One of Lowestoft’s wildlife ‘gems’, Gunton Warren is owned by East Suffolk Council and managed by Suffolk Wildlife Trust. Site Manager Matt Gooch visited this week to inspect the site and plan the restoration work back to heathland. Matt has been managing Gunton Warren for 10 years now, and the site has been transformed from a jungle of invasive Japanese knotweed to a beautiful nature reserve with dunes, vegetated cliff and heath. In previous years reptiles, especially adders, were almost extinct from site but this week Matt was delighted to spot an adder basking in the sun. Fantastic result!  

The Lackford Lakes team are delighted that their nesting swifts have three tiny beaks to feed! You can watch their progress live on this link https://www.youtube.com/live/zId_FVbHAg8?feature=share 

Famous for its birdlife and dragonflies, Carlton Marshes is also a haven for orchids and other rare wildflowers at this time of year. This week 17 bee orchids were counted on drier ground and southern marsh orchids on the wet areas. The team have been busy cutting paths this week to enable visitors to view the wonderful flora and fauna. 

Site Manager Matt Gooch had the pleasure of taking Michael and Penny Thomas out to see the windpump at Oulton marshes that they helped fund from their Diamond Wedding Anniversary instead of receiving presents. They saw the transformation of the habitat for themselves with lapwing chicks everywhere, redshank chicks and oystercatcher all being successful this year so far. What a difference a bit of wet makes! A massive thank you to them both. 

Mickfield Meadow is a flower-rich hay meadow that has never been sprayed or fertilised. The results are stunning at this time of year, with wildflowers galore including meadowsweet and ragged robin. 

Warden Joe Underwood and his team were rewarded with stunning vistas at Trimley Marshes this week, whilst undertaking early morning bird surveys. Cuckoo, bittern, bearded tit, great white egret, lapwing, redshank and oystercatcher were all recorded. 

Gunton Meadow is looking floristically splendid with common spotted orchids and plenty of species still yet to flower too.  

The conservation team made a visit to the Great Fen Project in Cambridgeshire, to see how their 100 year vision was developing. The Great Fen is the result of a partnership project by Beds, Cambs and Northants Wildlife Trust, Natural England, the Environment Agency, Huntingdonshire District Council and the Middle Level Commissioners. The project aims to provide a fenland wildlife haven of 3,700 hectares. 

Realise Futures visited Martlesham Wilds this week for a guided walk - a big thank you to them for all their hard work packing and sorting Membership Packs and Christmas cards at Suffolk Wildlife Trust headquarters.