Meadow management at Darsham Marshes 

Flower-rich meadows aren’t made in a day; they are created through sensitive management year-round. This month our team have been carrying out grassland management with machinery at Darsham Marshes. This Softrak mower is specialised to cut wet meadows, ensuring our team can efficiently manage our habitats and create excellent spaces for nature.  

Our Reserves Officer Susan, saw the softrak in action and commented “Nothing makes a plant person like me happier than to see small light loving plants being able to see the sky – full of promise for next year. Just a shame that video cannot capture the wonderful scent smell of cut vegetation especially the mint.”

Starlings are warming up for a spectacular show at Lackford Lakes 

Staff at our Lackford Lakes Nature Reserves have recorded increasing numbers of starlings gathering. With the changing weather, we’re well on the way to the best spectacle of the season – murmurations. 

Head to Lackford Lakes from late November, for the chance to experience this phenomenon. We recommended arriving around 2pm for a walk to experience nature on the reserve before dusk. To warm up head to the Visitor Centre coffee shop for a warm drink before heading back outside. The starling’s show can begin any time from around 3pm. 

200 Trees planted at Trimley Marshes 

200 trees have been planted at Trimley Marshes this month with a wonderful group of volunteers. The group focused on planting native species, including oak, silver birch, rowan, hazel, hawthorn and blackthorn where non-native poplar and holm oak (a Mediterranean species) were thinned.

The newly planted trees will grow and provide food (seeds, nuts and berries) nesting opportunities and an increase in invertebrates for many different birds including nightingale which have been recorded on the reserve. 

Thank you to everyone who donated their time to plant, many hands made light work!

A community space for Martlesham 

Our Engagement Officer Charlie welcomed a group from Suffolk Sight, a local charity supporting individuals with visual impairments, to Martlesham Recreation ground to create a wildlife friendly habitat. 

Each member of the group had incredibly limited ability (if any at all) to see and got stuck in using the equipment to produce stag beetle stumperies, a dead hedge and a solitary bee home. This space is located near our Martlesham Wilds nature reserve and will help connect the landscape, making more space for nature and people. 

Collaboration for nature's recovery 

Farmers, facilitators, and conservationists gathered at Bressingham Hall’s High Barn for an event hosted by Suffolk Wildlife Trust exploring the future of landscape-scale nature recovery under DEFRA’s Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS). The event sparked lively debate on whether this ambitious government initiative can deliver for both nature and farming. 

Landscape Recovery is the top tier of ELMS, designed for large-scale projects that restore ecosystems, improve water quality, and create climate-resilient landscapes. Unlike smaller schemes, it encourages collaboration across multiple landholdings and aims to integrate farming with nature recovery. 

This event was proudly sponsored by Greenscape Energy Powered by OVO. 

480 meters of coir matting for marsh restoration 

At our Levington Lagoon nature reserve work is underway to restore salt marsh on the River Orwell. 

Biodegradable coir matting and 'logs' have been placed to form a curtain wall for retaining the dredged silts that are being pumped in from Suffolk Yacht Harbour immediately adjacent to the saltmarsh. This work will help build up and interconnect fragmented saltmarsh and also slow erosion in the area. This work continues the ongoing partnership approach for protecting and enhancing saltmarsh using dredged sediments and will help support colonisation by saltmarsh botanical species as well as providing habitat for roosting wetland birds. Birds associated with the saltmarsh here include large flocks of dunlin, golden plover, dark-bellied brent goose, black-tailed godwit and redshank.

Levington Lagoon has a mosaic of habitats including scrapes, ponds, bramble, tidal river and marsh – a wonderful collection of features to support local wildlife and help interconnectivity of habitats with the wider estuary. 

Thank you to Harwich Haven Authority for funding and commissioning this restoration work as part of several projects on the Stour and Orwell estuaries.

A new sculpture for Arger Fen & Spouses Vale nature reserve

The first couple of sessions have been held for our weaving project at Arger Fen & Spouses vale nature reserve. Led by experienced weaver Jo Hammond, our group are learning willow weaving techniques to build up a large stag beetle sculpture which will then be displayed as public art in the nature reserve. 

Each session is a new opportunity to learn more about traditional craft, the nature present at the reserve and connect with others. 

Thank you to the Dedham Vale National Landscape Fund for making this possible with their grant. We can’t wait to see what the sculpture looks like in the new year!