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Thursday, 6 May 2010

Water Rail, one of the birds of Kiln Meadow.

Kiln Meadow: A special local habitat under threat

Kiln Meadow is an area of tussocky grassland lying to the south of Ipswich between Spring Wood Local Nature Reserve (LNR) and Bobbits Lane. The meadow is bounded on three sides by Local Nature Reserves: Spring Wood itself, which is ancient woodland and a designated County Wildlife Site; Millennium Wood LNR which is a mixture of new woodland planted by scores of local volunteers and regenerated woodland; and Bobbits Lane LNR: a recently designated County Wildlife Site comprising alder carr and wet meadows which provide habitat for rare and protected species such as otter, water vole, kingfisher, little egret, water rail, lesser spotted woodpecker, occasional bullfinch, and a vast colony of toads. IBC are considering selling Kiln Meadow as building land, which would end its current use by local people for recreation and exercise, as well as severely damaging wildlife both on the site itself and in the LNRs which surround it. Most significantly, building on Kiln Meadow would inevitably affect the hydrology of the area and almost certainly have an adverse affect on the water meadows across Bobbits Lane, which rely on the fresh, clean water flowing through Kiln Meadow for their existence. Amongst the wildlife which would be affected by any hydrological changes is the largest recorded road-crossing toad colony in the UK (featured on BBC Radio 4's World on the Move - Great Animal Migrations 2009) which migrates across Bobbits Lane from Kiln Meadow and Spring Wood to breed in the water meadows each spring. Building on Kiln Meadow would destroy their migration route as well as a substantial part of their hibernation sites and feeding grounds for the rest of the year. European or common toads (Bufo bufo) were declared a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species in 2007, due to the decline in their numbers - a decline highlighted again recently by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, who estimate that 30% of amphibian species are now at risk of extinction due to habitat loss, such as this type of development, and other factors. Over the last few years a toad patrol has operated each morning and evening throughout the migration period - which typically lasts from late February to early April - to prevent road casualties as the toads cross Bobbits Lane. Last spring, volunteers helped over 5,475 toads reach the breeding site in safety. At the time of writing this, after a delay of over two weeks compared to last year, the migration is underway once more and the numbers are already in the thousands. Whether the harsh winter has affected the population size this year remains to be seen. Although Kiln Meadow is owned by IBC, it actually lies within the Babergh District Council (BDC) planning area. IBC applied to BDC for outline planning permission in 2002; however, the permission was not granted until late 2007. In the meantime both Millennium Wood and Bobbits Meadows had been declared as Local Nature Reserves and the toad population had increased from a few hundreds to the thousands recorded in recent years. Although BDC's planners were informed of this by Suffolk Wildlife Trust, they did not make any mention of it in their planning consent, despite their legal responsibility to safeguard biodiversity under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act. As a result, Save Kiln Meadow (SKiM), a campaign group urging IBC not to sell the land, but to make it available as open space for the benefit of local people and the wildlife it supports, approached the Local Government Ombudsman, who subsequently found BDC to be at fault due to these failings. SKiM have also lobbied IBC councillors over the land, obtained letters of support from Natural England and Amphibian & Reptile Conservation, generated wide public support to oppose the sale of the land, and made several appearances in the local media. The outline planning permission for developing the site expires at the end of October, so matters will come to a head shortly. Russell Williams (acting Chief Executive of IBC) and Liz Harsant (leader of the Council) have said that the meeting to decide whether to sell the meadow to developers will take place following the coming election. Please visit Kiln Meadow and the adjacent sites, and forward sightings of birds and other recorded taxa, especially red listed and BAP species back to the Ipswich RSPB Group and to Ray Sidaway. For more information, and the latest news on the campaign and the site itself visit www.greenlivingcentre.org.uk/iwg/skim.htm or contact Ray Sidaway on 01473 259104.

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