FAQs

Suffolk Wildlife Trust is not a wildlife rescue provider. If you have found an injured or sick wild animal, please contact the RSPCA on 0300 999 7321. You can also find wildlife rescues near you at HelpWildlife.co.uk, and search with your postcode. Below is a list of species-specific services:

• Bat: contact the National Bat Helpline, call 0845 130 0228
• Hedgehog: contact Suffolk Prickles, call 07469 177090
• Swift: read more at Swift Conservation

The most common wildlife crime is disrupting or destroying the habitat of protected species (such as badgers, birds or bats); this includes hedgecutting or tree-trimming during the nesting season (March-August). If you're concerned about a wildlife crime, you can:

• Call 999 if the crime is in progress
• Call 101 if you suspect a crime has already been committed
• Visit the Suffolk Police website.

It’s common in spring and summer to find young birds sitting on the ground or hopping about without any sign of their parents. The birds are beginning to leave the nests and the parents will usually be close by searching for food and keeping an eye on their chick.

Unless the bird is in immediate danger, it’s best to leave it where it is. If the bird is in a busy road or footpath, or is in danger of being attacked by predators, you can gently move the bird a minimal distance, but it must still be in hearing range of the parents who will be nearby.

If you think you have bats in your house, loft or roof, there is no reason for concern. Usually they will keep to themselves and you will not know they are there. However, if you are lucky enough to have a nursery roost, you may find confused young in your house. If this happens, you can contact Bat Conservation Trust.

Once the young have fledged, the bats will most likely leave.

REMEMBER: bats are a protected species, therefore it is a criminal offence to disrupt or damage them or their roosts.

Ponds are really important for wildlife; as both habitat and a vital water source.

If you have a pond in your garden or community space and want to know how to manage it for wildlife, visit our Habitat Advice - Ponds page for guidance.

Suffolk Wildlife Trust does not provide a one-to-one species identification service.

Visit our Identifying and Recording Wildlife page to discover apps and tools to help you identify species and develop your identifying skills.

Once you have identified a species, it's a great idea to record your sighting to Suffolk Biodversity Information Service (SBIS) - who hold the county's wildlife data and records. Submitting your sightings to SBIS helps to build a bigger picture of species populations and activity acros the whole county.

We ask all visitors to enjoy nature repsonsiby, and to leave no trace of their visit on our nature reserves.

Dog-walkers are welcome on many of our nature reserves. Due to the sensitive species and habitats on our sites, we just ask that you visit repsonsibly by keeping your dog on a short lead, not allowing them to swim, and picking up their litter.

On some of our sites, dogs are not allowed on some trails or area not allowed at all. Before you visit a reserve, check the local information on our nature reserves page.

Read more about our Dogs on Nature Reserve policy.

We ask all visitors to enjoy nature repsonsiby, and to leave no trace of their visit on our nature reserves.

Our nature reserves are important havens for wildlife. Many plants that are attractive to human foragers are critical food sources for a wide array of wildlife; therefore we do not allow foraging on our nature reserves.

We ask all visitors to enjoy nature responsibly, and to leave no trace of their visit on our nature reserves.

Fishing is an ancient pastime, and can be a wonderful way to connect with the outdoors. However, to prevent disturbance to river wildlife and habitats - which are already under huge pressure from pollution and segmentation - we do not allow any fishing on any of our nature reserves.

To keep our natures reserve in the best ecological condition for wildlife, we will sometimes carry out tree cutting to promote biodiversity, by creating more varied habitats such as meadows, marsh, and fen which require more light to reach the ground. 

On some of our reserves, we carry out conservation coppicing. This ancient, woodland management technique creates a unique understory that is hugely beneficial to woodland birds, wildflowers, fungi, and small mammals such hazel dormouse. The short film below explains the long tradition of coppicing at Bradfield Woods.

As a local charity, it is very rare that we have sufficient funds to be able to buy and manage additional land. To make the most of our limited resources, we usually focus new land purchases in areas around our existing nature reserves; helping to extend the size of one of our existing sites.

As a small team covering the whole of Suffolk, we cannot respond to all planning applications. We therefore focus on forward planning (e.g. neighbourhood plans) and prioritise responses to protected areas (eg. SSSI or CWS) or that our close to our nature reserves or project areas. 

We only get involved with applications or plans outside of these areas if we have the possibility to achieve a significant, positive gain for wildlife. We do not respond to small householder developments outside of protected areas.

It is very rare that we  object to an application as we need to protect our role as a professional organisation whose advice can be relied upon to be pragmatic when considering the planning balance (eg. the need for that type of development). We hope that by not objecting consistently to numerous applications - rather only doing so when a truly detrimental scheme comes forward - local planning authorities will weigh our concerns strongly in the consideration of the application, therefor having a greater influence to secure positive gains for nature.

Over the years we have found this approach provides the best results for both nature and the local community.

Due to our limited resource as a local charity, we can only provide surveying services to the following groups, to achieve the biggest impacts for nature:

• Farmers
• County Wildlife Sites
• Private Nature Reserves (PNRs)
• Parish Councils
  Community Groups
• Churchyards

If you are one of the above, please contact our Wilder Landscapes team: wilder.landscapes@suffolkwildlifetrust.org

• Our Ecological Consultancy, Wilder Ecology, provides professional surveying services as well as a range of certified appraisals and assesments. Visit our consultancy page to find out more.

For many years Suffolk Wildlife Trust objected to the Sizewell C development because of the protected areas and wildlife that would have been irreversibly lost.

Since the development recieved approval and funding from the Government, we have refocussed our efforts to ensure the best possible outcomes for nature are delivered. This approach means we can ensure Sizewell C fulful their mitigation committments - which are a legal requirement. Sizewell C have pledged to mitigate its impacts on wildlife and support effective projects for nature in East Suffolk going forward.

We are particularly focusing our efforts on protecting species such as adder, natterjack toad, and a number of bat species; all of which are protected under the Wildlife And Countryside Act and are established in the development site. We will continue to engage with Sizewell C to ensure the disruption to these species - and the habitats they call home - are reduced as much as possible.