Pantaloon Bee – see page 9 © Matt Garnham September - December 2018 A news and events Produced by the diary from wildlife and conservation groups in the Ipswich area BlueSnippets alien found White Admiral Lydia Woods in town Richard Stewart On the afternoon of Friday June 22nd my wife and I were walking down Westerfield Road in Ipswich and just past the gate into Christchurch Park we saw a white admiral on the pavement. It appeared to be a newly emerged While walking through Kiln Meadow on a warm adult but had probably been caught morning in July, I was more than a little surprised to in a vehicle slipstream. I cupped my hands around it, walked across the be confronted with a bright flash of blue! road and released the butterfly over the park railings. This was one of the On closer inspection I discovered a rather battered looking blue morpho butterfly new species I predicted for the park resting on the ground - not something you’d expect to see in Suffolk. These butterflies in future years as it has steadily been are generally found in Central and South America, although they are a popular choice colonising towards Ipswich. One was for butterfly houses – it’s likely this one escaped from the butterfly house situated at seen and photographed in The Dales Jimmy’s Farm. After taking some photos of this blue alien, I left the butterfly resting in a in 2015. With this in mind more patch of bindweed. While this was a lovely sight to see, hopefully it won’t be a regular honeysuckle, the larval food plant, occurrence. These butterflies aren’t accustomed to living in Suffolk – no matter how hot has been planted in the park. it has been! Digger Wasps excavate home Colin Hullis In my garden I have a tree trunk log used as a plant stand. Over the years it has begun to rot and during the long, hot summer I have spent hours watching small wasps excavating holes presumably as nest sites and creating large mounds of sawdust in the process. Research leads me to believe these were some form of Digger Wasp of which there are several sub-species. I also learn that there are 9000 species of wasp in the UK and that only nine of these are social wasps that form large nests, the rest are solitary and cause no upset to humans. Certainly my wasps have caused this human no upset but have provided much original entertainment. 2 Welcome by James Baker Welcome to the autumn edition of Local Wildlife estimating the power of ordinary people to bring about News, packed with articles and news from all the local positive change. But I think we all know how valuable time conservation groups along with a vast number of events of spent in nature really is for our health and wellbeing and all types for you to get involved with! therefore how much we owe to our environment – and I think we all know we need to look after it better! Throughout this edition there are references to the long, hot summer of 2018 and the potential effects on our local There are easy things to do to improve the situation – going (and not-so local) wildlife species. As always there will for a walk locally rather than driving miles to have a walk; be winners and losers amongst our favourite species, but buying organic food that helps wildlife on the farm where it will be difficult to determine perhaps until next year or it’s grown, or growing your own food and avoiding flying beyond. I think one thing is becoming clear and that is the – or you could choose to join in with some of the positive long predicted sharp increase in more extreme weather wildlife conservation work being done by local groups – events due to our changing climate, is now a reality. just take a look at the Events listing for ideas!! Any quaint notion that the effects of climate change are Mailing lists – Please note generations away, is now long-gone – and we should all Some who are members of several conservation be thinking about our actions and what we might be doing organisations may well receive more than one copy of the (intentionally or by accident) to increase or decrease the newsletter. If this is the case we would be very grateful if numbers or diversity of wild plants and animals in our you could pass on the spare copy. If you don’t receive LWN local (and global) environment. Luckily for you, there is not regularly please consider joining one of the groups that enough room here for me to spout on for too long about distributes LWN to its members. LWN is available online at individual actions being very important, and never under- www.greenlivingcentre.org.uk/greenways/ Contents Page Snippets 2 Suffolk Wildlife Trust 4 Portal Woodlands Conservation Group 8 6 9 Ipswich Council Wildlife Rangers 9 Greenways Countryside Project 10 Ipswich Wildlife Group 13 Friends of Christchurch Park 14 Friends of Holywells Park 15 22 9 RSPB Ipswich Local Group 16 Butterfly Conservation 17 Suffolk Ornithologists’ Group 18 Friends of Belstead Brook Park 19 Wild Ipswich 20 9 2 Events Diary 22 Local Wildlife News is published by Greenways Countryside Project. Editor: James Baker [email protected] Tel 01473 433995 Production Editor: Colin Hullis [email protected] Tel 01473 728674 Artwork production: Chris Saunders [email protected] Tel 01473 721550 Printed by The Five Castles Press Tel 01473 718719 Paper produced from well-managed forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council The opinions expressed in Local Wildlife News are not necessarily those of the Greenways Project. 3 Ipswich Group Newsletter Chairman: (Vacant) Secretary: Wendy Brown 01473 259674 c&[email protected] Treasurer: Tony Clarke 01473 741083 [email protected] Newsletter Editor: John Ireland 01473 723179 [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 fourth Wednesday of the month at 7.30 p.m. in the Museum Street Methodist Church, Blackhorse Lane.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 ‘Dates for your Diary’ section which follows, or on the SWT website, www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org. We are now at the beginning of another autumn season and the committee of the Ipswich Group of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust is now looking forward to welcoming you to the evening meetings and to planning the walks and outing for 2019. You may have wondered why we are very privileged to have the Suffolk Wildlife Trust section of the Local Wildlife News at the front of each magazine. Some years ago we came to an arrangement with Ipswich Wildlife Group to amalgamate our newsletters, add more local volunteering groups and make the magazine glossy. You receive the Wildlife News with the Trust Magazine in the same packet. This is a two-way deal as the Wildlife News takes advantage of the fact that there are lovely people who put the magazine package through members’ letter boxes not just in Ipswich but in the surrounding villages. Locally there is a network radiating from Ipswich of people getting their exercise and fresh air, walking and cycling and perhaps driving, delivering the packets. Incidentally, the Trust and wildlife are benefiting by around £30,000 per year because of all our fantastic volunteer deliverers throughout the county. Because there is little postage involved in the SWT magazine distribution the Ipswich Group’s contribution is by wearing out shoe leather on behalf of the other volunteering groups in the Wildlife News. We are pleased to benefit from a very professionally produced magazine and the other groups have better uses for their money because they pay no postage on a large distribution. There is also a dedicated Trust team that organises the complicated distribution of the packets before it lands on your door mat. Unlike all the other groups in the Wildlife News the Ipswich Group of SWT does not have pictures or reports about the physical volunteering on the reserves in Ipswich. There are many wildlife sites and reserves and some years ago we were organising the volunteering to look after them. In the past for example, we took part in clearing the Alderman Canal and making the paths, coppicing in Spring Wood and planting trees in the many sites in and around Ipswich. Ipswich Wildlife Group has taken over this role. As you go through the magazine you will find all the other groups are doing the practical work and if you wish to volunteer then you have a large choice of activities in the following pages. As secretary I get emails and telephone calls from people wishing to join a practical conservation group but they are passed on to SWT at Brooke House, Ashbocking or the other relevant groups in the Wildlife Magazine – and there are plenty to choose from! In spite of having no current chairman – and we do need one – and difficulties with the venue for our winter talks, the past year has been successful, rounded off with a coach trip to Rainham Marshes and well supported walks. We start the new season in September with talks in the Methodist Church in Black Horse Lane, Ipswich. It is a really good venue and we hope that you will support the committee and the varied and interesting talks.