The Suffolk Argus
Purdis Heath It provides valuable wildlife habitat – a safe place for some species of birds to nest / forage, a refuge and a safe transport network for reptiles and small mammals, a habitat for invertebrates and fungi to flourish and more besides!
There has been quite a lot happening since I last wrote about Purdis Heath so here is an update. Whilst the Silver-studded Blues sit silently as the eggs that were laid in the summer, the monthly volunteer work parties to help them have gone well throughout the winter months. There has been an average group of eight hardy souls braving the cold to get outside and do some frontline conservation! The coldest of days was in January, when approximately 20 people attended the annual ‘Megabash’ event, hosted by the Greenways Project. Thanks to all their efforts the invading ‘army’ of scrub has been pushed back from significant areas of the site where the Ling and Bell Heather have suffered in recent years.
It can help protect sensitive areas – We don’t ever wish to stop people enjoying and using the site, however too many paths cutting through heather can be detrimental. By creating these hedge features we’re subtly encouraging people to follow already existing paths, usually through the woodland that surrounds most of the heath. A way to use the material – Because we want to take off most of the material from the open heath to reduce the leaching of nutrients into the soil, it helps that we can relocate much of it but without the need to burn it or use vehicles and lots of time to take it off site completely. The work on site has also been boosted thanks to the recently launched Ipswich Heaths Project. Sharon Hearle, our Regional Officer for BC, has now begun work on the landscape level project across numerous remnant heathland sites in the east of Ipswich. The project is being funded by a WREN Biodiversity Action Fund grant of £117,000. Some of the grant money has already been spent on Purdis Heath, paying for tree work to be carried out by Ipswich Borough Council’s Wildlife Team and Greenways Project. Money has also been spent on acquiring a set of tools that volunteers can use on the monthly work parties. Expect to hear far more about the project in the near future, for Purdis Heath and all the other sites included.
Scrub bashers
The fallen (small to medium Oak and Silver Birch trees) have been transformed into log and brash piles to help wildlife – e.g. as reptile refuges or places for Hedgehogs to hibernate. As in previous years we’ve also continued with our dead hedging, a method of staking and weaving smaller timber and branches to form a thick and fairly impenetrable linear feature. The benefits of such a feature are:
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