Suffolk Biodiversity Partnership Partners’ News Summer 2012
In this issue:
Partners News
Third age volunteers to monitor farmland for wildlife Suffolk Biological Record Centre new website Dedham Vale and Stour Valley Project update More moth recording please! A celebration of Suffolk geology Introducing a new wildlife survey resource Ben McFarland looks back over his first year with the RSPB New and Old Orchards for Suffolk Update on Suffolk Bat Group Water Framework Directive – Partnership projects in Suffolk Suffolk Coast and Heaths update Formation of River Waveney Trust
Suffolk Biodiversity Partnership News Information and news Funding opportunities Local news National news What’s on SBP information
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PARTNERS NEWS Third Age volunteers to monitor farmland for wildlife Suffolk Wildlife Trust
A keen group from the Thurston-based Blackbourne U3A (University of the Third Age) have teamed up with Suffolk Wildlife Trust to monitor wildlife habitat at the Trust’s reserve at Grove Farm – a mixed farm with a range of habitats - grazing marsh, woodland and arable - between Thurston and Norton in central Suffolk. This is the Trust’s first collaborative venture with a U3A group. Grove Farm has a total of 20 ponds many of which have been recently created as wildlife habitat and several have been restored. The group are monitoring the colonisation of the ponds by recording numbers of amphibians such as great crested newt, invertebrates and flora during individual visits to different parts of Grove Farm during a project expected to last about 2 years. U3A member Rob Parker says: “Our group has split into three to monitor arable flora, amphibians and aquatic invertebrates separately and into sub-groups to cover specific ponds and field
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margins. We have already made our first searches of most of the ponds and field margins, and are also keeping incidental records.” “So far we’ve discovered three types of orchids new to the farm – bee, common spotted and pyramidal orchids. The range of aquatic invertebrates is remarkable from pond skaters and leeches to dragonflies and water beetles, and the speed at which they can arrive to colonise is a topic worthy of scientific study. The results of the monitoring project will be written up by Suffolk Naturalists Society with an assessment of the feasibility of using non-specialist volunteers to gather biologically valid results. The spread of great crested newts from the old ponds to new ones will be slower than invertebrate colonisation as they have to walk the distance between ponds.” The project, supported by a grant from the Suffolk Naturalists' Society (SNS), involves working with Suffolk Wildlife Trust pond advisor Juliet Hawkins, Suffolk’s county botanist and author of A Flora of Suffolk Martin Sanford and county aquatic invertebrate recorder Adrian Chalkley. To find out more about how to attract wildlife to your community or farm pond visit youtube.com/suffolkwildlifetrust where you can watch a short film about great crested newt conservation in the county.
Suffolk Biological Records Centre – New Website SBRC
www.suffolkbrc.org.uk On the 1st of August 2012 Suffolk Biological Records Centre launched their new website. www.suffolkbrc.org.uk is the new place of reference for information on Suffolk’s wildlife and outlines, in a new up-to-date format, key information about Suffolk’s BRC and the biological data they hold. Please visit and explore the first release of this new site and stand-by for further developments in the future.
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Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Project update Stour Valley Environment Champions
We are extending a warm invitation to local businesses of all sizes to become Stour Valley Environment Champions, and get actively involved in supporting community projects that enhance and conserve the landscape that we and our visitors enjoy. Our Champions will fund-raise or make donations to support environmental activities. It is a twoway relationship, with the AONB benefiting from funding for environmental projects and businesses benefiting from an association with an environmental organisation and the Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley. The Champions will receive useful promotion through our network and a chance to meet with other businesses. We also offer the opportunity to have bespoke training or a team-building activity. By donating to the Stour Valley Environment Fund your money will directly sponsor an activity and make a difference. Projects that receive funding could be community gardens; voluntary groups improving their environment; work to protect native wildlife and their habitats that encourage more dormice, barn owls, voles, grass snakes, kingfishers and others; improvements to footpaths and leaflets to encourage visitors to get out and enjoy the area.
Grant to the Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley
The Project is delighted to have been offered a grant from the Environment Agency of just under £6,000 to run a pilot ‘Non-Native Invasive Plant Species’ project on the Stour. So far the Project has run an awareness event, attended by over 90 delegates, which heard from experts in the field and collected over 40 reports of non native invasive plant species. Further work will include survey and action at 3 sites to remove non-native plants. More information is available from our leaflet that can be downloaded here > Project Work The Project’s volunteers, The Stour Valley Volunteers, worked on invasive species at Thorington Hall and Loshes Meadow on footpath clearance in June, attracting 27 volunteers.
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More moth recording please! Butterfly Conservation
Moth recording by volunteers is vital in determining how our scarce and widespread species are faring. There are some fantastic examples of moth projects taking place within Forestry Commission holdings, often with the support of key FC staff, such as work on the Dingy Mocha Cyclophora pendularia in Dorset and the Basil Thyme Case-bearer Coleophora tricolor in the Brecks (both UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority species). Butterfly Conservation and the Forestry Commission are working together to implement the Lepidoptera on Forestry Commission Land in England; Conservation Strategy 2007-2017. This initiative covers a wide range of species but without the recording effort of volunteers, it would be difficult to gain an accurate picture on the status of many scarce moths. Moth recording in Forestry Commission woodlands will assist management decisions for foresters, so it is vital that moth recorders and FC Woodland Officers work together to continue and expand moth recording on FC holdings. RECORDING: THE KEY CONSIDERATIONS TECHNIQUES Many moth recorders use light traps, often more than one, just occasionally using more than one generator. Other techniques, such as the use of wine-ropes (sugar-rich wine soaked ropes) or sugar runs (usually a black treacle based concoction that is painted on to tree trunks in a narrow strip, these washing off with time), can also be used to attract species that don’t come to light. CONDITIONS Warm, overcast nights with still conditions or a very gentle breeze are usually best for recording moths. The British weather being what it is, it is not always possible to select a suitable night in advance and usually a decision on trapping is only made a few hours in advance, so flexibility is a consideration. INSURANCE: Volunteers who are part of an official Butterfly Conservation survey/project are covered by BCs public liability insurance (£5 million), whilst the British Entomological & Natural History Society’s public liability insurance (£5 million) covers their members field work and entomological research, providing it is undertaken in the United Kingdom and is not carried out with a view to financial reward. PERMITS: Permits for recording and taking voucher specimens (many species can be difficult to identify) should be obtained by all moth recorders. With night-time recording it is clearly important to know who is within woodlands and on which nights. Opening a dialogue with individual recorders may also be an opportunity to make them aware of issues they had not considered. RECORDS: Without your sightings we are unable to gain a clear picture of species status so send records to your county recorder and Forestry Commission contact (list of recorders via Moths Count website). To find out more visit Moths Count on Butterfly Conservation website > . In 2010 BC produced the first Provisional Atlas of UK’s Larger Moths (maps available via National Biodiversity Network) Any moth recorder visiting FC holdings should be encouraged to forward their data to the county recorders (as well as the relevant FC office). There is also a Code of Conduct for Collecting Insects and other Invertebrates produced by Invertebrate Link to which Butterfly Conservation contributed and signed up to.
