Orchards East Project Launch

Orchards East is an exciting new HLF funded project to survey orchards in the East of England region. Essex Wildlife Trust Biological Records Centre is working with other records centres in the region to map and survey known orchard sites as part of this three year project.

The Landscape Group in the School of History at the University of East Anglia has been awarded National Lottery Funding to build on the work of the Suffolk Traditional Orchards Group (STOG), to survey orchards and improve the understanding of traditional orchard management and history.

Essex Wildlife Trust Biological Records Centre is currently involved in the first phase of the project which involves mapping historic orchard sites from the 2nd Edition OS maps of the early 20th Century. The second phase of the project will involve volunteer surveyors visiting sites to find out more, and events to raise understanding of orchards in the region.

The Orchards East inaugural conference will be held on 8th July 2017. For details or to book a place contact Gen Broad. More information can be found in the Orchards East spring newsletter, available to download from the Suffolk BIS here, or visit our projects page.

New Pollinator Guidance for Local Authorities published

Buglife, the invertebrate conservation charity, has recently published new guidance for local authorities on producing a ‘Local Pollinator Action Plan’. Pollinators are essential components of a healthy environment and play a vital role in food production. This guidance aims to encourage Local Authorities to develop a local action plan to ensure the needs of pollinators are taken care of both now and into the future.

The new guidance has been produced as part of the Buglife B-Lines project. B-Lines is a landscape scale initiative to reverse pollinator declines in the National Pollinator Strategy's Implementation Plan, by aiding invertebrate movement across a fragmented landscape. Where relevant, planning applications in or around B-Lines should consider what they can contribute to the growing resources of pollinators in B-Lines. Essex Wildlife Trust worked with Buglife and other organisations to develop B-Lines in the East of England, and this data is shared with our partner organisations, for more details click here.

The Buglife Local Pollinator Action Plan can be accessed via Buglife's website here. The Buglife B-Lines Hub has more information about the benefits of managing land for pollinators, including factsheets on managing Woodland, Farmland, Urban areas and Transport Corridors to benefit pollinators.

Foxearth Nature Reserve becomes new Essex Local Wildlife Site

John More, Local Wildlife Sites Officer, at the opening of Foxearth Meadows

Essex Wildlife Trust recently joined a number of other local wildlife groups at the official opening of Foxearth Nature Reserve, a newly designated Local Wildlife Site in Braintree district.

The reserve is owned and managed by A Rocha, a Christian charity, and is designated for the notable diversity of dragonfiles and damselflies on site. A ceremonial ribbon cutting (all 100 metres of it!) was followed by the planting of a native black poplar tree along the bank of the neighbouring River Stour. The reserve lies on the Essex side of the Stour near Sudbury, and Essex Wildlife Trust have been working with A Rocha to collect information on the site and put the reserve forward for designation as a Local Wildlife Site by the Essex local sites partnership.

The event was well attended, with conservation groups, politicians, church leaders and families from both Essex and Suffolk visiting the reserve, many of them for the first time. More information about Foxearth can be found on A Rocha's website.

State of the UK's Birds Report 2016 released

Barn Owls have moved from the Amber list to being Green listed

The latest report on the State of the UK's Birds has been released, and shows mixed forturnes for the UK's bird populations. Whilst targeted conservation work has improved the status of some species, there has been an overall increase in the number of red listed species.

Among the success stories is the Barn Owl, which has moved from being Amber listed as a species of conservation concern to the Green list for species of least concern, reflecting targeted conservation work in many areas, including Essex. Red Kites and Green Woodpeckers are also moved to the Green list. However, other iconic species have not fared so well. Of particular concern are wading, and farmland birds, with Curlews and Ringed Plovers joining Tree Sparrows, Grey Partridges and Lapwing on the Red List. Nightingales have also declined since monitoring of them began in 1994 and so are now also red listed.

The full report can be accessed via the RSPB here.

Essex Wildlife Trust data contributes to UK Barn Owl report

Barn Owl Monitoring. Photo: Essex Wildlife Trust

The annual report on the State of the UK Barn Owl Population has been published for 2016 and contains data from Essex Wildlife Trust for the first time.

In 2013 Essex Wildlife Trust set up a Barn Owl Monitoring Project to provide advice on habitat management and install nest boxes, in an effort to reverse the decline in the Essex barn owl population. The project involves on-going monitoring of nest sites by volunteers to determine the project’s success. By 2016 the project had generated enough data to allow Essex to be included in the national monitoring results for the first time, and the project continues to grow.

The report can be accessed from the Barn Owl Trust website here: