Out for a walk on one of those lovely sunny autumn days in October before the rains of November arrived. Away from the pettiness of politics, putting the world of human concerns behind me, I headed across Sudbury’s water meadows…

The shortening days mean that growth has slowed down, and trees and plants are entering dormancy. They have worked hard to bloom and produce seeds to perpetuate themselves with new growth and plants in the future. It also means that…

The joy of writing the monthly news updates is that it provides an opportunity to celebrate all things positive relating to our wonderful riverside. However, this month there is no getting away from some very sad and bad news. As…

FOR INFORMATION  Sudbury Common Lands Charity’s response to the discovery of dead wild birds on the water meadows Following the death of multiple wild birds on the Common Lands this week, the Sudbury Common Lands Charity is urging members of…

Visitors to Sudbury’s common lands are initially struck by the views: the sweeping pastures, the herds of cattle spread across the landscape, the line of coloured cottages along the millstream. But as with all natural places, much of the true…

As summer progresses into early autumn the freshness of the pastures spangled with springtime buttercups is replaced by a rather more chewed-off and less inviting vista, particularly, if it hasn’t rained for a long while, which adds to the grassland…

Everyone likes a ‘good news’ story and particularly so, if it relates to wildlife because so much news relating to our native fauna tends to be gloomy. We constantly hear about declining numbers of different species and local or wider…

 It is a bird I look out for on the common lands every summer. The grey wagtail is a stunning creature, small and sleek with grey and black feathers on its back and a gorgeous yellow underbelly, and of course,…

We are witnessing real declines in our wildlife driven by the burden of increasing human population and the need to meet its requirements. In terms of wildlife, when species are widely distributed, localised disasters such as disease, predation or habitat…

The watcher in the woods that should not be taken for granted In some quarters, the wood pigeon is despised and regarded as faintly ridiculous, but the Sudbury’s Common Lands would be poorer without this under-appreciated bird, writes Ross Bentley…