Over the course of the February half term Suffolk Wildlife Trust held nest box building events. These boxes, once built, were taken home by event attendees to hang in green spaces to help nesting birds in the upcoming season.  Thank you to everyone who attended these events . 

In Ipswich our engagement team built an amazing 61 nest boxes and 17 swift boxes with their two events over the week. 

And at Carlton Marshes, their week long drop in event produced 90 next boxes! 

If you attended a nest box building event and have put your creation up in your garden, send us a photo! We'd love to share and celebrate the positive action being taken for wildlife. 

Help us record where action for wildlife is taking place in Suffolk by recording where you put your nest boxes on our Team Wilder webpage. 

You can log your nest boxes here

Since launching the campaign, we have received over 360 emails in support of our call for West Suffolk Council to increase their requirements for wildlife on new developments. 

Thank you to all who have supported this action so far. Next steps include using your input to feedback to the council to encourage better considerations for wildlife. 

Noteworthy numbers of white-fronted geese have been recorded at our south-east marshes. The Alde estuary has had a good history of supporting this species, which is a typical overwintering migrant that breeds across Russia. The numbers indicate good foraging conditions on multiple sites at present. The Suffolk coast is an important wintering area for them.

White-fronted geese prefer sites with minimal disturbance and are typically very flighty and nervous. For us, their grazing action on the grassland helps to prepare its structure for breeding waders such as lapwing and redshank, two of our Suffolk target breeding wader species.

Incredible footage of two kingfishers has been captured on our trail camera at Worlingham Marshes in the Suffolk broads! We're thrilled to already be seeing some incredible wildlife at our newest nature reserve.

The female kingfisher (left) hits it's catch repeatedly against the branch to break the bones to make it easier to swallow. 

Footage courtesy of Gavin Durrant our Assistant Warden in the Broads.

There has been a flurry of early spring action at Trimley Marshes as its' wildlife prepares for Spring. Sights in March have included, displaying lapwing,  marsh harrier, beautiful song from cetti's warbler and over 150 shoveler in the scrapes. 

Excavating an old river channel and reconnecting the river to its historic floodplain, Alice Wickman has been working at a site on the River Glem to improve river habitat for wildlife and mitigate flooding. This work has resulted in a seasonally wet meadow that will release water slowly, reducing flooding risk down stream and providing habitat for wintering waders, wildfowl, invertebrates, and other wildlife.

Read the full blog here

A group of volunteers have helped to complete a dead hedge at Reydon Wood.  Initially coppiced and staked by the reserves team, the final dead hedge will provide protection to the stumps and stools from muntjac browsing. 

Dead hedges also have other benefits including providing habitat for birds, small mammals, and insects.