Developers planned to build more than 100 houses on Kiln Meadow in Pinewood

An Ipswich meadow, home to a large population of toads, will not be put up for sale again for housing, Ipswich Borough Council has announced.

Developers had planned to build more than 100 homes on the 11-acre Kiln Meadow in Pinewood before planning permission expired last October.

The council has now decided it will look into ways of managing the land rather than looking for another buyer.

Ipswich Wildlife Group said it was “delighted with the decision”.

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Ipswich Wildlife Group are delighted with the decision of Ipswich Borough Council’s Executive committee to revoke the decision to sell Kiln Meadow.

IWG Chairman Ray Sidaway said: “The ‘Save Kiln Meadow’ campaign has been long and complicated. The low point was when the previous administration decided to sell the site last July without due consideration for the important wildlife on the site.

There are significant populations of toads, dormice and reptiles. It is also a great open space on the edge of Ipswich, easily accessible, well-used and loved by local people.” This is a landmark decision. Ipswich Wildlife Group look forward to working closely with the council to safeguard the future of the site for the benefit of wildlife and the folk of Ipswich.

Farmers are being asked to create more grass margins around fields to encourage harvest mice. The Suffolk Wildlife Trust (SWT) has been studying the tiny

Havest Mouse in Tenis Ball

rodent to work out how to increase its numbers.

They want to link up grassland, reed bed a riverbank habitats to allow the mice to thrive. Martha Meek, trust project manager, said: “They are not as common as they used to be and remain extremely vulnerable to habitat loss.” Farmers are being asked to create more grass margins around fields to encourage harvest mice.

The wildlife trust said it was impossible to accurately count the number of harvest mice in the UK, although the species had suffered a huge decline since the 1970s due to change of land use and habitat loss.

It is the UK’s smallest rodent, weighing about the same as a 20p coin and builds its nest about a metre off the ground in vegetation.

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Save Kiln Meadow for the Dormice! IBC is trying to sell a strip of land on the outskirts of Ipswich,  the land is good habitat for many species and the borders and hedges of the land contain Dormice. Please sign the petition :
http://petitions.ipswich.gov.uk/SaveKilnMeadow/

This whole area has a number of wildlife species that should be protected under the Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) for Suffolk, including otter, water vole, bullfinch, skylark, reed bunting, song thrush, linnet, black poplar, common toad, as well as other rare species such as kingfisher, little egret, water rail, slow-worm, stag beetle, hobby.

Developing Kiln Meadow will seriously affect the habitats, particularly the water meadows which rely on the fresh, clean water flowing through Kiln Meadow for their existence – draining it, changing the hydrology and building houses will have a dramatic and adverse affect on the water meadows.

This area is used intensively by local people for recreation and exercise; it is within a few   miles of Ipswich town centre and so easily accessible on foot or by bike – you don’t have to get into your car to visit a beautiful patch of countryside.

Over the last few years a ‘toad patrol’ has operated to assist European toads crossing Bobbits Lane. This spring, over 20 volunteers helped over 4,400 toads. This was the highest number of toads at one site  in the country, as  reported on BBC Radio 4′s ‘World on the Move ‘ program on Tuesday (10^thJune). This site is therefore of national importance for toads. They migrate from Spring Wood across Kiln Meadow and Bobbits Lane to the water meadows, and so their route would be completely destroyed and their habitat irreparably damaged.

Read More : http://www.greenlivingcentre.org.uk/iwg/skim.htm

Picture by Clare Pengally. WILTSHIRE Wildlife Trust is encouraging people to help locate populations of hazel dormice in the county by looking for nibbled nuts.

This is the 21st anniversary of the National Dormouse Monitoring Programme and The People’s Trust for Endangered Species and Natural England have launched the third Great Nut Hunt this autumn to help them find out more about dormice across the whole country.

The hazel dormouse is Britain’s only native dormouse species and, although once widespread across Britain, their range has declined significantly over the last century due to changes in woodland management, farming practices, loss of hedgerows and fragmentation of woodland.

Picture by Clare Pengally.

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Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) has just received funding to help with conservation work to improve the lot of dormice at a number of its nature reserves.

The £4986 grant from the Pennon Environment Fund will help the charity’s reserve officers to implement and enhance coppicing regimes at its Andrew’s Wood, Lady’s Wood, Scanniclift Copse, Sourton Quarry and Dunsford nature reserves in the coming months.

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Hazel Dormouse

The Hazel Dormouse was once widespread in the UK but is now endangered.

The People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and Natural England will attempt to highlight its plight with a treasure hunt.

Locals are being asked to search their local woods for gnawed hazelnuts, a typical sign of the vulnerable species.

PTES have hidden 21 specially-commissioned hazelnuts – 20 solid silver nuts and a single gold-plated nut – across counties in England.

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Nature lovers are being invited to give rare dormice a helping hand in Chambers Farm Wood.

Repairs have been carried out on nearly 60 wooden nesting boxes which the tree climbing creature uses to rear its young during summer and willing volunteers are needed to help erect them in the 360 hectare (900 acre) woodland, near Wragby, Lincs.

The Forestry Commission beauty spot  – part of the Bardney Limewoods National Nature Reserve – became home to Lincolnshire’s only known dormice colony after 32 captive bred adults were released eight years ago.

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Last year volunteers escorted almost 7000 toads across Bobbits Lane in a 3 week period, stopping them from being run over by the passing traffic.

You are invited to an Introductory meeting on

Wednesday 16th February 2011

At the Pinewood Community Centre at 7:30pm

We will outline how and why we do the Toad Patrol and cover identification of species you are likely to see.

For further information please contact the Greenways Project on 01473 433995

or email : greenways.project@ipswich.gov.uk

In recent months Dormice have unexpectedly been found on Ipswich’s fringes: in Spring Wood, Millennium wood, the trees in Kiln Meadow and in the hedge along Bobbits Lane, just to the south of Ipswich. This is a fantastic find of a European protected species in a wildlife area we have been looking after for many years.

The Hazel Dormouse or Muscardinus avellanarius is the UK’s only native Dormouse, and has a furry tail, golden brown fur and large black eyes. It is a nocturnal animal which spends its waking hours in trees and hedges. In winter these small mammals spend many months hibernating in a woven nest at ground level.

They naturally live at very low densities, and so are very vulnerable to habitat fragmentation. In England the Dormouse has become extinct in up to seven counties – half it’s former range in the past century – so our discovery is especially important.

Margaret Regnault