Newsletter Issue 12 March 2015

Uncovering the past at Pipps Ford Preparatory work on the bywash at Pipps Ford revealed the original weir. The intention is to restore this important historic structure by incorporating it into the design of the bywash. The centre section was removed in the sixties when a culvert was Installed to create a causeway over the bywash.

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And now for

something

completely

different

In this issue you will find two unrelated articles that have strong links

to the River Gipping and the River Gipping Trust. Francis Hart gives

an insight into the talks she gives around the country to raise funds

for the Trust. Incidentally she is also the guest speaker at the AGM,

so a great opportunity to hear her in action.

Phil Whittaker, Secretary of the Suffolk Ornithologists’ Group

enthuses about the fantastic birdwatching opportunities to had in the

Gipping Valley. He often chats to the volunteers working at Pipps

Ford about his latest sightings on his way back to his home.

I would like to express my thanks to John Ford for the excellent

photographs he takes, to maintain an accurate record of our

progress. For the latest information and more pix visit our website

Contributions from readers are also very welcome as these add

diversity to the newsletters content. So if you feel like expressing your

views on a particular topic that is relevant to the RGT please

get in contact.

Les Howard (les.jan@hotmail.co.uk)

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Your invitation to attend our

ANNUAL GENERAL

MEETING

7.30PM THURSDAY 23rd

APRIL 2015

NEEDHAM MARKET

COMMUNITY CENTRE

Guest Speaker Francis Hart

A light hearted talk on Mrs Mozart

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Pipps Ford: Backwater Birdwatching

in the Gipping Valley The Pipps Ford area of the Gipping Val-

ley is a great place to visit for a bird

watch. Only about 6 miles up-stream

from Ipswich the area provides a good

variety of habitat, especially considering

its location with borders to the north; the

A14 and to the south the B 113 road and

the main London to Norwich railway line.

Here you will find on-going gravel work-

ings which are complemented by two

completed and restored gravel pits. To the north lies Shrubland Estate with

its extensive woodland and to the south the ancient woodlands of Priestley,

Swingens and Bonny Woods.

Through the centre runs the meandering, mostly sedate River Gipping.

There are a few habitations and gardens and plenty of good mixed hedge-

rows, flood meadow and newer plantations of willow, poplar and other native

trees and shrubs. Older oaks, ash and alders line the stretches of river.

Winter is a time for Thrushes, Fieldfare, Redwing, migrant Song Thrushes

and Blackbirds; there can be sizeable influxes here. Little Egrets also move

into the area in quite significant numbers and roost around the older gravel

workings and even Bitterns have been seen during harsh weather. Wildfowl

numbers build from September with good numbers of Wigeon, Teal and

Gadwall and often a few Shoveller. Snipe including Jack Snipe and Wood-

cock often appear.

It is a good site for warblers in spring, with first Chiffchaff, then Blackcap,

Willow, Sedge and Reed Warbler. Garden Warbler can be quite common

here and Common Whitethroat prolific with up to nineteen singing males

recorded in recent years in little over a square mile. Lesser Whitethroat and

Spotted Flycatcher are other summer breeders and usually one or two pairs

breed. Some stretches of the river have good reed bed stands and these

provide good nesting habitat for Reed and Sedge Warblers. Water Rail are

elusive but always present in the riverside tangles of weed and reed and

their pig like squeals and screeches are always amusing to hear. Grey Wag-

tails breed in small numbers along the river.

Phil Whittaker by the bridge at Pipps Ford

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Waders such as; Lapwings, Red-

shank, Greenshank, Ruff, Dunlin,

Little Ringed Plovers, Common and

Green Sandpipers, Lapwing and

Oystercatcher appear seasonally on

the gravel pits and even on the river-

side. Green Sandpipers are perhaps

the iconic Pipps Ford bird; ever

present and a bit of a mystery as they

are recorded every month of the

year; leaving one to wonder where

they actually breed and how they actually have time to breed at all!

Wheatear always drop in late April and early June, en-route to their breeding

regions and often staying to feed up. Two sites are favoured by Nightingale

and despite the national declines six singing males have been noted. Another

species in severe decline, the Turtle Dove also still appears though 20 years

ago post-breeding flocks of up to 30 birds were seen! These days it’s usually

only one or two!

In autumn almost anything can pass through; Black Redstart, Whinchat and

Stonechat have been recorded. There are excellent vantage points where reg-

ular raptor watches have produced Buzzard, Kestrel, Hobby, Sparrowhawk

and Peregrine Falcon. Red Kite is now being seen each year and birds of prey

have included; Osprey (2 sightings 2014), Hen and Marsh Harrier, Honey and

a Rough-legged Buzzard have all passed over. Even a White Stork was seen

a couple of years ago. This

bird circled then headed east

and actually ended up at

Minsmere RSPB three hours

later! In summer the Hobby

is a daily sighting usually

over local woodland and fre-

quently venturing into the

river valley and pits in search

of dragonflies.

Continued on page 6

Common Buzzard

Common Whitethroat at Pipps Ford

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Barn Owl which has been absent for a few years has made a comeback

recently with two individuals in the area during 2014. The area is also rich in

damsel and dragonfly, butterflies, mammals and wildflowers. Phase one of

the newest gravel pit restoration is now almost complete. Hopefully, the ar-

ea will eventually be managed by Suffolk Wildlife Trust; which was the inten-

tion of the original gravel extraction planning application.

