Perhaps high summer is a good time to think about ‘messing about on the river’. Hot days and long warm evenings make the river an attractive proposition whether for a walk, picnic or getting out in a boat. I have…

To weed or not to weed, that is the question? Stroll just beyond the Common Lands and into the nearby lanes and streets of Sudbury and you will find that nature has a foothold. Leaving Little Freeman’s Common via the…

Of all our summer migrants the swift is surely the most incredible. That is not to belittle the extraordinarily hazardous journeys undertaken by tiny warblers, flycatchers, swallows, martins, and a host of other summer visitors, to reach the relative safety…

The Japanese have a name for it… hanami. It refers to the custom of celebrating the beauty of blossom flowers every spring, typically of cherry and plum trees. It is a festival taken seriously in the Land of the Rising…

The history of the Sudbury Common Lands is a long and interesting one. Its early history is associated with members of the nobility who were among the most powerful in the land and often descended from or closely related to…

While in the human world international travel is all but suspended, in the kingdom of the birds, species are arriving in Sudbury after journeys of thousands of miles. The compulsion to take off on epic journeys across seas, mountains and…

This month (May) there is history in the making as the ancient ‘Mother’ body of the Sudbury Common Lands Charity marks four hundred years of Ascension Day gift giving. The Ascension Day Gifts ceremony is, arguably, the most important of…

All around on the water meadows there are signs that we have made it through what has felt like a very long winter. It is there in the blackthorn’s frothy white blossom, which appears slightly before its leaves; in the…

This month’s news looks at more history connected with the Sudbury riverside. Old maps refer to the site of St Leonard’s Hospital on the other side of the Melford road from North Meadow Common. This was established on 1st May…

The rising flight and song of the skylark is one of the most thrilling wildlife displays you can hope to see in the countryside around Sudbury. Just beyond the Valley Walk in the fields towards Borley and Bulmer, I have…