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A Celebration of Suffolk Geology
Caroline Markham A Celebration of Suffolk Geology was published by GeoSuffolk at its 10th Anniversary AGM on May 12th 2012. Edited by Dr Roger Dixon, it is A4 paperback format with 476 pages illustrated in colour. The 37 articles by 43 authors include references to all of Suffolk's major geological deposits - Chalk, London Clay, the Coralline, Red and Norwich Crags and Pleistocene deposits. For example, The Chalk of Suffolk by Mark A Woods, Rory N Mortimore and Christopher J Wood is a long overdue review with a previously unpublished A3 fold out of the Project Orwell tunnel sections at Ipswich. The rocks of Suffolk are rich in fossils and there are several palaeontology articles, for example, Bryozoans from the Pliocene Coralline Crag of Suffolk: a brief review by Paul D Taylor and Anna B Taylor of the Natural History Museum, with fabulous electron micrograph photos of the 'corallines' (bryozoans) which give this rock its name. Also Biotic Interaction in the Suffolk Crags by Elizabeth Harper of Cambridge University, which tells a story of assassination and cannibalism amongst the mollusc inhabitants of the ancient Crag seas. There is geomorphology, notably The Orfordness Shingle - Geomorphology and Geology by Christopher Green and Duncan McGregor. GeoSuffolk members have contributed their own research projects. Ann Ainsworth and John Hudson's look at the fauna of a unique Red Crag palaeo-environment in The Chicken Pit at Sutton Knoll: Boulder Bed Excavation, Preliminary Report; Howard Mottram's review of the Norwich Crag gravels, The Norwich Crag Geology of the country round Westleton and Caroline Markham's study of Devensian fluvial landforms, Gulls of East Suffolk all add to our understanding of Suffolk's earth heritage. For a full list of contents see the dedicated page on the Suffolk Naturalists' Society web site http://www.boxvalley.co.uk/nature/sns/org/suff_geo.asp A Celebration of Suffolk Geology costs £20 (£28 p&p).It is available by calling in person at the Reg Driver Centre, Christchurch Park, Ipswich. It may also be bought at the Ipswich Museum - please ask at the information desk for Gen Broad, Ann Ainsworth or Martin Sanford. Or contact GeoSuffolk via info@geosuffolk.co.uk GeoSuffolk publishes the GeoSuffolk Times regularly - July 2012 now available here >
Introducing a ‘new’ wildlife surveying resource Suffolk Ornithologists’ Group
Well, not that new really. The Suffolk Ornithologists' Group (SOG) has been around for approaching 40 years. The Group was formed in 1973, has about 400 members and, almost from its outset, has been much more than simply a birdwatching society, by being heavily involved in conservation.
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Committed to conservation Group members helped to found the Landguard Bird Observatory in 1982; they were leading lights in the fight against the Port of Felixstowe's expansion plans; more recently they fought the Pipers Vale campaign; other members actively support Action for Swifts; a key member oversaw and then members participated extensively in the important Suffolk component of the BTO's Bird Atlas Project; SOG were also instrumental in the return of breeding Peregrines to Suffolk (specifically the Orwell Bridge as well as, latterly, Bury St. Edmunds) and were the inspiration behind the Suffolk Community Barn Owl Project that has helped arrest this species' decline. Potentially a large wildlife surveying field force But many of these achievements were in the past. What of SOG's future? While remaining a birders’ Group, increasingly our members are looking to become more involved with conservation across the county. In the course of researching its own members last year SOG discovered a number of important facts. First, almost half of them claimed to regularly participate in wildlife surveys. Second, on average, each member pursues four or more different wildlife interests other than birds. General view of the Lackford landfill 'meadow' – Third, most are keen to be involved with Ox-eye Daisy in the foreground, with stands of conservation projects. SOG clearly represents a Viper's Bugloss in the middle distance. healthy contingent of 'citizen scientists'. Armed with this information it occurred to SOG's Council that, through its membership, it could provide access to a potentially highly useful conservation resource that organisations around the County might like to draw upon - a hundred plus field force of wildlife surveyors. Proof of the pudding Armed with this potential surveying resource, the Group learnt late last year that Viridor were seeking some help with biodiversity monitoring at one of their recently capped Suffolk landfill sites. The company was duly approached and SOG's not-forprofit resource was offered and in due course a team agreed to survey the site's bird life. For this project SOG conducted a Breeding Bird Survey of the site, paid special attention to three of the Danger botanist at work! site's BAP species (Barn Owl, Brown Hare and Skylark), and has also recently undertaken both a dragonfly survey and a botanical review. The Group's input has already paid Viridor dividends and several pairs of nesting Skylarks have also benefitted from a SOG inspired adjustment to the mowing regime. As a consequence SOG has been invited to continue to monitor this site into 2013.
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Contact us So, if you think SOG provides a resource that might benefit your organisation, then give us a call. Telephone Phil Brown on 01638 500100, or email p.brown@doc-doc.com. Or follow the links on our website: www.sogonline.org.uk
Suffolk Ornithologist's Group
For birds & for birders Ben McFarland looks back over his first year with the RSPB An interview
Ben McFarland joined the RSPB in August 2011 as Suffolk Area Manager based at Minsmere, following Rob Macklin’s retirement. Ben is a freshwater ecologist and has previously worked for the Environment Agency and as an environmental consultant. He brought with him a wealth of conservation, staff and project management experience which has contributed to a range of achievements during a busy first year with the RSPB. Ben has overseen some significant changes at a number of Suffolk sites whilst also encouraging a move towards cross reserve working, thus enabling a more strategic approach to reserve management. For example, many visitors will be aware of the significant improvements in facilities at Minsmere, with an enlarged cafe and shop, the new Island Mere Hide and a brand new family Discovery Centre and Wild Zone. At the RSPB’s reedbed at Dingle, a reserve jointly managed “This has resulted in with Suffolk Wildlife Trust, the wardens now keep water levels higher one of the best years for longer. This has resulted in one of the best years ever for bitterns. ever for bitterns!” Changes are also afoot at North Warren. Not only have the RSPB been successful in taking over the management of The Haven with its rare shingle plants from Suffolk Coastal District Council, but the team are working closely with the Council to develop the visitor spectacle. This includes providing viewing platforms and information boards, thanks, in part, to funding from the Amenity and Accessibility Fund. The LIFE funded works at Havergate Island are now complete and, as the water levels recede, the re-profiled islands and mud flats are bringing in waders and other birds in huge numbers. At Havergate Island, the last count included up to 12 spoonbill, around 400 avocets roosting and feeding, 180 dunlin, 110 black tailed godwits and 200 “At Havergate Island, the last redshank. Other species continue to move through including count included up to 12 spoonbill, whimbel, knot, common sandpiper, white rumped sandpiper, around 400 avocets roosting and curlew sandpiper and spotted redshank along with feeding, 180 dunlin, 110 black greenshank, sanderling and bar tailed godwits, ringed tailed godwits and 200 redshank.” plovers, curlews, lapwings and turnstones! Ben led the team which made a successful bid to WREN for £250k for wetland creation at RSPB Boyton Marshes and RSPB Hollesley Marshes for the benefit of waders, wintering wildfowl, water vole and other key species such as Norfolk hawker. This important work, which will start in 2013, will include installation of sluices and the creation of pools, ditches, scrapes and tern islands. Part of the funding includes the purchase of a specialist rotary ditcher ideal for the creation of wetland
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habitat. After the works, it will be used widely across the country by the RSPB and other organisations, delivering conservation on a truly landscape scale. Ben leads on Suffolk Coast Futurescapes, the RSPB’s vision for landscape conservation. The true partnership nature of this vision was demonstrated by a joint launch in May with Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB and the National Trust. The event also celebrated 20 years of EU Life funding for nature conservation across Europe. Since August 2011, the Suffolk area team has delivered advice for landowners and partners managing over 400 hectares of various habitats from farmland to reedbed. Ben has made sure the team gets their hands dirty too! With the help of a committed group of volunteers, the team carried out much needed birch removal at the Forestry Commission’s Tunstall Forest, restoring an area of Suffolk’s ancient Sandlings heath. The cleared area is already supporting breeding woodlark. Ben sits on the Touching the Tide board, an ambitious £1 million community-orientated project led by Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). He also supports the newly formed Alde and Ore Estuary Partnership, providing ecological advice and helping to ensure that coastal defence work on the estuary is done in a sensitive manner. He is also looking forward to contributing to Wild Anglia, the newly launched Norfolk and Suffolk Local Nature Partnership. Wild Anglia will act as an advocate for nature, working closely with a range of conservation, business, health sector and other partners to ensure the two counties’ natural environment is taken into account in decision making at all levels. With the milestone of his first year with the RSPB just ahead, Ben said “I really enjoy making a contribution to nature conservation in this very special area of the UK. There are many challenges ahead, but working with so many talented and enthusiastic people within the RSPB and our partners, means I am very optimistic about the future of wildlife in Suffolk.” Information on all the RSPB’s reserves can be found in a new book ‘Suffolk’s Wildlife Coast’ published this year. The book is available at £7.50 from Minsmere Reserve, local outlets or direct from Malcolm Key at Woodbridge Local group.
