Autumn at Knettishall Heath

The reserve:

Autumn has been a spectacular month at the Heath with it's diverse wealth of habitats and species adapting to the new season. The Heather has finished flowering with it's splash of colour only to be replaced by the coppers and gold's of the Silver Birch, Bracken, Beech and finally the Oaks, in stark contrast against the dark Pine.

Our resident birds such as Tits, Finches and Thrushes have begun mixing in large flocks for the Winter, moving around the reserve like marauding groups targeting the Hawthorn berries. Whilst Winter visitors such as the Redwing and Fieldfare bring news of the colder weather to come, although perhaps not so cold as 50 years ago. Many of our summer migrants; Blackcap and Swift, were still being recorded fairly recently in the area, and many warblers now choose to brave our warmer Winters than in years passed.

Damp foggy mornings and more regular down pours at the beginning of October meant good news for Fungi experts as the fruiting bodies of Knettishalls fungi began to pop up all over the reserve, just in time for Autumn Antics day on Sunday 7th October.






Autumn Events at Knettishall

'Autumn Antics' was a fantastic expert lead fungi foray paired with a family session hunting for signs of autumn, and the reserve certainly didn't fail us. A total of 47 species of fungi were found and identified in just over 2 hours including the following; Fly Agaric, Clubfoot, Toughshanks and Milkcaps, Blushing Bracket, False Chanterelle, Radish Bonnet, Sulphur Knight, Golden Spindles, Jelly Ear, Beech Woodwart, Ugly Milkcap, Petticoat Mottlegill, Slippery Jack, Turkey Tail and Bay Boletus.

Parasol Fungi before it opens out; one of our largest species

The large cluster in the middle is; Fluted Bird's Nest Fungi 

Amethyst Deceiver

Identifying fungus growing on dead wood

To round off Autumn with a bang Knettishall hosted it's very own 'Halloween at the Heath', a day packed with family activities and trails. Over 30 families braved the spooky blindfold trail and had a go at lantern making, apple carving and potion making in the afternoon sun!

The spooky woodland at Halloween at the Heath

As part of the Trust's first year at the reserve we are learning what is popular with the local community, and both these seasonal events will certainly be repeated next year! To find out more, or for the full list of fungi with common and latin names, or to be added to the mailing list for reserve and events updates please contact Samantha Gay, People and Wildlife Ranger at samantha.gay@suffolkwildlifetrust.org

Little Ouse river works

If you have visited the Heath in the past week you may have noticed some practical works being undertaken on the Little Ouse; the river that marks our Northern boundary. A project under the Environment Agency (EA) has been targeting restoration work on rivers across the country this year. Working in partnership with conservation charities and other countryside management organisations, including Suffolk Wildlife Trust, the EA targeted the Little Ouse to host the first major river restoration work undertaken in Suffolk. This was partly due to land alongside the river being owned or managed by many of the partners in the project, and the river will be used as a demonstration of what can be achieved in our water ways throughout Suffolk.

Why was restoration work needed?

Pre-restoration the Little Ouse had been heavily modified over time by mans intervention, such as continued dredging of the water course and possible historical use as a travelling route for small trade boats. This had left the river very straight and deep sided with a poor flow, resulting in the clogging of vegetation and the degradation of species habitats and diversity. (See photo right) A full programme of surveying has been undertaken previous to this work to ensure areas of the river that may have been sensitive to work, such as water vole habitat, were highlighted.

Explaining the practical work:
The aim of the project was to return the river to it's natural state by restoring features such as pools, riffles and meanders. Manually creating these features was achieved with a mechanical digger (see photo right), and although it may have looked fairly destructive at first, the simplicity of the work is very effective. Vegetation was cleared along the river to allow digger access, which then moved upstream along the bank clearing out deep pools on one side of the meander, and depositing the material on the other side.

This action re-creates the natural curve of the river within the channel and is partnered by the deposition of rocks and debris between meanders to create natural 'riffles'. Riffles are where the water increases it's flow where it is narrowed over rocks creating a 'babbling brook' effect, increasing oxygen levels in the water and increasing water quality.



