A restored dyke at Worlingham Marshes - Jack Cripps
Legacy Story: Worlingham Marshes
Over many years, we have been developing a landscape-scale wildlife corridor in the Lower Waveney Valley. In 2024, with the genoristy of a gift in Will, we are able to secure even more space for nature.
Located just north of the village of Worlingham, within the Lower Waveney Valley, Worlingham Marshes occupies a unique position within the Broads National Park. In 2024, Suffolk Wildlife Trust managed to secure the land through support from the National Lottery and a generous legacy gift. It enabled us to take a big step in our ambition to create a vast wildlife corridor and connect the land from Lowestoft to the source of the River Waveney at Redgrave & Lopham Fen National Nature Reserve.
The land that has become Worlingham Marshes was previous privately owned and used grazing and wildfowling. With fen, scrub, dykes and foot drains - as well as the River Waveney on the northern boundary - there is ample opportunity for us to extend the wildlife-rich habitats, create new wetland features, and to restore the historic Broadland landscape. We have already begun to see a thrilling array of wildlife including kingfisher, merlin, short-eared owl, marsh harrier, otter, grass snake, butterflies and dragonflies - giving us a glimpse of the reserve's incredible potential for wildlife.
The legacy gift was given by the Volunteer Warden for Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s Castle Marshes nature reserve for 35 years, George Batchelor. George was one of those people who left an impression on those around him – for his deep commitment to the natural world and for the kind and generous way he shared his knowledge and practical skills. He was an energetic force for good, leading conservation efforts on his patch in the Waveney Valley and beyond.
George was involved in the reintroduction of osprey to England at Rutland Water in the late 1990s and more recently the success of the fen raft spider introduction to Castle Marshes and Carlton Marshes.
We were absolutely delighted that his gift will continue to support his patch on the Waveney.
Kingfisher at Peto’s Marsh – Gavin Durrant
Short eared owl at Trimley Marshes – Carl Earrye
In gifting Spouse’s Grove to the Trust over 20 years ago, Frances and Edith Vale could not have envisaged the fabulous wild landscape it would grow into.