A.G.M.

Our A.G.M will be held at Elmsett Methodist Church on Thursday 2nd December, starting at 7.45.

Many people enjoy walking round the wood and have kept the grass along the centre of the rides under control.

James has cut them back to their original width, to help Barn Owls with their winter hunting and to ensure that our walkers aren't faced with a thin muddy track when the weather gets bad.

We are planning another hedge laying session, when the leaves have dropped.

Bye-bye Butterfly?

This week the Butterfly Conservation Trust is urging everyone to spend 15 minutes looking for and recording the butterflies that inhabit their garden or local area. There are more details and forms to fill in and return on their website, but it is best to choose a sunny day.

Loss of habitat and climate change are two possible reasons for their decline. There are too many gardens covered with decking and used for offroad parking . Butterflies need flowers that that attract insects. Many of the wildflowers that we have planted have survived and are attracting butterflies, bees, hover flies and other pollinating insects.

But why a photo of a Cinnabar Moth caterpillar? Well, environmental scientists are concerned about their welfare as well. This one was tucking into some ragwort in Buckle's Wood and although this plant is poisonous to livestock, and the caterpillars that feed on it, distasteful to predators, it would be sad if both disappeared from our landscape.

News and Next Working Party

James has cut the rides, with a few extra diversions, a pleasing number of wild flowers are thriving and butterflies, insects and other small creatures were apparent when I wandered round yesterday with my camera.
I shall have to get help with identifying some of the things that I photographed, like this construction in the grass
There's a website that will do just that for people like me, who have a great interest in the environment, but not the knowledge to go with it! So why not bring your camera to our next working party.
Saturday 17th July. We'll be starting at 10 o'clock

Marvellous Moths

Everyone had a good time on Saturday, with thanks to Mark who writes:-

Thank you having me along this morning to show what came to the moth traps last night. A wonderful gathering for a Saturday morning, which goes to show how much regard everyone has for their woodland wildlife. The bacon sandwich was a real bonus.

The following is a list of species encountered:
Pale Tussock~ Spectacle ~ Buff Tip~Vine's Rustic~ Buff Ermine~ White Ermine, Oak Hook-tip Brown Rustic~ Nutmeg~Common Swift~ Setaceous Hebrew Character
Mottled Rustic~ Pale Mottled Willow~ Heart and Dart~ Light Emerald
Small Waved Umber~ Small Magpie~ Shoulder-striped Wainscot
Common Wainscot Not forgetting the birds: Last night there was a Barn Owl hunting the field to the east and a Little Owl on the telegraph wires.
Today, we heard and/or saw:

Blue Tit~ Great Tit~ Yellowhammer~ Chaffinch~ Dunnock~ Whitethroat,
Lesser Whitethroat~ Song Thrush~ Wood Pigeon~ Jackdaw.All I need now are some photos please!

Discovering Moths

Our next event, on Saturday 12th June, will be a moth hunt, led by Mark Nowers, the RSPB warden at Wolves Wood. It will be an early start, as we shall look at the moth trap with Mark at 8 o'clock.

Not all moths are boringly dull and just fly at night. Pyraustra purpuralis, (above) which is small enough to fit on a 5p coin, was flying about the borders in bright sunlight.

Here are some more interested facts to whet your appetite, with grateful thanks to an article in this Saturday's environmental section of the East Anglian Daily Times!

More than 2,500 species of moths have been recorded in Britain and the Channel Isles.

Some moths travel here from Europe and North Africa.

They pollinate plants and are eaten by bats and birds.

And, like other forms of wildlife, their numbers are declining.

We shall have a short break for a bacon butty breakfast and then Mark will help us to identify bird songs, as we stroll round the wood.

If it's wet, the event will be cancelled

School Fete

The School's annual village fete is next weekend (22nd. May) and the EGGS team will be there with our Buckle's Wood, long lasting and sustainably made bags. These are much better for our planet than plastic bags. Have you read about the huge area in the Pacific Ocean that is clogged up with tiny pieces of plastic, carried there by the world's ocean currents.
We shall fill a Buckle's Wood bag with eco-goodies, to offer as our raffle prize and bargain second hand books for you to purchase and enjoy at your leisure.

Spring

Went up to the wood with my camera one sunny afternoon recently and had a pleasant, peaceful time, just wandering around, listening to the birds (Jackdaws, Rooks, a Green Woodpecker and other singing songsters in the hedgerow) and taking the odd photo.
The flowers on the Blackthorn were just coming out and looked lovely.
A Peacock butterfly was fluttering about between the new trees and the hedge, as were a number of Bumble bees.
Most of the trees had green leaves showing and I came away thinking all's well-- but we do need some rain!!!

Another sunny day!

We made some more wood piles in the last area that we planted, using some of the trimmings from the last hedge laying session. The rest of the debris was burnt and enjoyed by all the "helpers!"

Trees and guards were checked, a few dead trees were replaced, and some spiral guards were swapped for rigid ones.

The heap of mulch was distributed around the base of trees that didn't get much last year and we scouted round for litter (not much) and broken guards, canes and stakes (only a few).

Some wild flower plants have started to grow. Bumble bees and a few butterflies were about and of course-most of the trees are showing signs of coming into leaf.