New and Old Orchards for Suffolk
Paul Read, Suffolk Traditional Orchard group We began the Suffolk Traditional Orchard Survey in 2009 to record the remaining traditional orchards in the county. We knew that the 2nd Ed OS maps of early in the 20th century recorded over 6000 orchards, mostly associated with farms, and that perhaps as few as 1,000 remained. Many of these are just fragments of the original orchards, sometimes just a few trees. By 2010, we had also started to gather a team of volunteers, now over 150, many tree wardens and also conservation professionals. We were also assisted by an inventory of possible orchard sites in the county identified from satellite imagery such as Google Earth, a national project commissioned by Natural England (and carried out by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species). This gave us over 600 sites all of which have to be visited, as views from the air can be misleading.
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However, by spring 2011 we were becoming widely known in the county and were constantly asked for help in planting new orchards. Although we were able to help with some Advice Notes and courses on grafting, we were too thinly spread to cope with the demand. By mid-2012 we knew we had to re-formulate our project if we were going to react to the demand and so we set up a new, improved and larger organization and applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant. In Oct 2012 Suffolk Traditional Orchard Group (STOG) came into being with a funded three year project called “New & Old Orchards for Suffolk”, to educate, train and assist organizations to plant new traditional orchards, to research the tradition (fruit and nut identification, horticultural, culinary and cultural), to promote the planting of local orchard collections of fruit and nuts, as well as complete the survey! I chair this Group and Gen Broad, who is also Suffolk’s Biodiversity Officer part-time, is our Project Manager one day a week, managing, in particular, the survey. A small management group and larger advisory board of conservation professionals and enthusiasts also help and guide us. The project aiming to assist the planting of new traditional orchards has leapt off to a great start. Our 3-year plan was to promote the planting of at least 20 new orchards with large trees, as well as up to 8 county collections of our traditional orchard fruit and nuts. Before winter was upon us, we had the sites agreed and were planning three county collection orchards, and 7 prospective amenity orchards were being planned by various local groups. Over the winter the three county collection plantings began and five amenity orchards began planting; STOG provided over 150 one year old grafted trees, provided by volunteers taught to graft in February 2011, and over 70 bare root fruit trees on vigorous rootstocks were purchased by an experimental buying club for three of the sites. By June 2012, the number of amenity orchards on our list was 41; this spring more volunteers on grafting courses produced another 200 new plants; and plans to formalise the buying club are in progress (somewhat on the lines of allotment association bulk purchases of seeds and plants). So we have plenty to do! There are too many projects to describe but let me pick some to give the flavour of what we are doing. One of the most exciting projects to plant the first trees last November was Great Cornard Country Park. This splendid parish council-owned historic site includes a once strip-cultivated hillside, similar in aspect and topography to the sites used for cherry orchards on the north side of the Stour. By agreement with the county’s Archaeological Service we are planting two of these broad strips with locally traditional cherry varieties, plus local pears and apples, in a way that preserves the baulks, the uncultivated land between the strips. Great Cornard Middle School planted 24 seedling cherry trees last November and in a few years’ time, when they are well over 2m high, we will graft the local cherry varieties high on each wild cherry trunk, a method known as pole grafting. Another project that started planting last winter was the Scattered Orchard Project, a Jubilee project, supported in part by a Suffolk Biodiversity Partnership Project Fund grant. A combined team from three parishes, Waldringfield, Newbourne and Hemley, came together to plant fruit trees in any suitable and available space such as roadsides, allotments, beside village halls and in churchyards. 60 trees are planned for this year, and more in later years. An important cultural project for the Sandlings coast, which stretches from Ipswich to Lothingland is to preserve the various fruit trees that have self-seeded along the coast, and because of their 9
presumed tolerance to salty sea-winds have been propagated and planted into gardens along the coastal villages. It has taken many years to realize that these trees are often very old, that at least some of them are excellent eaters, and that they are only very locally known. Just one (so far) seems to have found its way into literature: the apple on Thorpeness shingle beach, recorded by Richard Mabey, and even more lyrically by Roger Deakin in his last book, Wildwood. Apple Thorpeness, as we have been calling it, also called Roger Deakin’s Apple, is joined by the apple tree on top of the cliff at Dunwich Heath (now it seems known by that name), and an apple called Walberswick Wonder. The original tree site isn’t known to us, but was propagated by us from a tree - in a garden in Gorleston - that was propagated from the original! All these apples have been propagated within the last few years and we distributed trees to several amenity sites, and to the new Sandlings collection, last winter. There are others. A tree said to be a nice apple grew on a low cliff at Covehithe and fell into the sea a few years ago. It was said to have been propagated and grown locally, but that is all we know of it. And there is a stunted pear tree near the coast guard cottages on Dunwich Heath. If there are others we would very much like to know about them.
