Local Wildlife News Snippets
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Local September - December 2016 A news and events diary from wildlife and conservation groups in Wildlife the Ipswich area News © Bill Baston Peregrines at home in Ipswich - see page 18. Produced by the Local Wildlife News Snippets i-Fly Strange nest For several weeks in the spring we watched a Wren carrying nesting materials into our shed through a small gap in the boards. Over the next few weeks it was clear from all the Ben Storm aged 11 sent in this smashing photo that he activity that there was a family being raised. Despite careful thought we would be interested in. He took this superb close- and surreptitious searching we couldn’t find the location of the up image in the lounge of his home in Ipswich. What we find nest. absolutely fascinating is that it wasn’t taken with the latest high-powered camera with a macro lens attachment but with When we were sure the young had flown, we investigated his i-Pad Mini! Well done Ben. The fly is a common Greenbottle every nook and cranny of the shed. It wasn’t until we moved a but has the romantic Latin name Lucilia Caesar. solid sheet of wood that had been leaning up against the wall that we discovered the nest jammed in a tight gap, balanced on a ledge between the board and the shed wall. This has to be one of the strangest shaped nests ever but Cans for Cash shows how resourceful birds can be when it comes to the vital business of procreation. Sadly there was one infertile egg remaining in the nest. Pete and Sally Ling Midnight Raider Mystified by the regular overnight disappearance of seed from the bird table, I decided one evening to lie in wait, with camera Over last summer, Greenways volunteers separated and set up, to try and catch the raider red-handed. collected aluminium drink cans whilst litter picking – primarily Sure enough, under the cover of darkness he appeared, tip- along the river path through the town. When we collect enough toeing along the fence and skipping lightly onto the table setting to fill the trailer, we cram them in and take them to the scrap it swinging gently. After a few seconds of frenzied feeding he yard! Although the scrap price for aluminium is very low at the was off, not before I managed to get this fleeting shot of him. moment, it’s still worth doing and great to divert this amount of He has now been tracked to his home further along the fence rubbish from landfill or incineration. Amazingly, the trailer was where he has comfortable accommodation in a bird nest box. loaded with more than 40,000 cans – mostly beer cans! Shame Mickey the Wood Mouse is now a nightly visitor, is well fed and they’re all empty really! is almost one of the family - (Don’t tell my wife!) Colin Hullis 2 Welcome Welcome to the autumn edition of Local Wildlife News, produced by the Greenways Project to promote the news, activities and events of numerous local conservation groups in the wider Ipswich area. As with each edition of the magazine, you will find a wealth of information from the local groups in 6 your area along with a list of events and activities from walks and talks to surveys and practical work sessions. In all cases there are contact details for you to seek any further information about the event – please do contact the relevant person as they are all very happy to hear from you and will answer your questions as best they can! Please also do note the regular events on the back cover – there are opportunities to get involved on several days each week and all the groups are keen to hear from you. A great chance to get involved if you haven’t been on a conservation work party before, is to come 8 along to the Belstead Brook Park ‘Megabash’ on Sunday 20th November – all are welcome, no experience necessary. See listing in Events Diary. Feedback – if you have any comments or suggestions about this magazine, we’d be very pleased to hear from you, as we want it to be as useful as possible to you. Please contact Greenways on: [email protected] or call 01473 433995. Photographs When producing LWN, we always like to use plenty of pictures to help illustrate the news and articles – sometimes these are supplied by those contributing the articles, but sometimes we need more. If © Jan Cawston 9 you have high quality wildlife pictures that you would be happy for us to use in the magazine, we’d be delighted if you could get in touch. If you can help please either contact the Greenways Project or the Production Editor, Colin Hullis (contact details below left). Contributions We are always happy to receive articles of anything up to 650 words, or wildlife ‘snippets’ – so please do send in anything which may be of interest to: Greenways Project, Scout Headquarters, Stoke Park Drive, Ipswich, IP2 9TH. 01473 433995. [email protected] Mailing lists – Please note © John Cooper 13 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. 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). 17 LWN is available online at www.greenlivingcentre.org.uk/greenways/ © Bill Baston 18 James Baker Contents Page Local Wildlife News Snippets 2 Suffolk Wildlife Trust 4 20 Ipswich Wildlife Group 8 Local Wildlife News is published by Greenways Countryside Project. Friends of the Dales 9 Editor: James Baker Greenways Countryside Project 10 [email protected] Tel 01473 433995 Portal Woodlands Conservation Group 13 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 PJ Print [email protected] Landguard Nature Reserve 18 Tel 01473 276010 Friends of Holywells Park 19 Printed on recycled paper Friends of Belstead Brook Park 20 The opinions expressed in Local Wildlife News are not necessarily Butterfly Conservation 21 those of the Greenways Project. Events Diary 22 3 Ipswich Group Newsletter Chairman: David Munday 01473 217310 [email protected] Secretary: Wendy Brown 01473 259674 [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 Autumn 2016 edition of our Newsletter. For as ever, creating a swimming pool and supplementing his reasons of space some items have had to be shortened or heating system fuelled by the wood from his own trees with held over to our next edition, but the full versions will appear environmentally friendly heat exchangers. His pond is host to on our Facebook page. dragon flies and water voles but he is trying to cope with the wild boars that dig up his vegetables! So the work of SWT is Many readers will remember Alan Rogers, our former being exported to central France. chairman, who moved to France a few years ago. Your Editor with his wife Pam visited Alan in June at his delightful Dave Munday house outside Limoges, and can report that he is as active (Chairman) The Rogers’ domain near Limoges with views of their lake. © Pam Ireland 4 Ipswich Group Newsletter Visit to BTO Thetford and Cambridge University Botanic Gardens On 21st May we had a marvellous day visiting the British reason is thought to be the lack of nesting sites, so any Trust for Ornithology headquarters at Thetford (BTO) and encouragement is vital for their survival. Cambridge University Botanic Gardens. On arrival at the BTO we were greeted by staff members Paul Stancliffe and Stephen Pritchard. Steve is known to many of us through his various roles within the wildlife and conservation circles around Ipswich and as technical advisor on our SWT committee. It was really good to see him again, looking so well and happy in his new workplace at Thetford. We were first taken into the Nunnery, where over coffee we were given a potted history of both the building and the BTO. The room we were seated in was the former chapel, as the original building was built in 1160 as a monastery. When this became uneconomic for the monks it became the home of Benedictine Nuns. Indeed three of the nuns were buried beneath our feet. The nunnery was dissolved in 1537, after which the building had various functions, including that of a farmhouse and a stud.