Diagram above showing the natural meander recreated within the channel

It won't take long for the river and it's biodiversity to adjust to this re-naturalisation; vegetation will quickly take root in the deposited debris creating attractive habitats for freshwater invertebrates, whilst fish will use the deep pools and create hunting areas for Kingfisher and Otter.

Photo showing the new natural meanders within the long channel

Four days after the work had finished, there were already reports of more regular wildlife sightings on the river; the increased flow has cleared out any muddy debris or dead vegetation and the river already is visibly more appealing. If you get a moment in the next couple of weeks it is well worth a trip to see the difference!
For any more information or queries please don't hesitate to contact Samantha Gay the People and Wildlife Ranger:
samantha.gay@suffolkwildlifetrust.org

Summer Holiday Fun at the Heath!

Finally the warm weather has graced us with it's presence at Knettishall and the new events programme is well under way. With at least one family drop-in session a week as well as two taster sessions of Junior Rangers - there has been plenty to encourage visiting families to take part in outdoor activities and discover the reserve.

Our family drop-in sessions run monthly outside of the school holidays and have now been running every Sunday accompanied by the odd Thursday session throughout August. The aim of these sessions is to provide a point of information and education for all ages, and each one is themed differently. Running 2 - 4pm families or anyone seeking extra information can just drop in throughout the two hours; past activities have included minibeast hunting and making natural art objects (below right). The next session takes place on Sunday 5th August and will look at Animal Olympians around the reserve.

The summer has also seen the launch of two taster sessions of Junior Rangers, aimed at 6 - 12 year olds specifically to get young people involved in the natural world. The first session on Thursday 2nd August kickstarted with fun team building activities and summer spotter games. The second takes place on Thursday 16th August 10.30am - 12.30pm and will be an introduction to river dipping. Junior Rangers is free and will then run monthly all year round. For more information on the events schedule at Knettishall either contact Samantha Gay at samantha.gay@suffolkwildlifetrust.org or visit the facebook page for regular events updates at www.facebook.com/KnettishallHeath.

Updates on conservation grazing at the Heath

Knettishall Heath currently has 11 Exmoor Ponies and 10 Dartmoor Ponies carrying out conservation grazing throughout the reserve, as well as some young cattle from a local grzieer on the wet meadows bordering the river.

Dartmoor Ponies grazing at Knettishall Heath

Many of you may have noticed that we have had some recent livestock movements at Knettishall Heath, namely with the Exmoor Ponies. On Monday June 11th we had the vet and farrier visit for the day to do their 6 monthly checks and so this meant rounding up what were all the 14 Exmoors from the main Heathland enclosure. Staff had previously set up a round-up pen at the Southern end of the enclosure over a week before hand to help get the ponies used to the sight of it.

With the expertise of the Trust's livestock manager the ponies were calmly gathered into the pen. Whilst waiting for the vet and farrier this also gave staff and volunteers a chance to get a rare closer look at the ponies and get to know their various identities and characters. When they are grazing out on the Heath you will ususally never get within touching distance of these Exmoors, which is what makes them the perfect species to handle the amount of visitors that Knettishall attracts; they are usually fairly aloof of most things whether it be a dog walker or groups of school children, and this way they stay out of trouble!

On the day the farrier checked and/or treated all 14 Exmoor Ponies as helpers carefully saw them one at a time through the gate system into the pens (pictures above and right). 3 of the Ponies were then herded into the horse box to be taken back to the 'livestock HQ' at the Coast for paper work to be updated and for specific dieting!  However the grazing pressure now needs to be taken slightly off the vegetation in the main heathland block and so only the next 6 were let back onto the Heath for continued grazing. The remaining 5 were to be moved down the reserve slightly to the enclosure that hadn't been grazed since the Council used it last year. This Eastern grassland block (seen below right) had flourished well with the Spring Flush and was now ready to be grazed for a while, and this is where you will now find the remaining 5 Ponies (see picture below left). Access to third enclosure is though the gate on the far side via the Woodland Trail; the gate nearest the car park and road has to be locked as it it is not livestock friendly and may cause an escape. The project for a new full access gate here is currently being worked on.