Roger Deakin with Apple Thorpness
From elsewhere in the UK, the only other widely known “seaside” tolerant fruit tree seems to be the apple, Apal Ynys Enlli, from Bardsey Island off the Welsh coast, once called by a frenzied Daily Telegraph journalist “the rarest apple in the world”, now available from nurserymen (so it isn’t any longer!). For STOG summer and autumn events visit the SBP website >
Update on Suffolk Bat Group
The Suffolk Bat Group (SBG) has carried out bat detector surveys across the county for many years, but this year wanted to promote the National Bat Monitoring Programme (NBMP) surveys to a wider audience. Sue Hooton, SBG chairperson, arranged bat detector training courses at Lackford Lakes, near Bury St Edmunds and RSPB Minsmere where 28 volunteers attended to learn how to carry out two different NBMP surveys (Field Survey and Waterway Survey). A local trainer for Bat Conservation Trust explained the methodology for each survey and then led a practical
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session after dark to put new skills into action. At least 2 new squares have been allocated for NBMP surveys as a result of these training courses so the results will contribute to the monitoring of Suffolk’s bats. Having recently published the grouped BAP for bats, the Suffolk Bat Group wanted to update its atlas of bats for Suffolk. The previous version was based on records submitted from 1982-2000 so it was time to see what changes had taken place over the past decade. The new atlas is about to be published and includes maps showing that whilst bats occur right across the county, two squares have yet to have bats recorded in them - some pioneering work is therefore required in the extreme north-west and north-east of Suffolk! Thanks to everyone in the Suffolk Bat Group who has contributed records over the past 29 years; an incredible amount of work has been undertaken over this time and we now have a far more detailed picture of the county’s bats. However there is still much to find out about the distribution of bats across the county and so check out the SBG website to read the new atlas which will hopefully inspire you to go out and look for bats. Records can be sent to either Suffolk Biological Records Centre or the Suffolk Bat Group c/o Suffolk Wildlife Trust. For more information on the Suffolk Bat Group please visit the SBG website >
Water Framework Directive – Partnership projects in Suffolk Will Akast
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is the most substantial piece of European water legislation to date. The WFD aims to: • Prevent deterioration and enhance the quality of the water environment • Promote the sustainable use of water • Reduce pollution • Mitigate against the impacts of floods and drought • Create better habitats for people and wildlife Delivering the objectives of the WFD is one of our highest priorities and we are working with a range of partners nationally, regionally and locally in Suffolk to address the main challenges and pressures affecting our rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters. The main pressures on our water environment in Suffolk come from: • Pollution from various sources • Physical modification of waterbodies (for example, rivers that have been over-deepened and over-widened in the past) • Over abstraction of water • Population growth increasing demand for water • Climate change impacts We have challenging targets to meet in Suffolk to increase the number of waterbodies that are at good ecological status and to meet these targets we need to work more closely with our partners to deliver partnership projects that will improve the ecological status of our waterbodies. We want to work closely with local authorities, Natural England and the Forestry Commission and with organisations including the Wildlife Trusts, the RSPB, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Partnerships, and the National Trust as well as with local community groups and
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individual landowners on partnership projects that deliver both WFD and wider biodiversity and landscape objectives. The kind of partnership projects we are keen to undertake in Suffolk include: • habitat creation to control diffuse pollution (for example, woodland planting and arable reversion to permanent grassland) • River and wetland habitat creation and enhancement projects (for example, removing redundant structures on rivers, creating backwaters and bays on rivers, re-profiling river banks, tree planting and installing woody debris) We have funding available locally to develop and deliver partnership projects that deliver WFD objectives and can also help you develop WFD projects for submission to the Defra Catchment Restoration Fund. If you would like me to come and talk to your organisation about the WFD in Suffolk and to discuss potential partnership projects please let me know. Will Akast, Catchment Delivery Manager-Suffolk (Eastern) Environment Agency, Iceni House, Cobham Road, Ipswich, IP3 9JD will.akast@environment-agency.gov.uk Tel: 07827082260 (See page 17 for article on Woody debris in rivers)
Suffolk Coast and Heaths Update www.suffolkcoastandheaths.org
Entries are now open for the AONB “Eat the View” category in the 2012 Suffolk Food and Drink Awards and our page can be seen here. The category is shared with Dedham Vale AONB and will undoubtedly help to increase AONB profile in Suffolk and to celebrate some of the fantastic work that those in the food and drink industry do to benefit the environment. A further meeting of the Amenity and Accessibility Fund (AAF) panel was held in May and ten exciting projects were awarded over £90,000 to improve the area’s landscape & wildlife and to improve people’s enjoyment of the area. The EADT coverage can be seen here. Together with the £45,920 awarded in April through our Sustainable Development Fund and Community and Conservation Fund, 2012 will see a wide variety of projects make a real and lasting difference to the AONB and those that enjoy it. As part of this year’s development phase for Touching the Tide, our HLF-funded Landscape Partnership Scheme, we held two community conferences in May. Well over 100 people attended the events to learn more about the scheme and help to develop the projects within it. We received a good mixture of new project ideas and support for the existing ones. For more information about Touching the Tide please contact bill.jenman@suffolk.gov.uk Our EU-funded BALANCE project is now promoting two online tourism surveys. The tourism consultants for the project, URS Scott-Wilson, have developed an online survey for visitors and also an online survey for tourism businesses. Please do take the time to fill them in, as appropriate to you. URS Scott-Wilson is also offering a draw of £50 for those completing the surveys.
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Paraffin wax – more reports of significant sightings around the North Sea, this time from Denmark where a 21km stretch of beach has been affected with wax deposited up to 100m wide in some places. We continue to pass all these sightings to the UK’s Marine & Coast Guard Agency who continue to investigate. We seem to have found ourselves the receiver of information on paraffin wax pollution right across the North Sea area now. It is a real concern as the source of the problem is still unknown. For more information please contact lynn.allen@suffolk.gov.uk RSPB have launched their Futurescapes vision for the Suffolk Coast. Futurescapes is all about working in partnership to improve large areas for wildlife, known as landscape-scale conservation. Clearly the role of communities and businesses is vital in realising such a vision, so RSPB have reaffirmed the importance of working with the AONB Partnership, with its cross-sectoral interests and private, public and voluntary sector membership.
Formation of River Waveney Trust Following a very successful meeting on 29 March, a new River Waveney Association has formed with more than 150 members. The Trust is all about caring for the river, its ecology and environment with an emphasis on education and local communities. The new Trust will be seeking long term partnerships with the statutory bodies which have a responsibility for the river, local parishes, clubs and societies using the river and funding bodies. For more information, contact Geoff Doggett email: Geoff (at) smartangles.com or visit www.riverwaveneytrust.org
SUFFOLK BIODIVERSITY PARTNERSHIP NEWS Norfolk and Suffolk Local Nature Partnership (LNP)
The joint county LNP became a fully fledged reality at the end of July. ‘Wild Anglia’, as the partnership will be known, is moving swiftly on to secure new funding and to work towards: • Promoting effective connections (people to nature; wildlife to wildlife; business to environment); • Achieving positive landscape-scale change that benefits wildlife and people; • Investing in healthy Natural Capital; • Ensuring natural systems become stronger and more robust; • Building a strong partnership across the sectors The Norfolk and Suffolk Biodiversity Partnership members have worked hard over the past 10 months to engage with new sectors such as health, tourism and business. The bid culminated with a widely publicised ‘Springboard’ event at Ickworth House for over 80 people. Inspirational speakers such as Prof Tim O’Riordan (UEA), Heidi Thompson (Norfolk County Council ecologist) and Richard Powell (National Trust director East of England) showed us the rich diversity of wildlife in the two counties and indicated a clear path for the LNP to give nature a stronger voice across all sectors. Eastern Daily Press article 24 July >
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SBP Project fund
We are very grateful to Essex and Suffolk Water who have shown their continuing support for the Biodiversity Partnership by contributing £2,000 to the Project Fund. The Fund has a little over £3 k to support projects across Suffolk this year. The Broads Authority has also generously shown their support for the work of the Partnership by making £750 available for projects within the Broads Authority area in north east Suffolk. A summary report of projects over the past year is available on our website at www.suffolkbiodiversity.org Please contact Gen Broad (gen.broad@suffolk.gov.uk) if you’d like to discuss project ideas.
INFORMATION and NEWS Funding opportunities Viridor Credits
The Landfill Communities Fund (previously Landfill Tax Credit Scheme) provides funding for community or environmental projects within ten miles of landfill sites. Objective da is relevant to nature conservation projects: The conservation of a specific species or a specific habitat where it occurs naturally. Projects with this aim can be within 10 miles of any active landfill site, not just a Viridor site. If your project provides, conserves, restores or enhances a natural habitat, or maintains or recovers a species from its habitat on land or in water within 10 miles of an active landfill site, the project may be eligible for funding. 10% third party funding from an independent source will be needed e.g. from a local authority, a club, an individual or a charity. Visit Viridor Credits >
SITA Trust
There is no further funding available in 2012 following the latest deadline in June. However, each autumn SITA Trust examines all of its programmes in light of government directives and the funding we will have available to provide to applicants. We’ll be doing so again this year and announcing information on all of SITA Trust’s funding programmes for 2013 in late October. Visit Sita Trust website >
WREN Biodiversity Action Fund (Waste Recycling Environmental Ltd)
WREN are now looking to fund large projects in Suffolk within 10 miles of ANY active landfill site. The projects should be between £75 k and £250 k. Read about some of the projects funded to date on the WREN website > Deadline for applications: 31 January 2013 (annual deadline)
Sustainable Development Fund 2012-13
The Dedham Vale AONB and Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB Sustainable Development Fund will have grants to award in 2012-13. The fund is available to community groups, schools, organisations and parishes in the AONBs, for projects that are of benefit to the environment, economy and society within our most beautiful countryside.
