Since 2019, the Coast & Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) has been organising work parties at Staverton Park and Thicks, working alongside Suffolk County Council’s Woodland Advisor, Gary Battell.

Staverton Park and The Thicks, Wantisden is an 80-acre Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC). The site is representative of old acidophilous oak wood in the eastern part of its range and its ancient oaks Quercus spp. have rich invertebrate and epiphytic lichen assemblages.

Despite being in the most ‘continental’ part of southern Britain, the epiphytic lichen flora of this site includes rare and Atlantic species, such as Haemotomma elatinum, Lecidea cinnabarina, Thelotrema lepadinum, Graphis elegans and Stenocybe septata.

The site has a very well-documented history and good conservation of woodland structure and function. The ancient Park is woodland on sandy soil, with mature pollard oaks while The Thicks is a dense wood with hollies, some of them thought to be the largest in Britain.

Volunteers have collected acorns, some of which were successfully grown on to the small sapling stage. Early in 2022, exclusion compartments were built, into which the young trees were planted. The aim of the compartments is to keep out cattle and deer and hopefully allow natural regeneration of oak trees. By 2020 natural oak regeneration had dropped to very low levels.

In October 2020 acorn collecting proved an extremely wet introduction to our efforts at the site! All those involved ended up soaked, but bags full of acorns were gathered. Some acorns were potted up into ‘modules’ using sterile, peat free soil and grown on. Some were sent to Hollesley Bay Prison and potted up but unfortunately fell victim to small mammals.

Gary had an unexpected bonus on acorn collecting day when we bumped into George Peterken and members of his family. George Peterken is a woodland ecologist, who as part of the Chief Scientist’s team in the Nature Conservancy Council (now Natural England), led the development of national surveys of woodland and their management for nature conservation.

Covid by and large put a stop to all activity from late 2020 to early 2022. However, in late January this year the volunteers returned to build animal ‘exclosures’. Both triangular guards for individual trees and rectangular ‘Gen Guards’ for multiple trees were built. Metal ‘Rebar’ was used to support metal weldmesh for both designs. Early signs are that the structures are doing their job well.

In September 2022 activity resumes with another acorn collecting session, followed by the chance to get hands dirty ‘potting up’! The work at this stunning, awe-inspiring site has proved popular with the AONB Volunteers. We have such an enthusiastic group, full of (pleasant!) banter. Huge thanks to each and every one of them.

Volunteers play an essential role in helping to conserve and enhance the Coast & Heaths AONB. By giving their time, they enable the AONB (and other organisations and landowners) to carry out important work that wouldn’t otherwise be possible and help the nationally important protected landscape.

But it’s not just our special area that benefits – the volunteers themselves also reap the rewards of spending time outside in the AONB. In addition to the physical benefits of getting active and the different manual tasks, volunteering is also a brilliant way to boost wellbeing and mental health through socialising, learning new skills and making a positive difference to the local environment.

Everyone is welcome to take part and we are always looking for new volunteers of all ages and levels of experience and skill. There are a wide range of activities on offer, including practical conservation work out in the field, monitoring our coast and estuaries, checking popular recreation routes, removing plastic guards from trees and cleaning beaches.

No previous experience is required. For more information about volunteering with the AONB please visit www.suffolkcoastandheaths.org/volunteering.

Neil Lister
Countryside Projects Officer
Coast & Heaths AONB

Gary Battell
Woodland Advisor
Suffolk County Council