Although golf is the main attraction, the quiet corners of the course are proving popular with our local wildlife. Ongoing conservation and sensitive management work is showing results, with many bird species making the most of the club’s wild edges and open areas.
 

We currently have five Barn Owl boxes on site, with at least one regularly occupied and often producing a brood of Barn Owl chicks. Barn Owls are specialist hunters of Short Tailed Voles and need open grassland to hunt successfully. Kestrels, another grassland
hunter, are also a regular sight, exhibiting their trademark hovering above the course. A pair of Oystercatchers, the striking black and white wading birds with loud, piping calls, have been seen regularly around the roughs.
 

We’ve recently introduced a supplementary bird feeding scheme to support Turtle Doves, one of the UK’s fastest-declining birds. These exotic looking summer visitors have declined by 98% since the 70’s. Although we’ve not seen Turtle Doves feeding yet, other declining species like Yellowhammers and Linnets, along with Stock Doves, have been making good use of the feeding area. Turtle Doves are known to breed only a few miles from Halesworth Golf, so the combination of large bushy hedgerows, open ponds
and a new seed resource offer good opportunities for this remarkable summer visitor. This month we’ve also recorded Bullfinches, Blackcaps, Common and Lesser Whitethroats in the hedgerows surrounding various holes.
 

Moving forwards, we hope to install a small number of woodland bird boxes in the more secluded parts of the course to support nesting species like Blue Tit, Great Tit, Robin and Wren. Last summer we were pleased to record some interesting flora, with both
Pyramidal and Bee Orchid flowering in good numbers around the woodland and plantation edges.
 

New records of exciting flora and fauna are a good sign that sensitive habitat management is creating the conditions that wildlife needs to thrive. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for any interesting wildlife -

 

Please send any sightings to harry.read@wildernessreserve.com, thank you!