APRIL 2023
ADDERS AT MINSMERE With Steve Everett
Wednesday, 26 April, 7.30pm – Village Hall, Stowupland, IP14 4BQ. Admission £3.
Adders are the UK’s only venomous snake and receive plenty of hysterical publicity in the press, despite the fact that many people have never even seen one. Yet they are fascinating creatures and deserve our understanding and respect rather than fear. In this illustrated talk we will look at the lives of the Adders at RSPB Minsmere, one of the best places to look for them in Suffolk.
JUNE 2023
SUFFOLK THROUGH THE SEASONS With Kevin Sawford
Wednesday, 28 June, 7.30pm – Village Hall, Stowupland, IP14 4BQ. Admission £3.
‘Suffolk through the Seasons’ is a photographic journey by professional wildlife photographer Kevin Sawford across the county showing the diverse flora and fauna he has captured throughout the year. The talk is illustrated with many of Kevin’s published and award winning images. Kevin runs photography workshops for the Suffolk Wildlife Trust and is one of the RSPB images agency photographers whose work is regularly seen in the RSPB magazine and other RSPB literature and merchandise.
SEPTEMBER 2023
HOGGING IN HEDGEROWS With Paula Baker from the Suffolk Prickles Hedgehog Rescue
Wednesday, 27 September, 7.30pm – Village Hall, Stowupland, IP14 4BQ. Admission £3.
The importance of hedgerows to hedgehogs and wildlife.
NOVEMBER 2023
BATS IN SUFFOLK With Anne and Dennis Kell
Wednesday, 29 November, 7.30pm – Village Hall, Stowupland, IP14 4BQ. Admission £3.
Anne and Dennis are retired teachers with a lifelong interest in wildlife. They have been members of the Suffolk Bat Group since the 1980s and have also been licensed bat workers with Natural England. Their presentation will introduce the audience to the world of bats and talk a little more about their ecology and life styles in the UK, especially in Suffolk. They will also try to show some of the activities in which the Suffolk Bat Group has been involved, including surveys that anyone can join in.
Arrangements may change so please check the Suffolk Wildlife Trust website at: www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org/events for updated information about these events.
Contact
Heather Salmon: 07722 871 205 / heathersalmon50@gmail.com
New Mature Reserve – Martlesham Wilds
We are pleased to share news of a brand-new nature reserve for Suffolk. The farmland, riverside marshes and saltings, adjacent to Martlesham and Woodbridge have been bought by Suffolk Wildlife Trust to be managed for wildlife, as a nature reserve, which will be called Martlesham Wilds. Our nature reserves are fragments of the wilder landscape Suffolk once had and so, alongside protecting places that are already special, we also want to bring nature back where it has been lost. This is our ambition for Martlesham Wilds. The combination of internationally important habitat alongside the Deben and the chance to allow nature to reclaim the arable fields is what makes this such an exciting prospect for us – and for nature.
Wilds is an old Suffolk term for a rougher, wildlife-rich landscape. It echoes our vision for the new nature reserve. The patchwork of hedge-lined fields that roll gently down to the river will gradually ‘wild’ into an intricate mosaic of natural habitats, with thickets of thorny scrub, maintained by grazing. The emergence of this new pastoral landscape will be thrilling to watch. An organic farm for over 30 years, the land is already home to a wonderful array of plants, animals and invertebrates. Nature is poised to return and the new habitats will be seeded by the fabulous network of mature hedges, ancient oaks and grass margins which frame the fields.
We had to act quickly to secure the land and thanks to a substantial legacy gift from Pam and George Ford we were able to do so. The purchase was completed with a loan of £ 1 million, which we now need to pay back within a year, and we will be seeking help from the Suffolk community to achieve this fundraising target. More information can be found at: www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org/martlesham-wilds. We are very excited about the opportunity to protect this beautiful piece of Suffolk and give nature more space to thrive.