Homes for Wildlife

Last Friday, Hilary, Alison and children from years 3, 4 and 5 spent an enjoyable and very productive morning in Buckle's Wood.

They put mulch round trees, planted small plugs of celandine, cowslips, snowdrops and bluebells at the base of the hedgerow near the school's trees and arranged hedge cuttings and logs in heaps, in order to attract more wildlife into our woodland.

We hope that the log pile shown in the photo, will attract Stag Beetles which can be found in Suffolk, but are becoming quite rare.

Our Next Working Party

Everyone is invited to come and join our next working party on Saturday 10th May, starting at 10 o'clock. There will be plenty of homemade refreshments and a soupy lunch to keep your energy levels up! Stay for a short time, or keep going until the work is done--we don't mind.

Please bring a fork and wheelbarrow if you would like to put mulch around our trees, or loppers and and a pair of secateurs for alternative activities.

We have received grant funding from The Green Light Trust to spend on introducing wild flowers into the woodland. We need to prepare small suitable areas, so that we can plant in the autumn. We shall start this work on Saturday as well.

OUr Next Working Party

Wild Flowers

The original plan for our woodland included thoughts and suggestions from the children at Elmsett School. One of their ideas, a wildflower meadow for the insects, butterflies and bees, might become a reality, with the offer of a grant from the Green Light trust. It will involve a lot of work to prepare and maintain a suitable area and it all has to be done this Spring!!
Meanwhile, two Barn Owls were spotted hunting over the wood and everthing has survived the storms and snow.

Another good day.

Men at Work

No seriously, everyone worked extremely hard, got a lot done and had time for refreshments and a soupy lunch.

Jim Wallden and Simon from Haskett Ltd, demonstrated the ancient art of hedge laying and then guided our group of novices. The bench near the Barn Owl box was re-located towards the back of the woodland. Two perching posts were placed amongst the trees, to encourage the barn owls to hunt over and make their home in our woodland. Another sturdy bench ( made by John Lee) was positioned on the west ride.

All the mulch that was donated by Eco -Sytems Ltd. was spread around the trees. The mulch that was donated by Ben Norwood, was collected and left in a couple of heaps, ready for the children to use round their trees.

We now have a seating area, to be used as an outdoor classroom, made tree trunk, which was cut up and donated by James Hitchcock.

So, THANK YOU to everyone who helped, especially James Buckle, who sponsored the hedge laying workshop and to prove that we really did work hard here's a photo that I took when the sun nearly came out!

A Date for Hedge laying

We shall be holding our hedge laying workshop on Saturday 23rd February. Those people who have signed up to do this will be guided by Jim Wallden, from Haskett Ltd, who manages James Buckle's hedgerows. Jim will prepare the selected length of hedge beforehand, so that members of the group will be able to start work at 10 o'clock! There is still time for more people to join us. Just 'phone 01473 658297 if you are interested.

We shall also need people to help with on-going maintenance work in the wood. Nothing too difficult, but there is quite a bit to do! Our Refreshment Team will be on hand to provide everyone with a selection of homemade soups and other delights.
See you there!

Hedge Laying

Last year a team of novice hedge layers had an enjoyable time turning this










into this.










No wonder they look pleased


We are planning to hold another hedgelaying workshop at the end of February/beginning of March. If you would like to join us phone me on 91473 657062

Finished with a Flourish

Amazingly, we had another sunny, but windy morning for our last tree planting session. Most of the 60+ people who had donated trees joined our "professional" planters and got the job finished by early afternoon. There were lots of compliments for the delicious soups, cakes and drinks that the Refreshment Team prepared to revitalise the workers

The Barn Owl box is on top of the pole and a special seat, dedicated to Paul Marshall on his retirement has been placed nearby. Made from reclaimed scaffold boards by Reelfurniture, the bench has excellent environmental credentials. Appropriately, during his 20 years as Head Teacher at Elmsett School, Paul has encouraged many environmental projects and was keen that the school should take an active part in the development of Buckle's Wood.

So, with grateful thanks to all the people who have supported us over the last three years, our tree planting is complete. However, there are more projects in the pipeline that will keep us busy for next, and many more years to come. Keep in touch

Our Final Tree Planting Day.

Next Saturday, the 1st of December, will be our last tree planting session. There will be lots going on, as well as all the hard work! Paul Jackson from the Suffolk Wildlife Trust will arrive at 9.30. to put the Barn Owl box on top of our pole. Tree planters will start to arrive at 10 o'clock, with their wheelbarrows, lump hammers and spades, ready for action.

