Throughout the autumn and winter, the Blyth Valley and Southwold Wildlife Group organise monthly meetings where they invite guest speakers to present on various topics of interest. Here, Penny Mansfield reports on their November meeting.

The Broads and its wildlife

In November, the Blyth Valley and Southwold branch of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust welcomed Tony Brown to talk about the many facets of Broadland wildlife. Tony is a naturalist and keen photographer, and we were treated to a fascinating presentation of the rich variety of Broadland flora and fauna. Some species have been brought back from dangerously low numbers to become part of our regular sightings, such as otters, bitterns, marsh harriers and avocets. We looked at rare sightings of black terns, and an American wood duck. We could see details of the unusually large feet of moorhens, the stunning display of the ‘eyes’ of the emperor moth, and the intricately detailed feathers of the barn owl, complete with its prey, a wood mouse. Tony had many wonderful anecdotes to tell, but the prize goes to the stowaway stoat, which refused to leave his dinghy until the boat was turned upside down on the shore.

We all enjoyed seeing the beauty and richness of the wetlands that are part of our local area, and which we can visit now with a clearer eye of what to look out for.

Our next meeting is on Thursday, January 11th, 7.30pm at the Southwold Arts Centre, Cumberland Road IP18 6JP. Hannah Nutt will talk about the work of the World Land Trust. Admission is £4 to include refreshments, under 25s free. There is no need to book: just come along, all are welcome.

Penny Mansfield. Contact us at swtblythvalley@gmail.com.

The Reydon and Southwold Community Fridge and Pantry urgently needs drivers who can do local picks ups in Southwold in the evenings for delivery to Reydon, working with Tesco and the Co-op in Southwold to help us reduce food waste.

The task takes about half an hour (depending on where you live, but assuming you are local) and needs to be done at 8pm (when short-date food can be released).

We don’t mind if you can only commit to a few ad-hoc collections each month or a few collections a week. We collect every day. It’s all done on WhatsApp. Training (or buddying) can be provided.

If you can help, please get in touch with the Pantry team at reydonandsouthwoldpantry@gmail.com.

Following the recent, well-attended public meeting in Reydon Village Hall on 27th October concerning NGV’s “LionLink” Project proposals for the Reydon and Southwold area, an audio recording of the meeting can be accessed here. Thanks to Marcus Knight for making this available.

As noted elsewhere, Reydon Parish Council has issued a formal response to the “LionLink” Consulation following on the results of the tick-box questionnaire supplied that evening. All 100 who filled it unanimously wanted the Council to oppose NGV’s “LionLink” proposals, in particular the “northern” cable route, and for it to campaign against these in the statutory consultation in 2024.