Page background images and galleries: Scenes from the Woodland Ways circular walk by a WW volunteer

Voulunteer Tree image on front page by Sarah White: Creative Commons image

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Woodland Ways mission:

Education for sustainable development through local action and global awareness.

Discover our educational policy and vision here

Check out our volunteer page, you can

help change the landscape too!

August 2018

Newsletter

View, print or download

a  copy here

(.pdf file)

Wildlife news
There have been several reports of muntjac barking in the woods recently. Perhaps the heat is a reminder of their ancestral home in Asia from where they were brought to England many generations ago.

Male muntjac hold territories which they defend from other males; barking advertises their
occupancy. Female territories are larger, covering several male territories.

There's been an unconfirmed report of a Small Blue butterfly along the cycle path beside Sebert Wood School. This species does not live in
Suffolk, and its possible that the sighting was a misidentification.

It lays its eggs only on kidney vetch, which is abundant on the Mount Road verge next to Natterer's Wood. To look for more, Mount Road would be a good place to start.

Tesco Bags of Help scheme
Thank you to all members and non-members who voted for Woodland Ways in March and April, in the Tesco Bags of Help scheme.

We found that shoppers weren't automatically given a token for voting, so it took you an extra effort to ask for a token. It was all worthwhile, because we came second and have now been given £2000 by Tesco.

This will make a significant difference to our ability to employ contractors to flail down
brambles which are growing over some young trees at Natterer's Wood.

We are looking for a matching £2000 so we can complete the task this autumn.

AGM 2018
At the AGM in July, the trustees Nick Sibbett, Tony Potter, Jenny Green,nJanet Scorer, Shirley Foreman, Mike Hollins and Alison Roome were reelected, to keep the organisation rolling into the coming year.

Special thanks to Katie Noble, for her stint as Treasurer, and to Mike Hollins for taking over the Treasurer role. Tim Smith was thanked, as at every AGM, for continuing to manage our superb website.

The AGM was a time to reflect on an excellent year for habitat management, with the tree felling at Woodland Ways Pond and Fred White's hedgelaying at Natterer's Wood both recognised as being great achievements.

Have you visited

Natterer's Wood

lately?

Page background images and galleries: Scenes from the Woodland Ways circular walk by a WW volunteer

Voulunteer Tree image on front page by Sarah White: Creative Commons image

Web site design, hosting and content by Thirdsectorweb | Part of SmithMartin LLP Graphic Design by Radha Clelland | Code development by Natasha Smith

This newsletter was generously sponsored by Whiting and Partners Chartered Accountants

Update August 2018

We are now on Twitter, follow us...

@NatterersWood

The heat has left the three ponds completely dry, and even the Yellow Flag Iris is brown and apparently dead. Hopefully it may regrow from the
roots. The grass growth has been very slow, so there won't be quite so much to rake off at the next work party.

The August work party is many members' favourite work party of the year, so do come if you can. As well as the usual tea break, there'll be plenty of cold water to drink.

There's currently a lot of wild carrot in flower in the hay meadow. The plant looks like a carrot plant and, if you pull one up, has a carrot-scented tap root. They're very tough, though, so its not worth trying to eat it.

Pond Covert
The entrance to the orchard is now passable, with care, following strimming on a very hot day in advance of the July work party. There are plenty of small apples, just waiting for some rain so they can grow.

Small apples can often be more tastier than big ones, though. The entrance otthe wood has also been strimmed, to knock back the nettles and make it
easier to avoid being stung.

Water for wildlife
The muntjac, hedgehogs and birds might be a little thirsty, If you can, leave out some water in a dish, somewhere where these species can find it.

 If your garden is securely fenced, a hedgehog can't get in, so you could dig a hole 13cm wde and 13cm deep under the fence and allow hedgehogs to enter and drink.

Woodland Ways Pond
Increased light conditions mean that yellow rattle was able to grow this year, with numerous pants seen in the grass. Its an annual plant, and the seeds don't last for more than one year, so either it was present last year but we just didn't see it, or somebody has bought some seed and it around.

We'll never know which.

The pond here has been bone dry for weeks, but frogs and newts probably had time to metamorphosise into adults before it dried up.