The Farm Advice team began their month with a water vole survey at Darsham Marshes. The team were pleased to find lots of signs of water vole activity including feeding platforms and the distinctive 'tic-tac' droppings.

Seven avocet nests have been identified on the Winter Flood at Trimley Marshes nature reserve. 

Avocet prefer bare land to nest and conservation works undertaken by the team through the winter have created more bare, open water habitat for the birds to use during breeding season. Thank you to the Felixstowe Rotary Forum for their generous donation which made this work possible. We hope to see the avocet chicks over the coming weeks. 

Avocet were once nationally extinct, so we are thrilled to see the birds breeding in Suffolk at our reserve. 

Throughout May, our Wilder Ecology team conducted a number of species surveys with first year Wildlife Ecology & Conservation Science students from University of Suffolk - including small mammal surveys at Foxburow nature reserve.

Jo and Alison from our team are CIEEM registered instructors and deliver nearly all sessions within the University's Practical Field Research Skills module, along with Mark, the Course Leader.

From 20 surveying traps set by the students, 9 bank voles and 7 wood mice were recorded and all healthy.

Our Lound Lakes team featured on Great Coastal Railway Journeys on BBC 2 this month.

Host Michael Portillo spoke with Andrew Hickinbotham, Lound Lakes Warden, and a group of volunteers as they undertook the delicate task cutting the wet heath on the reserve.

Watch the feature on Iplayer

(Skip to 8 minutes to see the feature). 

Our reserve team at Carlton Marshes conducted breeding bird surveys earlier this month and counted over 5,000 lapwing roosting on Peto's Marsh in the north of the reserve.

As well as Carlton, several of our nature reserves provide vital habitat for breeding lapwing including Dingle Marshes and Trimley Marshes. Lapwing chicks are particularly vulnerable to a number of predators, therefore we keep the reedbeds long during the hatching season to maintain their shelter.

Lapwings can be recognised by their long crests, black and white patterns, and very broad, round wingtips. From a distance, lapwings look black and white, but up-close, the black has an iridescent green and purple sheen.

Suffolk Wildlife Trust Youth Board member James spent some time speaking on Hospital Radio Ipswich about his connection with nature and the work he and his fellow Youth Board members do to support wildlife in Suffolk.

During the session, James also read some of his poetry which included observations of wildlife in his local area and the joy this brings him. You can listen to the recording of James' section on our YouTube channel. 

Click to listen to James' segment

Treatt, one of our Investor in Wildlife businesses, is fundraising this year for a new widllife pond at Black Bourn Valley. They are hosting a range of activities throughout the year to hit a target of £2,500 including a recent litter pick. For every bag of litter filled, Treatt have added £10 to their fundraising total, resulting in £200 so far.

We would like to extend a big thank you to the Treatt team for their efforts so far - not only removing litter from the environment, but also raising money for reserve conservation works.

As a partner of East Suffolk Catchment Partnership, we will be supporting a new project that aims to recover and restore the River Deben - led by Essex and Suffolk Rivers Trust. This ambitious new project, titled Recovering the Deben: From Source to Sea, aims to restore the land, water, and nature throughout the River Deben catchment and estuary. 

You can read more about the project on the Essex and Suffolk Rivers Trust website.