Heather Regrowth
For many years the Common has been managed with the help of the Greenways and Countryside Project to ensure the survival of the flora and fauna associated with the Sandlings landscape. We are pleased that we have been able to recognise this work and formally designate the area as a local nature reserve. We hope this designation wil encourage all users to respect the very special and threatened environment which this represents.
What are we working on?
Martlesham Parish Council is bidding to bag a massive cash boost from the Tesco Bags of Help Scheme, and we need your help! We are one of three groups in this region shortlisted to receive a cash award and shoppers are being invited to vote for who they think should take away the top grant. Read more.
Scraping to help regrowth
The Greenways Project Working Party kindly volunteered their time and services in November to cut back the gorse from the memorial trees around the Community Centre Hall car park.
Also in November, RG Carter Builders are clearing vegetation from the pathways around the Common as a free service to the community. RG Carter's are part of the Considerate Constructors Scheme working collaboratively with the community.
Display boards are one part of our project and we also plan to install ‘framed entrances’. The new entrances will define the recently designated Local Nature Reserve and help manage access across the site which has increased with the completion of Mill Heath. The 10 entrances will be made up of post and rail fencing either side of a gap (a rustic version of the fencing sometimes seen at the entrance to villages) maintaining easy access for pedestrians, those with buggies etc. The work will be carried out by the Greenways Countryside Project.
The proposed work includes new signs for the site. We are very pleased that County Councillor Patricia O’Brien is supporting this project with £1,200 of funding from her locality budget.
We have been working on clearing gorse and bracken. Butterfly Conservation have been helping us with this by funding a spraying programme for bracken. We have been scraping the ground to help clear gorse (see photo) and then scattering heather cuttings to promote the heather growth.
Much of the work is being co-ordinated by Greenways who help to involve volunteers to carry out this work. If you would like to be involved further then do get in touch.
We hope to conduct wildlife surveys to try and identify what exists and this is another area where volunteers can help us.