"We once had a crowned crane turn up on these marshes. It later transpired it had escaped from Colchester Zoo!"...
The words of John Symes whom I had the pleasure to spend some time with on a breezy, late April afternoon earlier this year. John is the former owner and custodian of Martlesham Wilds Nature Reserve. He had agreed to walk around the 289-acre site with me, South East Suffolk Sites Manager Andrew Excell and Warden Jessica Ratcliff, to help us learn about its history and how the land ‘works’, the changes he’d experienced and the wildlife he had encountered over his 40-plus years of stewardship. Understanding natural processes and the nuanced differences that shape each of our nature reserves is hugely important, but especially when confronted with new land with the view to restore it for the benefit of wildlife and people.
John pointed out wet and dry spots within the open landscape, where seams of sand breach the surface and water gathers and flows down to Martlesham Creek. He explained about the discovery of water vole and otter in 2014 when the inner river wall was constructed, and how the installation of the elevated river footpath also meant the creation of wetter habitats that now support internationally important species. The wetter areas are the result of soil being excavated from some of the lower-lying marginal areas to the river wall. As we wandered, clues hidden within the landscape were revealed, each one accompanied by a short story or anecdote by John after a lifetime working this unique corner of Suffolk.
"I’m particularly interested in butterflies" said John. "My stand-out wildlife moment was the year after I’d seeded the new reservoir with trefoil. Conditions must have aligned favourably as I witnessed a spectacular show of clouded yellow butterflies. I’ll always remember being engulfed by them, fluttering around in such huge numbers."
To encourage more butterfly species, John maintained full, varied hedgerows and field margins criss-crossing the land and created a wildflower meadow. The meadow supports a wide range of flowering plants ready to cast their seed across the surrounding fields as we begin the process of wilding this autumn.
John chatted about the changes in land management practices over time, especially how machines replaced a once large, seasonal, work force. Unbeknown to John, I had previously met a former employee of his called Pete during one of our ‘Discover Martlesham Wilds’ walks. Pete had told me that one winter during the late 1960’s, whilst walking across the farm to start his days work for John, he remembers being transfixed watching several red squirrels rushing about in the snow! We arrive at an opening in the hedgerow where the old farmhouse sits prominently on the skyline, now a separate private residence. "The old poplar that stood up there has sadly gone" he exclaimed. "Such a shame. It was a beacon for so much wildlife including many pollinators, like moths. Every year on a warm evening in May, a great flock of gulls would appear and start circling around the top of this giant tree. The first time it happened we wondered what on earth was going on. We soon realised rich pickings were on offer as swarms of cockchafer emerged, only to be picked off by the flock as a late-in-the-day high protein snack."
The significance of wildlife and nature as an integral part of this landscape for John was all too clear to me. The subject had seamlessly woven its way into most of our conversations. Not unsurprising, I suppose, when you consider that he joined us as a Suffolk Wildlife Trust member back in 1965, joining founding member Hugh Philbrick, who had encouraged him in this direction, as one of Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s early pioneers. "I’m delighted that Suffolk Wildlife Trust committed to take on the land. I shall be regularly coming back to see how the butterflies and other wildlife are doing as your plans unfold."
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Martlesham Wilds - a new nature reserve for Suffolk
