Local September - December 2011 A news and events diary from wildlife and conservation groups in Wildlife the Ipswich area News © Darin Smith Common Buzzard an increasingly common sight - see page 23 Produced by the Welcome Local Wildlife News Welcome to yet another packed edition of LWN, produced primarily by the Greenways Project, on behalf of over a dozen local wildlife, conservation and other ‘green’ groups. We are still very keen to receive any feedback about the publication – good or bad – and © Stephen Hammeersley 6 look forward to receiving any suggestions for improvements etc. Contributions We are also always happy to receive articles of anything up to 800 words, photographs of local wildlife or conservation work and local sightings or wildlife ‘snippets’ – so please do send in anything which may be of interest. Greenways Project, Stable Block, Holywells Park, Cliff Lane, Ipswich, IP3 0PG 9 [email protected] 01473 433995 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. We are very sorry if this is the case, and would be very grateful if you could pass on the spare copy to someone who will appreciate it and contact the Greenways Project on 01473 433995 or greenways. [email protected], stating which organisations you are a member of, so that we can ensure that you receive just one in the future. If, on the other hand, you don’t currently receive LWN regularly, but would like to, simply contact us (details above) and we’ll add you to the list. 15 Contents Page © Matt Berry 18 Suffolk Wildlife Trust 4 Ipswich Wildlife Group 8 Friends of Alderman Canal 10 Suffolk Ornithologists’ Group 11 Friends of Holywells Park 11 Greenways Countryside Project 12 © Reg Snook 20 IBC Wildlife Rangers 16 Butterfly Conservation 18 Friends of Christchurch Park 20 © Chris Courtney 23 Friends of Belstead Brook Park 21 RSPB Ipswich Local Group 22 Portal Woodlands Conservation Group 24 Local Wildlife News Snippets 25 © Robert Garrod 25 Events Diary 26 Local Wildlife News produced by Greenways Countryside Project. 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] We are the Ipswich Local Group of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust and we offer an interesting range of monthly meetings with guest speakers which usually take place on the third Wednesday of the month at 7.30 pm 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. New members are always welcome. Chairman’s Letter Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s Chairman Magazines Out of the blue I had a call from the new Chairman, Sir A special word of thanks goes out to our magazine Kenneth Carlisle who said he was trying to meet all the distributors and deliverers who manfully struggled with groups and as he couldn’t make our AGM, could he the above mentioned book which created an extra thick come to meet the team. I readily agreed and he sat in on and weighty envelope which declined to go through and contributed to our next committee meeting. I think many an older style letterbox. Don’t despair though as it’s good that he wants to be involved and not just be a you will be pleased to know that forthcoming issues will figurehead. be even lighter than previously, as the Natural World has been dropped with only extracts going in our Wildlife AGM magazine. The AGM came and went with the election of the same Suffolk Show committee; no new (young?) blood came forth to drag us screaming into 2012! I hope many of you managed to go to the Suffolk Show and to visit the SWT marquee and wildlife area. I thought 50th Anniversary the displays and activities for the youngsters were excellent and equally fascinated the adults and should In April you should have all received your copy of A encourage new young recruits. Living Landscape for Suffolk, a celebration of 50 years of the Trust and its 50 reserves. I think that Steve Aylward Sits Vac the author and Clare Sheehan the designer, have done a fantastic job. We are still looking for someone (or a team) to take on the role of fundraising for the Ipswich Group. Is this you? They both did all the work on the book in their own If so please do talk to a member of the committee. time with no cost to the Trust, and together with the generosity of all the businesses who supported the Dave Munday production of the book, the total cost to the Trust was an (Chairman) amazing £1each! © Dave Fincham I hope like me, it inspires you to visit all 50 reserves. Dave Munday 4 Ipswich Group Newsletter Alton Water 21st May, 2011 by Harry Price When Ipswich became short of water in the 1960’s it was decided to create a new reservoir between Tattingstone and Holbrook. In 1978 a bridge at Lemons Hill was built Mike Ewart to avoid the village of Tattingstone being split in two © once the reservoir was filled. It was here that a party from Ipswich SWT met up with members of the Shotley Peninsula SWT group to be taken on a guided tour, led by members of the Shotley group. Ann, Alison and Mike are enthusiastic volunteers, eager to explain the work done by themselves and others to monitor and care for the natural environment of the area covered by the water and its surroundings, which are owned and administered by Anglian Water. The lake is ringed by a surfaced path, some eight miles long, for walkers and cyclists. There are also side paths leading to the water’s edge and to observation hides, The new hide at Alton Water specially constructed by the volunteers for Alton Water is a naturalist’s paradise. What until 33 years ago was farmland has now developed into areas of woodland, The water itself is never far away. The eastern end is carefully managed so as to leave places of bushy available for (non-motorised) water sports such as sailing undergrowth, beloved by nightingales (we heard a and wind surfing, but the middle and western parts are couple). Near a clump of alder buckthorn a brimstone for wildlife. The lake supports a great variety of creatures, butterfly was feeding on sources of nectar. The former perch and pike in the deeper parts, while smaller fish field edges are still marked in places by standard provide food for the increasing numbers of common trees, some of them very ancient oaks – at least one is tern which can be seen hovering high above the surface estimated to be more than seven hundred years old. before they dive for their prey. These graceful birds used Volunteers have erected barn owl boxes at several to nest along the shore, but stoats and other predators points. This year one family of barn owls, another family made that too dangerous, so the volunteers have built of tawny owls and several families of jackdaws have rafts anchored in the lake on which the terns can be taken up residence. seen perching, resting and nesting in safety. The shore- © Mike Ewart line is punctuated by many narrow inlets, where Greylag, Canada geese and Great Crested grebes abound. In one such inlet an unusual ripple in the water revealed a grass snake swimming into the shelter of the reeds. Alton Water is of course man-made, and the numbers of cyclists and walkers along the track as well as the well-filled car park at the Visitors’ Centre testify to its popularity, so human pressure on its environment is considerable. But none of this detracted from the peace and beauty of the area and we were greatly impressed by the continued work being done by the volunteers as well as Anglian Water to make this a lively and viable wildlife habitat. Our thanks go to Pam Ireland and our guides for setting Volunteers constructing a floating raft for nesting Terns up a delightful and fascinating afternoon. see www.altonwildlife.co.uk 5 Ipswich Group Newsletter The Wall - a butterfly we are losing from the Ipswich area by Rob Parker, Butterfly Recorder for Suffolk The Wall, or Wall Brown, Lasiommata megera, has been allocated to the UK BAP category of ‘Research Only’, in recognition of the inadequately understood decline of this formerly common resident. Over the past 30 years it has lost 38% of its UK distribution, following a similar Stephen Hammeersley pattern to the Grayling and becoming more coastal. In © Suffolk it is no longer found as a garden butterfly in the centre of the county and is retreating eastwards at an alarming rate. There have been occasional records from the Rushmere, Bixley and Purdis Farm areas over the past five years but sightings have been very thin around Ipswich in the past three years. How you can help You may wish to participate in the Suffolk Naturalists’ special survey (you do not need to be a member of SNS). Go to www.sns.org.uk for more details. Alternatively you Wall from an unusual angle can send any positively-identified Wall records to the County Butterfly Recorder at: [email protected] and seems important.