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Projects will have to benefit the environmental, economic or social wellbeing of the AONB and be completed by 31 March 2014. Deadline for applications: 30 March 2013 For further information about eligibility and the criteria for applications, visit: Dedham Vale AONB > Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB > Or contact Cathy Smith, AONB Funding Officer on 01473 264263 or 01394 384948, email Catherine.smith@suffolk.gov.uk
Stour Valley Environment Fund
The Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and Stour Valley Project has established the new Stour Valley Environment Fund (SVEF) to support charities and voluntary groups working to enhance the environment in the Stour Valley. The Fund will be managed by the Essex Community Foundation (Reg. Charity No. 1052061). The new Fund is both donation seeking and grant giving, and will support voluntary and community organisations working to enhance community life and the environment in the Stour Valley area, on both the Essex and Suffolk sides of the river Stour. Deadline for applications: 9 September 2012 Visit Dedham Vale and Stour Valley Project >
Water Framework Directive Catchment Restoration Fund
Open to charities and not-for-profit organisations, the CRF will run from 2012/13. It is for: • Restoration of more natural features in and around waters • Reduction in the impact of man-made structures on the wildlife in waters • Reduction of the impact of diffuse pollution from urban and rural sources The third application round for the Defra WFD Catchment Restoration Fund will be for 2 year projects (2013-14 and 2014-15). Application window: 24 September to 26th October 2012 Round 4 will be for 1 year projects (2014-15) and the application window will be in September/October 2013. Application window: September / October 2013 Visit Environment Agency website >
Essex & Suffolk Water Branch Out Project
Working in partnership to reconnect habitats for the benefit of people and wildlife This initiative encompasses a number of projects with the aim of helping the region build resilience and adapt to the changing climate whilst bringing benefits to water, wildlife and communities. Our partners include other utility companies, conservation organisations, farmers/landowners, local authorities and the general public. Project aims must include “linking up habitats, creating new areas for wildlife to use, or finding ways to reconnect people with the natural world around them. “ To find out more visit Essex & Suffolk Water website >
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Amenity and Accessibility Fund
The Amenity And Accessibility Fund (AAF) has been set up by EDF Energy to help people enjoy and improve their local environment in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) along the Suffolk coast. The Fund will benefit from an initial one off payment of £120,000 made by EDF Energy in 2012, when the DFS construction starts, and then further annual payments by EDF of £20,000 for a period of 60 years or until the date of the commencement of decommissioning of the DFS. Rolling programme with annual deadline of 30 March. Visit the Suffolk Coast and Heaths website > Coastal Communities Fund A NEW £23.7 million scheme. The CCF will support the economic development of coastal communities by promoting sustainable economic growth and jobs, enabling people to respond to their changing economic needs and opportunities. Grants of between £50,000 and £2 million are now available and can be used for both capital and revenue projects. Examples of activities that may be eligible for funding include: skills and training initiatives; tourist infrastructure; managing and adapting to flood and coastal erosion risk; apprenticeships Innovative bids are welcomed from businesses, social enterprises, local enterprise partnerships, charities and local authorities. Visit the Communities and Local Government website > Rolling fund, next deadline for applications: April 2013
UK Mammals Grants (UK)
The People's Trust for endangered species is inviting applications from voluntary conservation organisations, scientific researchers, individuals and consortia, needing financial support for work that relates to the conservation of mammals in the British Isles and Eire, to apply for funding of up to £30,000 through their UK mammals grant programme. The trust aims to fund scientific research, practical habitat management work, reintroduction and monitoring programmes and educational projects. Projects supported in the past include: Bats in the Lake District; monitoring of UK bat species in underground sites; monitoring Irish pine martens. Deadline for applications: 1 November 2012. To find out more visit PTES website>
100% Fund The 100% Fund is a small grants scheme supporting practical projects carried out by Amphibian and Reptile Groups. All money donated to the fund is awarded to conservation projects with nothing spent on overheads. Projects that include funding from other sources or
involve partnership working are looked upon favourably. Costs supported include purchase/hire of equipment or payment of contractors’ fees for practical work. The fund does not support administration or training costs or survey work. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. The maximum award is usually £250. The application form is available from the ARG UK website www.arguk.org Please contact John Baker johninhalesworth@aol.com to discuss options. If you want to donate to the 100% Fund please contact David Orchard ARGSL@btinternet.com.
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OPAL funding for Natural History Groups and recording schemes
Apply for grants of up to £3,000 to help your natural history society flourish. The OPAL Grant Scheme has funded more than 70 natural history groups to date and distributed grants totalling £175,000. If you need funding for training, equipment, marketing or specific projects, be sure to apply. FOURTH ROUND OF THE OPAL GRANT SCHEME IS NOW OPEN TO APPLICATIONS! Details of projects funded in 2011 can be viewed here > Download the 2012 application form from the OPAL website > Deadline for applications: midday 8 October 2012.
Paths for Communities Scheme
Natural England has opened a £2 million Paths for Communities Scheme to develop and enhance the network of Public Rights of Way. The aims of the scheme are to: •
encourage and enable local communities to work with land owners to develop and enhance local public paths in ways that deliver wider benefit;
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offer a network with more appeal to visitors and tourists, contributing to the rural economy through better support for local services such as shops, pubs, hotels, bed and breakfasts, equestrian and cycle businesses.
