Autumn Meeting - Dove Barn, Groton

We had a cluster update from Jenny, including member benefits, project income so far, summary of events and also an update on the Landscape Recovery application with the Stour Valley Farm Cluster. We also had an update from Esther Rosewarne (Woodland Trust) on the cluster Woods into Management project.

We had two guest speakers. Firstly, Mike Cundy on ‘Solutions for deer management at a landscape scale’ with examples from his work with the Broughton Estate and SWT West Suffolk woodlands and, secondly, Fe Morris (Forestry Commission) on Woodland creation – natural regeneration / hybrid opportunities and capital funding through the current English Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO).

Jenny also updated the group on the current funding opportunities – including ELM (SFI, CS, LR), alongside BNG and private finance. With some examples from the cluster – SPAR mitigation project at DH Farms and Juliet updated the group on West Suffolk Hospital mitigation project with Heathpatch. We also had an update from Jeremy Squirrel on LENS (Landscape Enterprise Networks), his experiences and sharing the idea of a cluster scale application ahead of the upcoming Jan deadline.