Many people will be planting their own trees that they have donated to our woodland. Of these, 45 will be native oaks. I wonder if any of these trees will grow to be 800 years old, like Old Knobbley, who was featured in last week's East Anglian Daily Times and is mentioned in Archie Miles' latest book Hidden Trees of England. Archie Miles also wrote The Trees that Made Britain, a copy of which will be one of the prizes in our RAFFLE. The Powergen energy saving box, which includes the Eco Kettle is also one of the prizes.













Members of the Steering Group will be busy beforehand, getting everything ready for planting, and our souper chefs will be cooking up a feast for lunch (and tea, coffee and cakes for extras. We hope that that this will be another enjoyable and memorable event for all.

See you there!!!

Not at all Boring

Steve Piotrowski, founder of the Suffolk Community Barn Owl Trust, visited the village earlier this year and suggested that Buckle's Wood would be a good place to site a Barn Owl nesting box, to encourage this year's fledgelings to stay in the area. Needless to say, the Steering Group thought that this was a brilliant idea.

The Hazelwood Trust has paid for a box and EDF Energy has kindly donated and erected a suitable pole at the back of the wood, overlooking one of the rides that leads to the meadow area in the centre of the trees. More news when the box arrives!

Suffolk ACRE Awards

Earlier this year, Elmsett Parish Council proposed that EGGS should be considered for a Community Achievement Award from Suffolk ACRE.

At the beginning of September we were told that our new community woodland was one of four schemes that were being considered for an award. We were pleased meet Andrew Budden, from Suffolk ACRE, to tell him all about our scheme and show him round Buckle's Wood.

Members of the Steering Group were invited to their seventieth AGM and award ceremony on Thursday 27th September. We were delighted to receive a certificate for joint 2nd/3rd place, which was presented to us by Lord Tollemache and Lady Cranbrook.

The EGGS project has been "commended for outstanding community achievement".

Well done everyone; helpers, organisers and supporters, especially The Green Light Trust and James Buckle.

Your trees in our woodland

We shall be planting our last trees in Buckle’s Wood in November.

If you'd like to have a tree planted in memory of a loved one, or a group of trees as a family donation, please select from the list of native trees that are suited to this area, listed on the order form. To download the form, click on the image (right) so it opens in a new window, then right-click on the image and choose 'save image as...', then save to your desktop. Open the file on your desktop and print. You might want to note these instructions before you start.

If you've rather have a form emailed to you as a PDF file, email us with 'Tree donation' in the subject line.

Individual trees will cost £10.00
Four trees will cost £30.00

The price includes the cost of stakes, tree guards and the tree’s future maintenance.

A permanent record of all the donations to Buckle’s Wood will be kept in a folder, which will be available for everyone to see.

Please return your order, with a cheque made payable to EGGS, by the 23rd September, to:

Sue Mackie MBE,
Myrtle Cottage, Whatfield Road, Elmsett. IP7 6LZ
or
Jackie Parkinson,
Baybrooks, Hadleigh Road, Elmsett IP7 6ND

For information about the variety of trees, see the British Trees website.

Woodland Fayre

Our Woodland Fayre went well. After a week of sunshine and heavy showers, Saturday stayed dry, so visitors were able to enjoy all the various outside activities and wander around Buckle's Wood. The general feeling was that all the planning and hard work had been well worth the effort and the visitors had had an enjoyable time.

Everything happened more or less as planned, although a couple of exhibitors were unable to attend at the last moment. However, we were pleasantly surprised by two unexpected events.

Martin Myerscough, who invented the Greenbottle, an eco- friendly alternative to plastic milk bottles, came with his children and planted our first Yew tree. This was a lovely surprise, as he has been extremely busy since his product was launched earlier this year.

Another surprise was a phone call, informing us that our summer fair had been selected to receive a Powergen Eco Fete Award and to expect a £500 cheque, 500 energy saving light bulbs and two energy saving boxes, worth £8O each, as raffle prizes. Two representatives from Powergen distributed the light bulbs and a photographer arrived to take photos, which might be used by Powergen at a later date.

The Steering Group would like to thank all the stall holders and volunteers, who gave their time and energy to make the day go with a swing and the companies and organisations listed below for their generous support.