Natural England anticipates funding of £1 million in both the 2012/13 and 2013/14 financial years. £500,000 will be available in 2012 and £1.5 million in 2013. There will be a wide distribution of awards ranging from £5,000 up to a maximum of £150,000. Grants will normally be limited to 75% of actual costs, with encouragement to seek match funding. Find out more >
LOCAL NEWS Heritage Lottery Fund success for the Brecks
A £1.4 million Heritage Lottery Fund bid to deliver projects in the central Brecks around Brandon has received first round approval. The project, which is being led by the Brecks Partnership, will: deliver conservation schemes; construct a new heritage trail; develop training and volunteering opportunities; organise activities for children and young people. More >
Wood and water BBC Radio 4 12 April 2012 Staffordshire Wildlife Trust biologists are using wood as a remarkably effective tool to change the depth and flow of streams and improve them for wildlife. They don't just stop at streams either: at the confluence of the Tame and Trent rivers, they've submerged entire willow trees in gravel islands in a project to widen the river channel. In Norfolk the National Trust has felled trees into the River Bure at its Blickling Hall estate and in just a few years, has seen gravel beds improve for trout and damselflies. In Nature: Wood and Water, Brett Westwood explores the growing use of coarse woody debris (CWD) in managing our rivers. Visiting the sites he finds that this natural engineering is remarkably cheap and fast-acting. Wood felled into sluggish currents can vary flow rates and affect silt deposition. In some places scouring by faster currents has exposed gravel beds which
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are spawning areas for trout, and slacker areas where the young trout can shelter in pools or hide among the tangle of branches. In Staffordshire, the debris has helped native crayfish to hide in shallow streams, and the wood itself is a breeding ground for rare insects including the scarce logjammer hoverfly which lays its eggs in partly submerged sunlit logs. There are worries from landowners about flood prevention, but according to Alastair Driver of the Environment Agency, if sites are carefully chosen, then CWD could be useful for retaining water higher in river catchments and preventing excessive flooding downstream. By mimicking nature, and allowing our rivers to be more dynamic, we could improve the quality of our river wildlife and fulfil some of the ecological requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive. More > See also Eastern Daily Press article ‘Letting nature take its course on the Bure’ June 2011
Access to Nature Ipswich newsletter available on-line
The Access to Nature project aims to engage people with their local natural environment through a variety of fun, creative and educational activities and conservation work. Read Wildlife Magazine summer 2012
2020Vision
2020VISION is an all-media enterprise about why wild nature really matters to everyone. It’s also the biggest photography-based project ever staged in Britain. It’s never been done before: over a period of 20 months, 20 of the UK’s top outdoor photographers are photographing and recording 20 different biodiversity projects telling the story of Britain’s ecosystems and the life-support services they provide. Feature assignment: Suffolk Sandlings The Suffolk Coast and Heaths Project is an exciting partnership plan to revitalise the network of lowland heaths across Suffolk. Comprising 42 fragmented pockets of heath, the project aims to recreate vibrant heathland from land previously lost to farming and forestry. Adders, Dartford warblers and Nightjars will all benefit. And so will local people. Summer newsletter available here > Download the image-a-day-feature (images available as wallpaper downloads) here > Flagship book now available at £25. Foreword by Chris Packham. Visit the website >
Flora locale launches ecological restoration website
The new Restoration Library on the Flora Locale website is a portal to information on all aspects of ecological restoration, including establishing vegetation, habitat restoration and conservation land management. Visit www.ecologicalrestoration.org.uk
BTO track cuckoos overseas
The 'Red Listed' Cuckoo is one of the UK's fastest declining migrants and, until recently, was one of which we knew least about once it left the UK. In 2011, the BTO attached satellite-tracking devices to Cuckoos from Norfolk to find out more about their important stop-over sites and wintering destinations on the way to and from Africa. You may have heard about Lyster, Chris, John and Reacher – to find out what’s happened to them visit the BTO website Tracking Studies >
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Norfolk Non-Native Species Stakeholders Forum
This popular forum organised by the Non-native Species Initiative (NNNSI) was held at the end of May and featured a wide-ranging programme. The event covered local and national developments and included talks on: the review of wildlife management law; biological control of Himalayan Balsam; tackling Crassula Helmsii; non-native fish and their response to climate change; the status of invasive shrimp in the Norfolk Broads; and an update on the work of the NNNSI. More information from: www.norfolkbiodiversity.org/nonnativespecies or direct from michael.sutton-croft@norfolk.gov.uk
Bungay Community Bees
Bungay Community Bees (BCB) is a voluntary local community group on the borders of Norfolk and Suffolk- an offshoot of the Transition town group Sustainable Bungay. BCB is also a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture Group). We are striving to preserve all pollinators and the honey bee in an environment within which they can thrive. We’re working on a number of different projects: Plants and Habitats for Bees and Pollinators, Education and Outreach, and Beekeeping - as well as our annual Beehive Day. We have beehives and train beekeepers trying to work with natural beekeeping principles, we design and build experimental hives (top bar hives) etc ... and are also very concerned with habitats and plants for bees and all pollinators, as well as campaigning against neonicotinoids. We also run education and outreach programmes in schools, with groups and at events. Our "Get Your Garden Buzzing" Garden Centre and Gardens project in particular has been designed to be transferable to any other group or area - and we are willing to share the artwork for the posters, wall panel, plant label stickers, plant lists etc with any other groups. We planted a one acre perennial pollen and nectar-rich wildflower meadow at one of our hive sites last autumn, and have just launched our garden centre and gardens project "Get Your Garden Buzzing" > We are also very concerned about the farmed environment and are looking for ways to work with farmers to encourage the uptake of beneficial pollinator and wildlife habitat options in the Defra/Natural England Entry and Higher Level Stewardship programmes.
Ed Barker appointed as agricultural adviser to the CLA
The Barker family, from Westhorpe, near Stowmarket, is known in agricultural and conservations sectors for using sound environmental techniques to manage their farm to high productive levels. The Barkers won the 2009 FWAG Silver Lapwing Award and the 2010 Farmers Weekly Countryside Farmer of the Year. Ed Barker runs the 1,260 acre farm with his brother and his cousin and will now join the CLA’s advisory service team working across land use issues, food production, livestock, arable and new technology.
Bringing back Suffolk’s Barn Owl – Focus on West Suffolk
Flyer available > Barn owl sightings for Suffolk can be reported on the following link which provides an interactive map instantly showing sightings reported. This will help Suffolk Wildlife Trust to pinpoint hotspots where barn owls are being seen and, combined with habitat mapping and barn owl nest boxes, we will be able to focus our efforts for barn owl conservation in the west of the county. iSpy a Barn Owl >
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MMO Marine planning newsletter – see East of England update This newsletter covers a wide range of topics including - an update on the draft vision and objectives for the east of England - The Revised statement of public participation – and the developing programme of visits and discussions with groups outside the East England area. Read more >
Local Foods Suffolk update
This Suffolk ACRE project will run until spring 2014. The project aims to support communities in the production and enjoyment of local food. Almost 10 months into the project, Local Foods Suffolk has supported 16 community projects with small grants and provided advice to a number of other groups. Visit the Local Foods Suffolk website >
Illegal crayfish traps kill otters in the Broads
The Environment Agency has highlighted how illegal crayfish traps which have an entrance larger than legal regulations permit, have ensnared over a dozen otters in the Broads, causing immense suffering and death through drowning. Although crayfish traps are widely available, consent from the Environment Agency is required in order to set the traps legally. Read EDP article >
Suffolk Coast and Heaths Summer 2012 news
Download the summer newsletter > Includes Saving the Bawdsey Ferry, a new RSPB sponsored cycle, AONB grants, Coastal factsheets, Tour of Britain cycle race visits the AONB, RSPB Futurescapes AONB management plan 2013-2018 and more.
Report highlights importance of the Norfolk arable landscape for threatened plants
A new report, ‘Important Arable Plant Areas in Norfolk’, commissioned by the Norfolk Biodiversity Partnership, highlights the importance of the farmed landscape in Norfolk for a threatened group of plants – the arable flora. The report has already been promoted at the Norfolk Show in the countryside advice barn and within the media. Read EDP article > Read the full report here: http://www.nbis.org.uk/news#ArablesReport
Sunshiners, Shortspurs and Starlets Mark Telfer’s website
A fascinating write-up and photos of what Mark found at Orford Ness on a 4-day survey for the National Trust under an EU LIFE programme. Highlights of the survey included Saltmarsh Shortspurs Anisodactylus poeciloides, Great Trident Sunshiner Amara strenua and Starlet Seaanemone Nematostella vectensis. Read Mark’s account of the survey >
Biodiversity in the East of England
To find out what’s going on in our region, check the websites for the county Biodiversity Partnerships forum: Norfolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and the East of England Biodiversity Forum website >
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NATIONAL NEWS Greenland and Arctic ice melts Arctic sea ice extent declined quickly in July, continuing the pattern seen in June. On August 1, ice extent was just below levels recorded for the same date in 2007, the year that saw the record minimum ice extent in September. Low sea ice concentrations are present over large parts of the western Arctic Ocean. Warm conditions dominated the weather for most of the Arctic Ocean and surrounding lands. For a brief period in early July, nearly all of the Greenland ice sheet experienced surface melt, a rare event. Read more >
Rio+20 Earth Summit: campaigners decry final document The Guardian 23 June
'Pathway for a sustainable future' declared, but Greenpeace says summit was failure of epic proportions. Read the article >
Rio+20 Earth Summit is a washout
The Telegraph 22 June The climate change conference produced an inconsequential agreement that will not take action on any of the urgent issues. Read the article >
Forestry Panel reports = Government supports findings
Published 4th July, the report calls for England’s woods and forests to be re-valued for all the benefits they provide. Read the Defra article >
New practical guidance for planners
Led by the Wildlife Trust and the Town and Country Planning Association, “Planning for a healthy environment – good practice for green infrastructure and biodiversity,” summarises latest policy drivers and provides examples of successful approaches to help local planners deliver positive, practical, and sustainable outcomes for the natural environment. Read the Guide – pdf >
Help map the UK’s bumblebee population The Guardian 2 July
BeeWatch has developed a web-based tool to collect vital information on the distribution of these important pollinators. Read the article >
Guide for landowners of SSSIs
Natural England has published Sites of Special Scientific Interest: A Brief Guide for Land Owners and Occupiers. The majority of the one million hectares of land designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) is either privately owned or managed as part of a tenanted farm or sporting estate. The remaining area is owned by conservation organisations, local authorities, government agencies and public utilities. More than 95% of SSSIs by area were assessed to be in a favourable or recovering condition at the end of 2010. This publication has been produced to provide information for owners and occupiers of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) regarding their roles and responsibilities, the importance of SSSIs and how Natural England can help them look after their site
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A completely new version of BARS now available Visit ukbars.defra.gov.uk
The brand new UK Biodiversity Action Reporting System offers a range of powerful mapping and summary tools. It will provide an important source of evidence to support delivery and reporting of work within the UK to protect and enhance important habitats and species. Through this new information system you can contribute information, use the action maps to explore the geographic distribution of action data held in BARS, use the action reports to find out how much action is being undertaken for specific biodiversity features or within a specific location.
