Hedge laying by volunteers - we love it!

Members of the charity’s Riverside Projects Team meet once or twice a month on a Tuesday for a day’s fresh air and practical work out on the Sudbury Riverside or at Cornard Country Park. Last month the team laid a hedge at Cornard Country Park.
Such work provides exercise, great company and a sense of satisfaction with
each individual working within his or her capacity. As the charity takes on more
work in order to remain solvent, there will be more tasks added to the annual
management list. If you think this kind of activity is for you and you have the
time available you would be made most welcome. Email .walters@sclc.entadsl.com for a schedule.

This month there will be some fencing realignment work taking place along Brundon Lane between the Melford Road and the river. A number of years ago the fencing was moved away from the lane to accommodate horses. With the increase in traffic in recent years people have begun parking on the horse lane, particularly during the summer months, and this in turn has created problems for large agricultural machinery trying to access the Brundon Estate. Although there is an area where informal parking has become established no right to park or use this private road exists other than for residents on the other side of the river. There is, however, no intention to fence off this small area as the parking at that point does not create access problems along the lane.

Many years ago the charity converted the King’s Marsh pillbox into a bat hibernacula using specially made bricks from Bulmer brickyard. Some years on the Dedham Vale and Stour Valley Project provided welcome funding to convert a number of these war-time structures through the addition of robust steel doors and the specially adapted bat-bricks inside. Five were converted along the Sudbury Stour with a further five elsewhere on the river.

The bats have been slow to find these desirable residences even though they must save on a lot of long-distance flying to find suitable hibernation facilities but each year it has been exciting to record a slow increase in the numbers of bats in residence. This year the news seems to have started to get round with every Sudbury pillbox occupied. Out of a total of eighteen bats in the converted boxes,
fourteen were recorded in Sudbury. Species included Brown long-eared, Natterer’s and Daubentons. At a time when bats populations are in decline it is good to be able to do something positive for them.