular we struggled with demand and materials were getting more difficult to source.