Audi Ipswich, Babergh District Council and CRed, Barefoot Books, Bartrum's Brewery, Blacks., Brinkley Woods, British Eco. James Buckle and Charles Course, Build Base(Hadleigh), Burgon and Ball, Chilli's Galore, Grenville and Elizabeth Clarke, Donnachadh McCarthy, East of England Co-op, Eco-Hamster, Ecover. Elmsett Village Shop. Fruitina. Hadleigh Maid Chocolates. Halfords. Hollow Tree Farm. Ipswich Town Football Club, James White Ltd., Jenny Steel, Jules and Sharpie, Jump Start, Kallo Foods, KETTLE Crisps, Kingfisher Books., Kew Gardens., Marybelle Milk, Meridian Foods, Millets, Natracare , Neal's Yard Remedies, Organix, Paddy and Scott's, Pakenham Water Mill, Plum Baby, Purely Pesto, Recycle2Shop, Reelight, Revolve, St. Jude's Brewery, Safety Systems , Sainsbury's , Solar Technologies, Stonham Hedgrow , Suma, Sustrans , Suffolk County Council's Recycling Bus, Suffolk Woodland Honey, Taylor Made Joinery, Tesco, The Body Shop, The Ecologist, Thompson and Morgan , Usbourne Books, Waitrose , Wayland Publishers, Wyndi Wyndi.

Delightful Donations

These two inspirational books have been given to us, to support our Woodland Fayre.

The Trees that Made Britain has been donated by Kew Gardens and has been signed by Tony Kirkham and Jon Hammerton. Donnachadh McCarthy must be one of the most environmentally friendly people that you could meet and advised Dick Strawbridge in the BBC TV series It's not easy Going Green. He has also written a message and signed his book.

These books could be yours - if you make the highest bid!

Whatever next!

The Woodland Fayre is being organised by a small, enthusiastic sub-committee of eco-warriors!!! They have contacted many companies, organisations and people to ask for their support. We are just amazed at the replies that have been sent so far. I am having to take a two week holiday to recover.These are just a few more examples of the brilliant responses to our green celebration, in no particular order.

Taylor Made Joinery (Bildeston) sent us a generous donation. Ipswich Town Football Club sent us a voucher for 2 people to tour their carbon neutral stadium. Kew Gardens have sent a book, which has been signed by Tony Kirkham and Jon Hammerton. Ipswich Audi has sent 4 tickets for an Ipswich Town match. Suffolk County Council's recycling bus will be there.

There will be more when I get back!

Woodland Fayre

The plans for our Woodland Fayre are going well and we have had a tremendous response from individuals and companies that we have approached, for support, in one way or another.

For visitors, the day will start at 11 o'clock. There will be plenty to see and buy, in and around the Village Hall and Buckle's Wood. You will be amazed to discover that being green covers such a wide range of activities.

There will be a BIG ECO-RAFFLE.
Games and prizes
Locally grown strawberries for summery refreshments.
Examples of solar technology.
Chickens and eggs.

While the Steering Group is busy adding to this list, our bit of hedge laying is busy recovering from its experience!

Progress Report

The preparations for our Woodland Fayre are growing apace, with offers of support arriving nearly every day, from people and companies that want to get involved. Green living and taking care of our environment is such a vast topic!
To date, here are some of the things that you will be able to see and buy.

• Wild flower and tree growers.
• Sustainable uses of wood. (wood burning stoves, wood turning and carving)
• Bags of compost to buy and win.
• Gifts of goodies from Ecover (UK) ltd and James White Drinks Ltd.
• Home made produce from the WI.
• A barbecue using locally sourced meat.

A gift of little oaks

Earlier this year, the Green Light Trust advised all woodland groups that the Dedham Vale Project had Surplus Oak saplings to give away. After one or two phone calls, Richard Parmee delivered a very generous bundle of 100+ trees, fifty of which were planted by the school, before the dry weather set in.
The rest are heeled in and doing very well at the edge of our veggie patch and will be included in our last planting session in November.
Thank you GLT for sending us details of this offer and a special thanks to Richard for delivering the trees ~~ the elms on the way into Elmsett from Ipswich, look great with their new growth of leaves.

Our Summer Woodland Fayre

We shall be holding a Woodland Fayre on Saturday 21st July.

EGGS has asked everyone at Elmsett School to help make this event a fun day out with an eco-friendly theme - a celebration of green living!

There will be a barbecue, stalls, refreshments, prizes, demonstrations of basket weaving and wood carving, and lots more. If the weather is good, we shall spread out into Buckle's Wood, amongst the newly planted trees.

We would like to hear from people or companies that make or sell environmentally friendly products and would like to be part of our day. Just leave your details and we shall get back to you!

Much Mulching in March

Another lovely day for our mulching and Easter Egg hunt.
All the green compost was distributed around our trees by 11.30, so we were able to enjoy a relaxed coffee and cake break, before doing some tidying up work . We finished off the morning with delicious homemade soup and rolls, provided by Blanch and her refreshment team.
The Easter Eggs hunters mingled with the mulchers, searching for "eggs" and returned to collect their bounty, red faced and gleeful!
A BIG thank you to everyone for making it such an enjoyable occasion.