Tag: trees

St. Peter’s Pightle

January 24, 2025

Blyth Woods has a new project and work is well underway.

Blyth Woods is now leasing a ,1.83 ha (4.52acres) field near the church in the centre of Wenhaston. The exact location is marked on the map below where the field is referred to as Church Field. The field is owned by Wenhaston Town Estate Church Charity and a 25year lease has been arranged. We have agreed a name for the new wildlife space which is St. Peter’s Pightle.

Our aim is to improve the biodiversity of the area by establishing a rich and varied habitat for plants, invertebrates, amphibians, birds and mammals.

The 1927 OS maps list the site as allotments and the 1945 aerial photos show it in arable production with the same boundary as we are leasing.

An overgrown ditch runs along the southern boundary and soil compaction through continued farm use has resulted in issues of run off in times of heavy rain. The field slopes towards the ditch and so it is proposed to dig one or two small attenuation ponds to retain water and create a wildlife resource. Their ability to retain permanent water will be subject to soil conditions .

The hedge line that was removed in the 1960’s will be replanted along with the rest of the boundary that has no tree cover.

Site location Central grid reference TM42275 75389

Pink line denotes AONB boundary

The two sites, Grove Woods and St Peter’s Pightle, are linked by hedgerows with the only gap being the narrow Bramfield Road and therefore gives connectivity to the surrounding countryside.

As part of the Climate Action Conference, Schools Day, we invited a group of children to suggest how we could enrich the habitat and make it an attractive place for people. They came up with some great ideas. Click here to view their plans.

We then consulted with the local community and asked for their ideas, comments and opinions on the proposed plans. Feedback was positive and encouraging.

Applications were made to bodies providing free trees such as Suffolk Tree Wardens, Woodland Trust, Conservation Volunteers, E Trees and a series of work parties were planned for planting.

Wenhaston Primary School have also applied for additional hedging for the field . The school have plans to work with a local group on geography field work in the near future.

There are several other expenses involved in the work and so applications have been made to a variety of bodies. So far we have;-

£693.55 from the Community and Conservation Fund Panel for fencing and gates.

£1800 from   local district councillor for wild flower and grass seed and fruit trees

£600 from Parish Council for a new children’s tree nursery

We are also very grateful to individuals who have made donations to Blyth Woods for the project at St Peter’s Pightle and we would like to encourage others to support the work with financial donations and by giving time to help at work parties.

Working with Wenhaston Primary School -Tree seed collection and planting

November 4, 2024

The 18th October was a busy day for Blyth Woods. Not only did we launch our new project , but in the afternoon Acorn class went hunting for acorns . The family members turned out in record numbers and showed interest in the school connection and work, as well as the new possibilities for a Blyth Woods project.

The children were very enthusiastic and the acorns were everywhere so they collected lots to plant. Before we returned to school we took the class to the new field and showed them how it looked at the very beginning of the new project. The children found eight oak seedlings in the field and talked about how they got there. They left a cane beside each one so that we can rehome the trees while the field is prepared for planting.

Back at school we tested the acorns, hazel nuts and sweet chestnuts to find out which ones were suitable for planting, a good floating and sinking activity, air in the nut is a sign of damage .

The bed in the tree nursery is now full of tree seed and we all wished the young trees ‘Good Luck’. 

We had a few minutes to spare before the children were to go into assembly and so we played the Squirrel Game. The children had to sleep like a squirrel, eat like a squirrel and talk like a squirrel ( a little bit anthropomorphic but good fun!) They then ran off and hid their acorn to (pretend) eat at another time. After a bit more talking and sleeping they all went back to find their acorn to eat. Two acorns were not found so that perhaps explains why we found oak trees growing in the middle of the field earlier in the day.