As a thank you to their lovely volunteers, the Suffolk Coast & Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)  team asked me to lead a walk around Martlesham Wilds, it being within the AONB area. I was delighted to do so, especially as AONB part-funded the start of the Martlesham Wilds engagement process through their Sustainable Development fund, and it was great to be able to share this success with everyone. We had a wonderful walk, with so many enthusiastic questions, it took over 15 minutes to get out of the car park and another 15 minutes to get onto the reserve!

As we walked, we were delighted by the spring flowers popping up all along the footpaths – dandelion, stitchwort, ground ivy amongst many others. When we reached the Deben, we were quite surprised to see a whimbrel and a greenshank feeding on the river mud; then a very speedy ruby tiger moth caterpillar captured everyone’s attention as it joined us on our walk momentarily. It was really inspiring to listen to so many passionate people and explore opportunities for working together with partner organisations.