A vision for Black Bourn Valley nature reserve With its fl ower-strewn meadows Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s and grassland sweeping down to vision is for a wilder, a river lined with beautiful crack we er landscape willows, Black Bourn Valley capable of sustaining nature reserve is a rare and even more wildlife. precious piece of old Suff olk. Steve Aylward, David Kjaer Aylward, Steve Living Landscapes Living Gardens Living Seas Letting nature take the lead... ... and rejuvenating the river When the opportunity arose to buy 70 acres Our approach to the grassland will be to As the name of the reserve suggests, the With not enough water to sustain both of land next to Grove Farm in 2015, the allow a more heathy grass structure to river is at the heart of what Suffolk the Black Bourn’s old and current courses, potential was clear. By linking the existing develop, reflecting the furzy countryside Wildlife Trust wants to do at Black Bourn our surveys suggest a more sensitive farmland with the river it would be of Norton Heath that is now only evident Valley. We know the meadows along the approach would be to reconnect the possible to create a magnificent landscape in road names. Hides length of the Black Bourn would have river’s old route using flood water from for wildlife that sweeps down the valley flooded every winter. The snipe and large the newer channel. By holding back Over time we hope the molehills that As well as being good for wildlife our vision for sides with the Black Bourn at its heart. flocks of duck such as shoveler and teal water over the winter months, the old already freckle the valley will also be Black Bourn Valley is to create a habitat that is good that still gather here during the all-too- course will become a seasonally flowing We have already seen that with its small joined by the warrens of rabbits; their for visitors. A timber hide will be built on the edge fleeting high waters give a snap shot of a river, with the overflow forming and fields, thick hedges and wide field localised digging and grazing helping to of the new wetland area, allowing walkers and wild valley of times long gone. sustaining wetland shallows that are so margins, Grove Farm supports valuable create a complex mosaic of habitat birdwatchers to get up close to waterfowl, waders crucial to wading birds and waterfowl. populations of farmland birds that are throughout the reserve. and, for the lucky and the patient, the shy otter. At some point in the past, possibly in the struggling elsewhere. Now we intend to By letting nature take the lead, a natural By working with 1950s, the river channel has been highly Our ambition for the river’s wildlife goes bring a similar approach to the whole gradient will soon develop across the nature, this valley Access modified with some sections being beyond the nature reserve. The Black river valley – encouraging ancient hedges valley with habitats merging into one straightened and even blocked. A remnant Bourn meanders northwards from Grove could once more run Public access to the reserve will be improved with to spill out with thickets of blackthorn another and creating the wonderful of an old channel, now not connected to Farm to Mickle Mere, eventually flowing the creation of a new riverside trail and the creation and hawthorn scrub, creating the perfect mixed-up edges that are so valuable for with the liquid song the main river but located in the flood into the Little Ouse, just south of Thetford. of a carefully screened visitor car park that can be habitat for species such as nightingale wildlife. of nightingale plain on the eastern side of the valley, Over the last two years we have worked and turtle dove. reached from Heath Road. forms what is in effect a long linear closely with landowners along the length pond. The old course of the river, marked of the Little Ouse to restore a more by thick banks of reeds, can still be seen natural channel, bubbling with invertebrate ghosting through the countryside. life. In a similar way, we hope buying and restoring this stretch of the Black When the Trust first considered buying Bourn can be a catalyst for conservation this part of the reserve we initially enhancements all thought this route could be completely along the valley. restored and that the water would soon remember the sinuous bends it took through this landscape. But creating a wilder, wetter river corridor to support more wildlife is not so straight forward. Thank you The current river course is lined with The purchase of the river meadows beautiful and brittle crack willow that was possible thanks to the generous slow dive into the water, their split limbs donations of our members and and tangled roots creating an intricate through the legacies of Gerald Ford tangle of habitat for barn owls, bats and and Mary Newman. If the heart of this reserve is the otter. The linear pond, another feature Buying land is one of the most river, the Black Bourn’s spirit is that has been established for decades, powerful ways we can secure a better surely the otter ruddering along sustains fish and a wide variety of future for wildlife and without such invertebrates; some of which are pond support it would not be possible. its meandering lengths specialists. BIRDWATHING: L LANCHESTER, TEAL & BARN OWL: DAVID KJAER STEVE AYLWARD STEVE Letting nature take the lead... ... and rejuvenating the river When the opportunity arose to buy 70 acres Our approach to the grassland will be to As the name of the reserve suggests, the With not enough water to sustain both of land next to Grove Farm in 2015, the allow a more heathy grass structure to river is at the heart of what Suffolk the Black Bourn’s old and current courses, potential was clear. By linking the existing develop, reflecting the furzy countryside Wildlife Trust wants to do at Black Bourn our surveys suggest a more sensitive farmland with the river it would be of Norton Heath that is now only evident Valley. We know the meadows along the approach would be to reconnect the possible to create a magnificent landscape in road names. Hides length of the Black Bourn would have river’s old route using flood water from for wildlife that sweeps down the valley flooded every winter. The snipe and large the newer channel. By holding back Over time we hope the molehills that As well as being good for wildlife our vision for sides with the Black Bourn at its heart. flocks of duck such as shoveler and teal water over the winter months, the old already freckle the valley will also be Black Bourn Valley is to create a habitat that is good that still gather here during the all-too- course will become a seasonally flowing We have already seen that with its small joined by the warrens of rabbits; their for visitors. A timber hide will be built on the edge fleeting high waters give a snap shot of a river, with the overflow forming and fields, thick hedges and wide field localised digging and grazing helping to of the new wetland area, allowing walkers and wild valley of times long gone. sustaining wetland shallows that are so margins, Grove Farm supports valuable create a complex mosaic of habitat birdwatchers to get up close to waterfowl, waders crucial to wading birds and waterfowl. populations of farmland birds that are throughout the reserve. and, for the lucky and the patient, the shy otter. At some point in the past, possibly in the struggling elsewhere. Now we intend to By letting nature take the lead, a natural By working with 1950s, the river channel has been highly Our ambition for the river’s wildlife goes bring a similar approach to the whole gradient will soon develop across the nature, this valley Access modified with some sections being beyond the nature reserve. The Black river valley – encouraging ancient hedges valley with habitats merging into one straightened and even blocked. A remnant Bourn meanders northwards from Grove could once more run Public access to the reserve will be improved with to spill out with thickets of blackthorn another and creating the wonderful of an old channel, now not connected to Farm to Mickle Mere, eventually flowing the creation of a new riverside trail and the creation and hawthorn scrub, creating the perfect mixed-up edges that are so valuable for with the liquid song the main river but located in the flood into the Little Ouse, just south of Thetford. of a carefully screened visitor car park that can be habitat for species such as nightingale wildlife. of nightingale plain on the eastern side of the valley, Over the last two years we have worked and turtle dove. reached from Heath Road. forms what is in effect a long linear closely with landowners along the length pond. The old course of the river, marked of the Little Ouse to restore a more by thick banks of reeds, can still be seen natural channel, bubbling with invertebrate ghosting through the countryside. life. In a similar way, we hope buying and restoring this stretch of the Black When the Trust first considered buying Bourn can be a catalyst for conservation this part of the reserve we initially enhancements all thought this route could be completely along the valley. restored and that the water would soon remember the sinuous bends it took through this landscape.