Hello from Paul in Suffolk

[Deer Stalker]

Hi Paul.

[paulechapman]

Thanks to all for the warm welcome!

I am always on the lookout for new records that I can to my website regarding insects, birds, mammals etc. Martins' Meadows is open access (no previous permission required) so if you are visting Suffolk at some time do pay a visit if you can. I think the best time is April/May for the orchids and Snake's-Head Fritilllaries and September for the Colchicums

Paul

[Wild-Woman]

Originally Posted by paulechapman

Thanks to all for the warm welcome!

I am always on the lookout for new records that I can to my website regarding insects, birds, mammals etc. Martins' Meadows is open access (no previous permission required) so if you are visting Suffolk at some time do pay a visit if you can. I think the best time is April/May for the orchids and Snake's-Head Fritilllaries and September for the Colchicums

Paul

Hello Paul. Welcome to WAB. Have fun on the boards. Look forward to your posts.

Julie ww

[Seajay]

Hi Paul and a warm welcome to WAB. I have only recently joined and have found it to be a most interesting site - the best I've seen. Tell me - these SSSI's. If they're for example the ones on your site of meadows and wildflowers, how do you get round the problem of visitors and plant/site protection? A visitor who was perhaps a keen photographer would want to enter the field and pursue his hobby. Do you have paths through the meadow to enable them to do so without damaging the environment? I suppose you could have thousands of visitors a year.

[paulechapman]

Seajay

Thanks for the posting and raising a couple of interesting point about protection on the site.

The guiding principle on allowing people access is the educational benefits it has. I believe (and I think I echo the feelings of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust in this) that if people actually see how remarkable a site is then they will be inspired not only to try to protect and not do any harm but also to find out more about the plants and animals and that helps to promote the general message of conservation.

Fortunately most of the plants are not just found on this site alone hence we do not need to have a warden presence at all times in order to stop people from removing very rare specimens. Our more showy plants such as Snake's Head Fritillaries and Colchicums are available as horticultural plants so the public can buy them from garden centres.

However there are always some people that do not seem to have a conscience and do remove plants such as orchids. These plants rarely transplant well because of the precise conditions they need so we hope that if they did try this they would come to realise the error of their ways and see that it would have been better to have left them where they were found - again this is a case of education. I feel it is more important to allow people to see just how magnificent the site is rather than putting a load of restrictions (and it would also be impossible to police a permit system if one was put into operation). Nevertheless we do ask people to stick to the edges of the fields (where oddly enough some of the best specimens do occur) and if they have a dog to keep it on a lead at all times.

Finally perhaps the fact that the visitor numbers are not too high allows us to proceded with the open access policies. I think the numbers are more in hundreds rather than thousands and if they were higher perhaps a different approach would be needed.

Hope you may be able to visit the site some time and if you are a photographer and get some good shots then do send them along! There are also plenty of other really interesting sites in Suffolk as a visit to the SWT website will show.

Regards

Paul

[Wolfhill]

Hi Paul, welcome to WAB.

[Adey]

Hi Paul and welcome.

Martins' Meadow looks nice, impressive old oak.