A big thank you to Jackie (for organising the refreshments), all the soup and cake providers and Maria for the eggsellent, extra surprises for all the children who helped.

Saturday 10th April. Next working party.

We aim to start work at 10 o'clock.

Tree stakes and guards need to be checked and the heap of mulch by Blanche's bench should be distributed round trees.

Please bring wheelbarrows, spades, lump hammers, and loppers/secateurs. We also need to move some of the the debris from the hedge laying session into the wood, to make wood piles.

As I walked round the wood last week, Jackdaws flapped off noisily from the Barn Owl box. No sign of the Kestrels, although the Barn Owl has been seen hunting over the wood at dusk recently.

New map

This orienteering map was drawn up by Simon Peck from the Suffolk Orienteering Club, for Elmsett school.

Now, where to put that pond?

Exchanging Links

Last week I received an email from Raz Godelnik who thought that our blog was really interesting. Raz is the CEO of Eco-Libris, a green company in America.
The group promotes tree planting, with an extra dimension, in that they ask people to plant a tree for every book or books that they read. They are also supporting green books. You’ll have to look at their website to find out what they are!

The year of the pond?

We've been talking about a pond for a long time and all the benefits that it would have for wildlife.
It could be an interesting experience for everyone!

A date for your diary.

Mark Nowers, the RSPB warden at Wolves Wood, has offered to organise a moth hunt on Saturday the 12th June

It will mean an early start, investigating the trap, which will have been set up the previous evening.

We will just have time to demolish some bacon butties, before Mark guides us round the wood, to look for and listen to the local birds.

This moth was keeping in the shade on the trunk of our old apple tree. A Red underwing, I think. I might be more positive after the Moth Hunt!

Hedge Laying Day

Following a week of horrible weather, we had a lovely sunny day for our hedge laying workshop, bright and not too cold. Bob Howe and Geoff Kistner spent Tuesday preparing the next length of overgrown and unmanaged hedge, which made the task a little easier for the volunteers.

Although thinned out, the remaining growth still needed to be unravelled and trimmed, before the skilled work could start.

After a short break for a soupy lunch and cake, the team continued laying and then fixing the new hedge with stakes and binders.

Next year the new growth should be thick and strong , a good habitat for birds and other wee beasties.
They resulting bit of hedge looks good, with another section to the right that will be tackled later on. Our thanks go to Jim Wallden from Haskett Ltd, who was an expert guide and kindly left some binders for our use, the refreshment team and all those who helped before and on the day.

Peter Berry

Members of the group were very sad to learn that Peter Berry, Babergh District Council's Countryside Officer, had died suddenly last week.
He has helped and supported the development of our new community woodland scheme and will be missed by us and all people that knew him and shared his love of the countryside.

National Tree Week 25th November--6th December

People who are concerned about the future of our planet know that planting trees will help to slow the damaging effects of climate change.

If you are unable to plant trees yourself then you could support The Woodland Trust or The Green Light Trust. Both organisations are planting new areas of woodland. So sponsor some tree planting today and hope that it's not too little, too late.

Hedge laying Workshop and Working Party Day Our last working party and hedge-laying workshop

We shall be holding another workshop on Saturday 6th. December. Our expert guide, Jim Wallden, will be on hand to help newcomers acquire this ancient skill, and remind those who worked on the above stretch last year, what to do!

This will also be our last working party this year and there will be plenty for everyone to do, not least, tidying up the debris from the hedge layers!

Soupy refreshments will be available and a few extras, with Christmas in mind.

Sunny Sunday

Last Sunday was the first time in ages that I've been able to linger in Buckle's Wood, with my camera.

Lots of butterflies, especially little brown ones, that were very mobile and difficult to photo

These two were the best of the rest

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly on thistle seeds Lovely to see this as they have been rather scarce over the last few years.

Painted Lady. I've never seen one before!

I spotted this in the vegetation by the side of the footpath that leads to the wood. A spider guarding its web.

Blanche's Bench

Blanche was always part of the steering group. She was determined that our trees would get planted and she would have many years to enjoy watching them grow. Sadly, that wasn't to be.

We thought that the most appropriate spot for her bench would be in the middle of the wood, with the trees growing all around, but I think that we shall have to cut down of the nearby vegetation, before we have her total approval. She was a bit prickly about thistles!

Photos from Alison Grant

Bird Track

Had a message from the RSPB, as follows:

BirdTrack is an online bird recording scheme that allows you to store and manage your birdwatching records from around Britain and Ireland.

Taking part couldn't be easier - just register as a recorder (it's free), then start to enter your valuable bird records.

From casual records, to full species lists for a site, all the collected information helps fill gaps in our knowledge of numbers, distribution and movements of birds, which in turn feeds into conservation decisions made by organisations like ourselves.

As well as providing a comprehensive record of what you have seen, with your permision all submitted records are also made available to your county bird recorder.

Animated maps are available through the BirdTrack pages and show the arrival and departure of migrants, as well as the seasonal movements of birds at both a local and national level.

In partnership with the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and BirdWatch Ireland, BirdTrack was launched in 2004 and has since gone from strength to strength. With your help we can continue to gather unique and fascinating information on Britain and Ireland's birds.

Click to sign up here.