Belstead Brook Park Area1 Spring Wood Local Nature Reserve, Pinewood – The Spring Wood Volunteers have continued to coppice areas under the power lines to produce a crop of beanpoles and pea-sticks for local gardeners.
2 Butterfly Ride meadow, Pinewood3 Upper Bobbits Lane – after years of problems with fly-tipping, offroad vehicles and abandoned cars – the Lane has been blocked by substantial bollards which still allow legitimate bridleway users to pass. The land around the Lane has been thoroughly cleared up with several skips being filled with years of accumulated rubbish, and the Lane itself has been re-surfaced.
4 Ashground Plantation – along with Bobbits Lane Meadows (below) forms the Local Nature Reserve known as Bobbits Lane LNR. A new management plan has been completed and many improvements have started. Two artificial otter holts have been built
by local community groups.
5 Bobbits Lane Meadows – the wet meadows have become home to many unusual birds including Little Egret, Water Rail and Hawfinch – generating a lot of local interest.
6 Millennium Wood LNR – the developing woodland (adjacent to Spring Wood) has been thinned to favour less aggressive tree species, and two very large logs have been put in place to create dead wood habitat.
7 A14 Tree Belt and Lower Meadows8 Belstead Meadows – as well as routine management and the usual cattle grazing of the main meadows, volunteers helped Babergh District Council’s litter warden to clear litter from the roadside opposite the Copdock Tesco store, where huge numbers of plastic bags were entangled in the trees etc.
9 Quilter Drive Open Space – with the help of the Friends of Belstead Brook Park, volunteers have built a new heavy duty boardwalk joining the site to Ellenbrook Playing Field.
10 Ellenbrook Playing Field – the Friends of Belstead Brook Park and Project staff cleared litter and large dumped items from the Brook as part of the national Make A Difference Day (MADD).
11 Thorington Hall Farm – the meadows around the barn have been re-fenced to ensure the sheep do not escape! Huge lengths of new hedgerow have been maintained.
12 Belstead Heath – heathland restoration has proceeded well with the bracken areas being weakened by use of a special roller.
Southern Fringe13 Stoke Park Wood Local Nature Reserve – with the new LNR status, this site has seen considerable improvements funded by various grants – some awarded to the Friends of Belstead Brook Park.
14 Buttercup Close meadow15 Belmont Road Woodland – routine maintenance of the site led to the discovery of a Harlequin Ladybird (an invasive species that kills native species of Ladybirds) – the first such sighting in the Ipswich area.
16 Belstead Road and Furness Close tree belts – Project volunteers have cleared large amounts of litter and garden waste form this series of linear open spaces, along with extensive tree surgery and hedge planting.
17 Belstead Special School – volunteers worked with Babergh District Council’s litter warden to clear accumulated dumped rubbish which was not only unsightly but also dangerous to the pupils.
Eastern Fringe18 Warren Heath19 Purdis Heath – another very successful “mega-bash” on this very important heathland site saw huge areas of birch scrub cleared to help the spread of the Silver-studded Blue butterfly.
20 Mill Stream Open Space, Rushmere St. Andrew21 Sandlings Open Space, Rushmere St Andrew22 Grange Farm Wildflower areas, Kesgrave.23 Martlesham Common – the Project has produced a new management plan for the Parish Council, and began to implement some of the practical work in the winter.
24 Long Strops Pond, Kesgrave – the Project Ranger has continued to regularly cut the area around the pond to allow access for school groups.
25 Farthing Wood, Kesgrave – this small area of open space has been handed over to Suffolk Coastal District Council following the completion of an adjacent housing development. The project has helped SCDC to manage the site.
Northern Fringe26 Grundisburgh Millennium Meadow27 Fonnereau Way footpath – as well as regular cutting of the route, volunteers have revetted and levelled an uneven stretch of the path to facilitate access.
28 Castlehill Allotments – the Project has worked with the allotment group to plant new hazel thickets (to provide beanpoles and peasticks in the future) and manage wildflower areas.
29 Whitton Lane hedges30 Kiln Farm MeadowThe River31 West End Road - Wildflower bank
32 Alderman Canal Local Nature Reserve – The Project has worked extensively with other organisations as part of the "Shared Space" initiative. This European funded programme will see dramatic changes to the lay-out of roads in the area, and improvements to the entrances to the LNR and Recreation Ground. The Project’s
volunteers have cleared large quantities of rubbish from the Canal in the most difficult circumstances. In the coming year, the Project will be trying to seek funding to dredge the heavily silted watercourse.
33 River Path – volunteers have carried out a major clearance of the path between Stoke Bridge and West End Road, re-opening the path to its full width.