Biodiversity loss rivals warming
Environmental Research Web 9 May 2012 Intermediate levels of species loss (21–40%) could reduce plant production by 5–10%, comparable to the size of the effects of ultraviolet radiation and climate warming. Loss of 41–60% of species, meanwhile, would create levels of change similar to those of ozone, acidification, elevated carbon dioxide and nutrient pollution. That is according to a new meta-analysis of biodiversity studies carried out by researchers in the US, Canada and Sweden. “I think most of us were surprised at the strength of the effects of diversity loss compared to these other changes," Dave Hooper of Western Washington University, US, told environmentalresearchweb. "To me, these results illustrate the importance of taking biodiversity seriously, even as we tackle a host of other well known sources of environmental degradation – many of which are causes of diversity loss in the first place." Read more >
After 50 years, BTCV becomes "The Conservation Volunteers" Visit www.tcv.org.uk to find out more.
Good Beach Guide 2012 published
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) campaigns to stop sewage pollution getting onto our beaches. This site lists every UK bathing beach, but we only recommend beaches with the best water quality. Click on the map to find the cleanest bathing beaches near you, with information about lifeguards, beach facilities, and maps. Visit MCS Good Beach Guide website >
‘Extinct’ short-haired bumblebee returns to UK
A species of bee not seen in the UK for a quarter of a century has being reintroduced to the countryside. The short-haired bumblebee was once widespread across the south of England but it vanished in 1988. However, after a healthy stock of the bees was found in Sweden, conservationists were able to collect some to seed a new UK colony. About 50 queen bumblebees were released at the RSPB's Dungeness reserve in Kent. Read more on BBC website >
Geological map “App” from the British Geological Society
The British Geological Society is offering an Augmented Reality geological map “App” for Smartphones. Point your phone at a place and it will tell you what you’re looking at (in geological terms). Read more >
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Big Spawn Count results
Over 1000 people took part with an average of 12 spawn clumps recorded per pond. An incredible 400 clumps was recorded from an urban greenspace pond in Colchester, Essex . Read more at www.pondconservation.org.uk
Visits to the countryside will improve health, say MPs
The Guardian 17 July MPs call for targets to improve public engagement with nature, which represents an estimated £10bn in benefits. More visits to the countryside and coast, better-maintained green spaces and more access to nature will improve the health of people in the UK, and should be urgently promoted, according to an influential committee of MPs. Read more >
Is physical activity in natural environments better for mental health than physical activity in other environments? Elsevier press release Regular exercise in a natural environment may cut the risk of suffering from poor mental health by half, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Glasgow studied the use of natural and non-natural environments for physical activity, like walking, running and cycling. They found regular use of natural environments such as forests and parks seemed to protect against mental ill-health, whilst use of non-natural environments like a gym, did not. Read more >
Health and Natural Environments – an evidence based information pack Natural England
“Growing evidence shows that access to the natural environment improves health and wellbeing, prevents disease and helps people recover from illness. Experiencing nature in the outdoors can help tackle obesity, coronary heart disease and mental health problems.” Natural England has published an information pack showing why the natural environment should form an integral part of public health. It focuses on the following 7 themes: Health inequalities Greenspace benefits the health of everyone and benefits the least well off the most. Cost effective Greenspace benefits the health of everyone and demonstrates cost effective health outcomes. Healthy communities Greenspace benefits the health of everyone but also helps to create healthy resilient communities and can provide life supporting systems. Active lifestyles Greenspace benefits the health of everyone by creating venues for active lifestyle choices and physical challenge across the life course. Mental wellbeing Greenspace benefits the health of everyone and contact with natural environments The Natural Environment White Paper, The Natural Choice: securing the value of nature, outlines Defra’s ambition and states that:
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“From April 2013, Directors of Public Health will be employed within upper tier and unitary local authorities. They will be ideally placed to influence local services, for example joining up activity on rights of way, countryside access and green space management to improve public health by connecting people with nature.” “Local Nature Partnerships and the Health and Wellbeing Boards should actively seek to engage each other in their work. Forthcoming guidance will make clear that the wider determinants of health, including the natural environment, will be a crucial consideration in developing joint strategic needs assessments and joint health and wellbeing strategies.” The pack can be downloaded from Natural England’s Health and the Natural Environment >
MENE highlights importance of local green spaces Natural England, with support from the Forestry Commission and Defra, has published its third year of findings in the definitive survey of the way people enjoy the outdoors in England. The Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment (MENE) survey sampled 47,000 people in 2011/12 continuing the data set on long term trends in countryside usage. This year’s results highlight how nearly 2.7 billion visits were made to English countryside, coast and open spaces last year – around 65 visits per adult. Some 86 per cent of those questioned agreed that spending time out of doors was an important part of their life.
Natural Childhood report Following from the National Trust’s research on the decline in children’s relationships with the outdoors, TV Naturalist and reporter Steven Moss has prepared a summary Natural Childhood report – looking back on the issue and the emergence of ‘nature deficit disorder’. The report considers the benefits of developing better ‘Natural Childhoods’ for health, education and for communities and environment.
Defra to develop new sustainability indicators
Developing new indicators with cross-government responsibility for sustainable development, Defra has reported on sustainable development indicators since 1992. Defra is building on this extensive experience, drawing particularly on the set published annually since 2005, while taking account of new priorities, new visions and other national and international initiatives. While the previous sustainable development indicator set had 68 indicators, the proposed new set has been streamlined and consists of 12 headline indicators and 25 supplementary indicators, covering the economy, society and environment. The indicators will be supplemented by periodic policyspecific indicator reports. Read more >
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Wildlife and Countryside Link July 2012 Natural Environment White Paper On 13 July, Link published its report, ’The first year of the Natural Environment White Paper: is the ambition being delivered?’. Securing the value of nature On 17 July, Dr Elaine King, Link’s Director, attended the event ‘How do we secure the value of nature at home and abroad?’ hosted by the Policy Exchange. Forestry Panel Report On 4 July, the final report from the Independent Panel on Forestry was published, followed by a stakeholder meeting on 10 July, which was attended by Link’s Director. Triennial review Along with other Government departments, Defra is reviewing its Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPB) to ensure that their functions are still required, that their models are fit for purpose and that they offer taxpayers the best value for money.
