At Nene Wetlands, we’ve seen an influx of a huge number of winter wildfowl. Over 900 Wigeon have been seen just on one lake – that’s 3% of the UK population. Also, in the past couple of years, lapwing numbers have gone from a handful each winter to hundreds, with over 250 seen at one time this month. This is mainly due to reprofiling work around the edges of Dragonfly lake, improving the topography so the birds have ideal habitat.

Another year’s successful conservation grazing is set to be further boosted next year following the news that 3 of our highland cattle are in calf and a further 3 in calf highlands will be joining the herd in the New Year. 

At Lilbourne Meadows we have been trying to tackle the invasive issue of crassula, as it has really spread throughout the site and taken over the marsh area!  It has formed really dense mats of vegetation that completely outcompete everything else. We were lucky enough to borrow three iron aged pigs in an attempt to plough up the area, open it up and hopefully reduce the amount of crassula – they did a fantastic job and we will hopefully repeat next summer after the bird breeding season.

The Lings team and volunteers have been laying ride-side blackthorn at Glapthorn Cow Pastures to continue our rotational management of blackthorn to create perfect habitat for black hairstreak butterflies. It’s a tricky job ensuring the blackthorn is cut and laid without being severed or broken. We can’t cut tangled branches as they could be harbouring the eggs of next year’s caterpillars, so each branch has to be carefully untangled from its neighbours before being cut most (but not all) of the way through and then pulled down to as near to horizontal as we can in much the same way as hedges are laid. If done successfully the laid blackthorn will send up lots of new tender upright growth in the spring which will create the dense blackthorn thickets which are perfect habitat for the butterflies to lay their eggs on as well as helping to open up ride sides and allow more light in to the rides. Black hairstreaks are very limited in the number of sites where they are found, all in an area of the East Midlands. Sunny days from mid June to early July are the best times to see black hairstreaks, often feeding on bramble flowers, and are also good days to look out for common lizards basking on log piles.  

Northants Wider Countryside

28 churchyards in Northamptonshire now hold Churchyard Conservation Awards for their dedication to providing great spaces for people and wildlife. This October’s Forum at Stoke Bruene was a chance for people involved in managing churchyards from across the county to get together, celebrate their efforts and share ideas.  

Lisa Rowley and Katharine Banham were pleased to accept an invitation from St Mary’s Church, Higham Ferrers to present their gold award at a ceremony on the 5^th December.  All of the volunteers that help in the churchyard were invited, along with the Mayor and a local journalist.  A fabulous cake, a facsimile of our gold award plaque, had been made by Alison, one of the volunteers (Lisa and Katharine can report the cake tasted very good as well as looking very good!).

St Mary’s first received an advisory churchyard visit from us in 2019, then entered the churchyard scheme in 2021 and achieved a silver award.  After making very good progress they’ve achieved the gold award this year – very well deserved!  More information about our Churchyard Conservation Awards and how to request an advisory visit can be found here Wild churchyards | Wildlife Trust for Beds Cambs & Northants

We’ve been heavily involved in the both the North and West Northants Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS), documents which will sets out our priorities for nature in Northamptonshire. The North’s LNRS has recently been out for public consultation and the West’s will follow in the New Year.

We’ve been working with the team at the Nene Wetlands to undertake our first water vole reintroduction in the County. 116 water voles were released in early September as part of a 2-year project in conjunction with Stanwick Lakes, and sees the charismatic mammal return to the site after 25 years. We’re hoping these will be shortly followed by our beaver reintroduction in the New Year. 

We’ve been working with Nene Part Trust to deliver the West Holmes Natural flood management project, a spillway has been created in a naturally low part of the bank allowing floodwaters to overtop into a series of ditches and wetland features across the site. November’s floods gave us chance to see it in action for the first time. 

Lara Jones, the new Nene Valley SPA Engagement Officer, has been getting to know the SPA and it's beautiful variety of flora and fauna; and in her words, gained a greater appreciation for wetland habitats, especially early in the morning when twinkling with frost.

She's very excited to work collaboratively with so many fantastic community groups and organisations to make the SPA a fantastic place to be, for people as well as wildlife.