34 Old Cattle Yard Pocket Park35 Sarsen Stones and Skate Park – The local branch of the Inland Waterways Association helped to pull several of the large Sarsen stones out of the River where they had been pushed, so that they could be re-placed in the arrangement of stones by the river path.
36 British Sugar site – the Ranger and volunteers have continued to mow this long stretch of the River path throughout the summer.
37 Woodward Close, Sproughton – the Project has worked with the new residents of a small development adjacent to the River (opposite the ex-Sugar Factory) to develop a wildlife area. Amongst other features, volunteers constructed an otter holt; two stag beetle pyramids, amphibian hibernaculae, bird and bat boxes and a wildflower area.
Public Events and Walks
38 Fungi Walk – a long term volunteer and fungi expert led a group of about 15 local people around Rushmere and Foxhall to look at the very wide range of species and their life cycles etc.
39 Alderman Canal LNR – the Project led walks for County Council staff (now located near the site) and local residents, to explain the new management plan and proposals included within it.
40 Ipswich Green, Chantry Park – the Project helped to organise this event as well as participating on the day. A very wide range of environmental organisations were present, with activities for all ages.
41 Spring Wood Dawn Chorus – local bird experts helped identify the wide range of bird species that are found in Spring Wood and the surrounding area.
42 Witnesham Primary School visit to the River Gipping – the Project guided a large group of pupils along the town stretches of the River (following on from their look at the upper reaches with the Gipping Valley Countryside officer. More than 50 pupils learnt about issues as diverse as water extraction and pollution to wildlife in the river and problems of vandalism.
43 Friends of Belstead Brook Park events – the group have run a series of practical events throughout the area to involve more local people in the local environment. Events have included clear-ups, new hedge planting and footpath improvements.
Comments on Planning Applications
44 Mitre Way, Ipswich – repeated applications for further housing development in the remaining part of a Local Wildlife Site were rejected but appealed. The Project gave evidence at the Public Inquiry into the appeals. The inspector upheld the refusal to build further.
45 Ravenswood, Ipswich – the Project has continued to offer advice on the potential for land identified at Bramford to be used as compensation for ground nesting bird habitat lost at Ravenswood.
46 Orwell Country Park – the Project has continued to oppose proposals for a new link road which would severely damage the Country Park. The Project took part in a factfinding tour for Ipswich Borough Councillors, pointing out the areas of highest wildlife value and potential loss.
47 Ex-British Sugar site, Sproughton – The Project has made comments to Babergh District Council supporting their plans for the site. As various different schemes are put forward it is highly likely that the Project will continue to be heavily involved in trying to
achieve a new nature reserve and informal country park.
48 Mill Poultry Farm, Belstead – the Project provided suggested management ideas for a proposed new area of open space around a small development. The open space would abut land already managed by the Project for nature conservation.
49 The Albany tree belt, Ipswich – The Project has supported the management plan proposed by the Ipswich Borough Council Tree Officer, which seeks to increase the wildlife value of this amenity strip.
Advice, Visits and Other Involvement
50 Rushmere Common – the Project manager offered advice to the Commoners’ Committee on various options for path maintenance on the Common.
51 Green Living Centre – The Project has continued to support the efforts of local environment groups to establish an environment and riverside centre in Ipswich. Such a centre would create recreational opportunities along with information for a more sustainable way of living.
52 ‘A Walk Through Time’ – the Project helped BBC Suffolk to develop a walk around the Docks and riverside area, looking at geology and natural history to coincide with the BBC’s television series.
Volunteers and Working with Local People
As in previous years, the effort of large numbers of volunteers has been a major component of the Project’s success at delivering site management. A total of 1036 days of volunteer time have been contributed (much of this by the regular volunteers) during the year. This input can be said to be worth the equivalent of around £52,000 or equal to almost 5 full time staff. The Project has worked with and supported the following community groups and organisations:
- Ipswich Wildlife Group
- Friends of Belstead Brook Park
- Spring Wood Volunteers
- Millennium Volunteers
- YMCA Environmental Task Force
- BTCV Young Volunteer Challenge
- River Action Group
- Otley College
- St. Clement’s Hospital Occupational Therapy Unit
- Castle Hill Allotment Group
- Suffolk Acre (Wages To Work)
- Pelcombe Training (New Deal)
- Seetec Training (New Deal)
Several New Deal placements have worked with the Project during the year, hopefully learning new skills and successfully finding work. The Project has also benefited considerably from the work of a previous long term volunteer on the Wages To Work scheme, whereby he has been paid to work with the Project on a full time basis for six months.
Project staff and the Joint Advisory Committee would like to thank all of those
who have given time to help make the Project so effective.
Funding
The following graph illustrates the sources of funding for the Project over the period.