Canal and Rivers Trust launched
More than 2,000 miles of historic canals and rivers across England and Wales were handed over to the Canal & River Trust in July in a move to get communities more involved in their local waterways. The new charity will give the 10 million people who visit and love the waterways a greater role in making them cleaner and more beautiful than ever. The Canals and Rivers Trust replaces British Waterways and The Waterways Trust. Read more >
Big Lottery Fund £10.5m award for Kew wild plant initiative The Big Lottery Fund has been announced a £10.5 million award for a new biodiversity engagement partner program to be developed with the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. GROW WILD will aim to engage more than three million people in celebrating and supporting British plant life. The project is being designed to help communities, and particularly young people, to plant native seeds around the UK. Kew anticipates the project being delivered through a wider programme of partnership initiatives involving much of the voluntary and private sector, including a public vote on four flagship projects, one in each of Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland.
Wildlife Trusts’ North Sea newsletter summer 2012
Contents: SeaSearch East Report 2011 detailing the dives and species recorded in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex; Marine Conservation Zone news, events in Norfolk and Suffolk through August and September and North Sea resources (e.g. Secrets of the North Sea booklet) Download the newsletter from Wildlife Trusts website >
Marine Conservations Zones
To find out the latest on the UK’s MCZs, visit JNCC and Defra websites >
Street lighting is changing insect ecosystems, study claims
Independent 23 May Groups of invertebrates living near artificial lights include more predators and scavengers, say researchers. The effect could be impacting the survival rates of different species, with long-term consequences for birds and mammals that rely on them for food. Read more >
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Once rare UK butterflies move north due to hotter summers, say researchers The brown argus, one of Britain's smallest butterflies, was limited to sun-loving shrubs on chalk grassland. But since the 1990s the species has been expanding its range, using different plants to host their eggs. Scientists from the University of York attribute this to rising summer temperatures. Read more >
Amphibian and Reptile Group
There are a large range of resources available on the ARG website under Advice and Guidance, including photographic identification guides to Amphibians and Reptiles. To download the advice notes and guides and Hot Gossip the Summer / Autumn 2012 newsletter, visit the ARG website >
People and the Planet report published – The Royal Society Rapid and widespread changes in the world’s human population, coupled with unprecedented levels of consumption present profound challenges to human health and wellbeing, and the natural environment. This report gives an overview of how global population and consumption are linked, and the implications for a finite planet. Read the BBC article > Download the report from The Royal Society website >
WHAT’S ON Identification workshops – Norfolk Naturalists’ Society 1 September Crickets and Grasshoppers 8 September Bugs and Beetles 21 October Mosses and Liverworts Workshops are at various locations Cost £10 per head; available to non-members Download the programme > Download info about NNS workshops >
Hedgerow futures – international symposium on hedgerow ecology, conservation and management
3-5 September Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent. Themes: Biodiversity, Connectivity, Ecosystem Services, Sustainability, Management, and Relationship with People. To find out more, visit Hedgelink website > or email Prof. John Dover j.w.dover@staffs.ac.uk
Woodland management for dormice
Courses run by People’s Trust for Endangered Species 5 September Wildwood, Kent 21 September Bradfield Woods, Suffolk Tutor: Pat Morris, cost: Dormouse Monitors £45; Individuals £55; Organisations £75 per place. Please book as soon as possible as places are limited. Further details available from Susan Sharafi at susan@ptes.org
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Beachwatch
Greenprint Forum, Suffolk Coastal 15 September Location to be advised Contact Debbie Wargate - tel: 01394 444747 or email deborah.wargate@suffolkcoastal.gov.uk Greenprint Forum – action for a positive future >
Bat Conservation Trust conference 2012 14-16 September University of York To find out more visit the BCT website >
Suffolk Flora Preservation Trust walks
29 September 3pm White House Farm, Hasketon 6 October 3 pm Simpson’s Fromus Valley No booking required, arrive on the day. Contact John or Amanda on 01728 663605 for further information.
Wild about Norfolk
13 October Easton College 10.00 am – 4.00 pm Wild About Norfolk is an annual wildlife and environmental fair showcasing the local groups and national organisations who protect, enhance and restore Norfolk's wildlife and landscape. Admission FREE Further information >
Communicate Conference – Breaking Boundaries
24- 25 October Bristol The annual conference for communicators involved in biodiversity and environment, led by the Bristol Nature Consortium. This is a significant theme as the conference celebrates its own tenth anniversary and looks towards the next ten years for people and nature. To register visit Bristol Nature Consortium >
Suffolk Naturalists’ Society members evening
21 November The Cedars Hotel, Stowmarket 7.00 pm-10.00 pm The evening will consist of illustrated short talks by members about their particular interests such as wild flowers, beetles and butterflies. If you’re not a member, but would like to come along as a ‘taster’ to find out about SNS, you’d be very welcome! The evening is free, but please let Gen Broad know if you’re planning to attend - gen.broad@suffolk.gov.uk, tel: 01473 264308.
Help plant hedgerows with Essex Wildife Trust
22 November, 29 November and 4 December Please come and help EWT to plant 4 kilometres of hedgerows (20,000 plants) across 4 Parishes in the Birch Living Landscape (Birch, Layer Breton, Layer Marney and Layer De La Haye), linking up Dormouse populations at Layer Wood (Tiptree) and Chest Wood (Colchester). If you would like to help, please contact Deb Howard on DebH@essexwt.org.uk.
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NBN Conference
23 November Royal Society London Theme: Biological Recording – Fit for Purpose? Given the changing conservation approaches emerging from the policy developments in UK environment over recent years, it is essential to answer for biodiversity protection on the ground. The Sir John Burnett Memorial Lecture will be given by Sir John Lawton; other speakers are from Natural England, CEH, OPAL, Buglife and University of Birmingham. To register, visit the NBN website > Various wildlife events - Suffolk Wildlife Trust, National Trust , RSPB, Butterfly Conservation Suffolk Branch, Suffolk Moth Group, Suffolk Ornithologists Group, Suffolk Naturalists Society
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Thank you to our readers for supporting this newsletter. All feedback and comments are welcome. This is what some of you said: “A great read as ever” Simon Amstutz “This is great – I am really enjoying reading this” Simone Bullion “Thank you - an interesting read as usual.” Caroline Markham “An excellent publication” Trazar Astley-Reid ************************
SBP INFORMATION If you would like to share information on how your organisation is benefiting biodiversity in Suffolk, please send your article to Gen Broad, Suffolk Biodiversity Officer (tel: 01473 264308, Mobile: 0789 4885337, email: gen.broad@suffolk.gov.uk ) Please note that Gen works part-time; usually Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Publication dates The newsletter is published in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Deadline for Autumn 2012 newsletter articles: Friday 5th October. SBP is a partnership comprised of conservation organisations, statutory bodies, local authorities, businesses, not-for-profit organisations and community groups working together throughout Suffolk to protect biodiversity. The UK’s Biodiversity Action Plan is delivered at a local level by members of the Partnership – for further information visit www.suffolkbiodiversity.org
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Suffolk Biodiversity Partnership .
Babergh District Council, Center Parcs–Elveden, Environment Agency, Suffolk Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, Essex & Suffolk Water, Forestry Commission, Forest Heath District Council, Ipswich Borough Council, Mid Suffolk District Council, National Trust, Natural England, RSPB, St. Edmundsbury Borough Council, Suffolk Biological Records Centre, Suffolk Naturalists’ Society, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Suffolk Coastal District Council, Suffolk County Council, Waveney District Council.
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