It is essential that conservation grazing is appropriately managed at Knettishall Heath to ensure the flora is neither over or under grazed, and so livestock movements around the site in the future will not be that uncommon. However the management of this reserve is all about creating that perfect balance between people and wildlife, and it is worth saying that no matter what happens with the livestock, no new
restrictions will be imposed on the site for visitors other than those already inplace. These are simply that we ask visitors to be respectful of the livestock by monitoring children and dogs, and that by law dogs must be on leads on the open Heath between 1st March and 31st July due to ground nesting birds. We know people enjoy visiting the site and seeing the ponies, but that it is also a great place to walk your four pawed friends, so look out for the next blog on our latest project; 'Hounds of the Heath' our new canine community!

Wildlife Updates

As many of you may have discovered this half term week if you can brave the wet and windy weather there is plenty to see at Knettishall Heath at the moment, as the reserve is just bursting with wildlife. The wettest April for many a year with a mixture of the hot spells we've had in between has allowed the vegetation on the reserve to flourish. If you leave more than a week between your visit you will be rewarded by that sight you only get in Spring and Autumn when so much has changed in such a short space of time. The river in particular is very changeable with this rain as reed and bank vegetation start to ease the flow on drier days. Yellow Flag Iris (Iris pseudacorus) is starting to flower (pictured) and can be seen between now and August, whilst sunny days will reward you with the first damselflies and dragonflies on the wing.



Spot the Tree Creeper fledgling!

Of course it is not only the flora having a busy few weeks; birds are in their full breeding season now and many species are at different stages of nest building, laying, rearing and fledging. Some such as the Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) nesting on one of the buildings on site are having difficulties getting enough food to their young with this extremley wet weather. Along with many other passerines (perching or song birds), a large part of the chicks diet is caterpillars from the tree canopy, which consequently get washed to the ground away from ther foraging sites in heavy rain.

 I also caught site of a rather soggy but successfully fledged group of Tree Creepers (Certhia familiaris) this week. Once out the nest they were moving through the woodland sticking close to each other by constant calling so that the parents could still regularly find and feed the young. The young themselves were already displaying the chracteristic Tree Creeper behaviour of flying to the bottom of each tree then slowly moving up it looking for insects, (never moving down, the complete opposite of the Nuthatch) and were a joy to watch, even in the rain!



All ready for the weekend!

More completed tasks by the fantastic volunteers!

Our new disabled access picnic bench in a shady spot near the car park

One of our two new barbeque pits in the main car park

Hopefully many of you will be enjoying these new facilities this long bank holiday weekend along with an ice cream and a cool off in the river! 

Don't forget to pop into our family drop-in afternoon on Sunday 3rd June 2-4pm. This is a great information point to find out more about Suffolk Wildlife Trust and Knettishall Heath, as well as getting all ages involved in the themed actvities this week; of course it's Jubilee Natural Art! 

http://www.facebook.com/events/376027632453892/

Current work on the reserve!

As has previously been mentioned the first year management plan for the Heath involves very little practical habitat work until we get to know the species that reside here in all the seasons. However if you have visited the reserve this week in the glorious weather you may have noticed a work party beavering away around the site! This is Suffolk Wildlife Trusts mid-week volunteer team carrying out a great diversity of small but important jobs for us to get the site ready for the summer hordes!

Jobs have included; tidying up the trails and car park fencing, tidying up the toilet block and car park paths, litter picking the river and rest of the site, and sorting out the picnic benches in the main car park. The sharp eyed amongst you may have noticed that we have moved a bench nearer to the river pool in a shady spot, installed a disabled bench under the trees by the main car park and are in the process of digging some barbeque pitts. It is hoped that these will be used by those having disposable barbeques instead of placing them on the grass or benches and burning them by accident!

As the work continues Knettishall Heath will be looking to start up it's own volunteer work party towards the end of this year ready for the winter. I have already had some fantastic interest from local people wanting to help out who have already lent their hand for odd jobs. Work will include tidying up the site and surveying wildlife throughout the summer months, whilst long term winter work will be more habitat focused. The work parties are great fun and a great way to get outside in the fresh air for the day and meet new people. If you are interested then please don't hesitate to contact myself by phone or email through the details below.
samantha.gay@suffolkwildlifetrust.org
Samantha Gay Mob; 07717 156601