It’s one of those seldom visited places always offering great interest! OS

Ref: TM 108538 Access from: Needham Market which is served by bus and

rail from Ipswich, with access to the river: east along the footpath from

Needham Lake, where there are good car parking facilities. Pipps Ford can

be directly accessed by footpath from near Gallows Hill on the B1113 where

there is a layby for parking. Please keep to public footpaths.

The disused gravel pit at Pipps Ford will be a haven for wildlife

This article was written by Phil Whittaker, Secretary of the Suffolk Ornithologists’

Group. They provide a network and voice for birdwatchers in the county.

For more information email: oakbarn@hotmail.com

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MARTIN BIRD REPORTS

ON PROGRESS

Here we are Spring again and we are looking forward to another year’s productive activity on the Gipping. The winter season has been reasonably kind to us with little in the way of floods or ex-treme cold to hold up the work parties, though numbers have been reduced lately by the onset of seasonal bugs. (Ed: Manflue)

Our main area of operation has again been Pipps Ford, where we have been pre-paring the way for opening up the bywash to the lock, and keeping the towpath downstream clear of overhanging shrub growth.

The big excitement of the year was the discovery by Trevor that what we thought was a random lump of stone has turned out to be the remains of the 18th century bywash weir, with much more extensive remains in situ than anyone had realised. We hope to incorporate their preservation in our latest proposals for the bywash re-instatement.

Work on the bywash itself has been the subject of much helpful debate with the Environment Agency, and while they continue to be supportive and we appreciate their help, the delays incurred while various changes to details are ironed out have been a little frustrating.

The area is undoubtedly of great interest to the EA as it has a number of features that they are anxious to conserve, most noticeably areas of clean gravel in the stream bed and tree cover overhanging the river itself. There are also traces of otter using the stream regularly and evidence of water voles returning

The gravel beds are important for fish and invertebrate breeding purposes and the tree cover helps keep the water temperature cool in Summer, increasing lev-els of oxygen absorption.

We are now on the third variant of our proposals, which envisage an entry point further upstream and an exit point where the current outlet drain is located, and, after all these consultations we are hoping for an approval shortly.

One rather baffling issue we are continuing to investigate is the flooding that has occurred along the footpath between Baylham and Pipps Ford. Between our-selves, the EA and Anglia Water, we have still been unable to come up with a defi-nite reason why this is occurring. The concensus at the moment seems to be blocked field drains south of the flooding site, but why this issue should have aris-en at the end of a dry summer seems inexplicable. Work parties continue every Wednesday and on the first Saturday of every month

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Clearing the debris over the old weir

Levelling the access to the new bridge Investigating the causeway at Pipps Ford

Checking the bywash soil composition

Getting down to the brickwork on the old weir at Pipps Ford

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Top left: Wall supporting the old weir Top right: Colin having a blast. Middle left: Pete & Chard take a breather. Middle right: Work starts on clearing the fallen tree blocking river at Bayhlam Bottom left Trevor & Les find ways to keep warm while clearing up debris

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FRANCIS HART TALKS ON TALKS

She explains, “Over the years I have given talks to a wide range of organisations both to publicise the Trust and raise funds for its works. I’ve spoken to Women’s Institutes, retirement clubs and University of the Third Age branches. I particularly enjoy going to Probus clubs because the retired businessmen often have some well-considered comments and questions. One of my talks touches on the Gipping, but otherwise they’re designed to be primarily entertainment and

wide-ranging in subject matter to appeal to as many different groups as possible. The subject that mentions the Gipping is called Canals and Waterways and is based on a talk I first gave as a junior member of British Waterways’ staff when I joined from university. Some stalwart colleagues who’d spoken about the waterways for years gave me some stories to relate and when an official speaker I travelled about the country speaking to canal societies, IWA branches and other groups on a regu-lar basis as part of BW’s public relations. When I retired from the waterways, I decided I’d like to continue being a speaker and needed to add to my repertoire. I’d enjoyed holidays in Venice and Dubrovnik so developed slide shows on those cities and read up on their history. Amateur drama was another enthusiasm of mine so I researched and wrote scripts about Constanza Mozart, Jane Austen and Celia Fiennes (an early explorer of England on horseback in the 1680s). Mrs Mozart has proved particularly popular and for that I dress in costume of the period and play extracts from Mozart’s music while talking about her life with her famous husband. To illustrate Jane Austen’s life I take on the personality of her sister Cassandra. I hope to continue raising funds for the Gipping while entertaining people and en-joying myself while taking on another appearance and personality for a while. All details of the talks are on my website www.harttalks.co.uk and I can be emailed on talks@harttalks.co.uk.

RIVER GIPPING TALKS Members of the Trust are available to give talks on all aspects of the River Gipping. These centre on the Gipping restoration work to date and celebrate the hard graft of volunteers. The most recent covers building a bridge and bywash at Pipps Ford .(Full information can be found at www.rivergippingtrust.org.uk).

Francis Hart as Mrs Mozart

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Upstream of the lock at Pipps Ford a tree has fallen across the river. This picture was taken in late January 2015 after a heavy rainfall. There are further examples of

A watercolour of Sproughton Mill by local artist Chris Francis

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EDITOR: LES HOWARD 406 Woodbridge Road Ipswich IP4 4EH

01473 712696 les.jan@hotmail.co.uk

The views that are expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily

the views of the River Gipping Trust or its Trustees.