The beauty of the Wenhaston Commons is as much a result of community spirit, as it is the biodiversity that they support.

There are five in total, supporting a dazzling display of wildlife, including a much-loved colony of sand martins.

Alan Miller is one of the many local people who volunteer their time to make sure that this important remnant of the Suffolk Sandlings continues to thrive for years to come.

The village of Wenhaston has five commons, two of which are privately owned, whilst the remainder have no owner and so are managed by the parish council under a Scheme for the Regulation and Management of Common Land which are also subject to a number of Bye Laws.

The largest common is Black Heath, a 16ha remnant of Sandlings heath, a habitat that once stretched from Ipswich to Lowestoft. Lowland heathland is a rare habitat with the UK holding a significant proportion of the global resource but some 83% of Sandlings heath vanished between the 1930’s and 1980’s. Much of this was lost through agriculture, building, forestry, air bases and golf courses and the remainder suffered through a lack of management.

In the 1980’s a massive effort was made to restore the remaining areas, reducing the invasive trees and bracken enabling the true heathland species to thrive. This effort was made by the Sandlings Group which consisted of Suffolk Wildlife Trust, RSPB, National Trust, local councils, Forestry Commission and some private landowners. Within ten years some 80% of the remaining areas was under some form of management much of which became designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI ) or County Wildlife Site (CWS), Black Heath is a County Wildlife Site. Even with all this work heathland on the Suffolk coast remains very fragmented with many of the smaller sites isolated preventing species moving threatening their survival and putting them at risk of local extinction.

It was at this time the Wenhaston Commons Group was formed consisting of interested villagers supported by the then Suffolk Coastal District Council with the intention of managing the habitat on their doorstep. The group still exists to this day and when 2012 SCDC passed the Scheme of Regulation to the parish council, Suffolk Wildlife Trust were brought in to help with the management of Black Heath including securing grant aid by way of a Countryside Stewardship Scheme and working alongside the group.

The last ten years has seen significant progress in restoring and maintaining the common. The use of machinery such as a bracken bruiser has had a tremendous effect on reducing the bracken cover merely by rolling and crushing the growing fronds. However, two large fires in 2016 and 2019 burned large areas of old derelict gorse and although at first glance this looked to be a disaster it did in effect clear areas back down to ground level which would have taken years of volunteer effort to achieve.

Gorse if left will smother all the lower growing heathers and grasses and so a balance needs to be struck as to how much to leave and to control areas by coppicing increasing the amount of young growth. These burned areas were then scraped back down to mineral soil with some areas reseeded with heather litter from other heathland sites but large areas have been left to regenerate naturally the heather seed lying dormant in the soil waiting for the right conditions to germinate.

Sand pits are a frequent feature of the commons and the one on Black Heath had been allowed to scrub over with gorse so in 2014 it was decided to open the pit again with a view to attracting sand martins. Several days of chainsaws cleared the site and then an excavator was brought in to dig some fresh vertical sand faces. The following spring as hoped sand martins arrived and started digging their burrows and since that time between 20 and 40 pairs have successfully reared their broods in the pit and now regular walkers on the common look forward to their return each spring.

The logo of the Wenhaston Commons Group is the silver studded blue butterfly, a species that is dependent on heathers particularly bell heather (Erica cinerea) and black ants. In 1984 work began developing Martlesham Heath, the former air base was to be transformed into a large housing estate and in the way was an area of heathland and a large colony of silver studded blue butterflies than and now a scarce butterfly in East Anglia. A plan was to move the habitat and the butterflies to a donor site something unthinkable now, thankfully conservation is a little higher up the planning agenda now. Whilst the moving of the habitat was largely a failure a number of butterflies were released on the north side of Black Heath as although they had been present locally on Mill Common in the sixties there were no records for Black Heath. This colony thrived under the watchful eye of the Commons Group until around 15 years ago when numbers were dwindling to single figures mainly due to gorse and scrub encroaching the heather areas. 

The arrival of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust enabled much larger areas of heather to be restored and so in 2017 in light of fires having the ability to destroy the remaining butterflies it was decided to introduce some silver studded blues from the large colony at Minsmere. Consent was obtained from Natural England and 10 male and 12 females were released on the south side of the common where work had restored areas of bell heather and surveys confirmed there were colonies of black ants. The ants have a symbiotic relationship with the butterflies, the females lay their eggs close to the ground which hatch in spring, the ants then take the larvae underground into the nest chamber where they feed off sugary secretion produced by a gland in the caterpillar’s body. In turn the caterpillar is safe from predators, the chrysalis then remains underground in the ant’s nest until the adult emerges. Five years on the colony is very healthy with up to 60 butterflies counted on any one day, work continues to ensure there are corridors throughout the common to allow these low flying insects the ability to populate new areas. 

All the restoration work has benefitted some of the typical heathland bird species notably woodlark which hold one or two territories every year, some years more successful than others but as a ground nesting bird sharing its habitat with people and dogs protecting a nest on a site with open access is never an easy task. This year has seen the first sighting of stonechats so hopefully they may be a future breeding species.

Meanwhile the commons group holds two work parties each month maintaining this precious resource on our doorstep for wildlife, residents and visitors alike.