The lost landscape of Leavenheath

Arger Fen & Spouse's Vale is known as one of the best bluebell woods in Suffolk, but this beautiful part of the county has much more to offer nature lovers. The 1783 map of Suffolk shows a scattering of rough, furzy commons across the south of the county, from Sudbury to Nayland. Over the centuries, these have all but disappeared, marked only by the village names and clumps of bracken and gorse on roadside verges and field edges. One of the largest of these south Suffolk heaths was at Leavenheath.

Buying the 76 acres of farmland at Ford's Heath is an opportunity for Suffolk Wildlife Trust create something akin to this lost landscape. Most of the land is a large, sweeping arable field with poor, stoney soil. The plan is to let nature take the lead, helped along by some light grazing, to enable a grassy commons landscape to develop.

During Suffolk Wildlife Trust's first 50 years, their efforts have necessarily focused on saving Suffolk's pristine habitats as nature reserves. Looking to the future, they increasingly need to think more creatively to seek new opportunities for wildlife on marginal farmland like this.

Perhaps more than any other nature reserve, the growth of Arger Fen & Spouse's Vale demonstrates Suffolk Wildlife Trust's vision to create large areas for wildlife.