{"id":24373,"date":"2023-03-01T16:06:05","date_gmt":"2023-03-01T15:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.countryfile.com\/?p=140115"},"modified":"2023-03-01T16:35:37","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T15:35:37","slug":"new-nightingale-habitat-to-be-created-at-sutton-hoo","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/rss_feed\/new-nightingale-habitat-to-be-created-at-sutton-hoo\/","title":{"rendered":"New nightingale habitat to be created at Sutton Hoo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nightingales may once again be heard at Sutton Hoo, as the National Trust reintroduces coppicing on the estate to provide new habitat for one of Britain\u2019s most iconic songbirds. <\/p>

By Tanya Jackson\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 01 March 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Coppicing is being reintroduced at Sutton Hoo to create new habitat for nightingales and other endangered birds.<\/p>\n

The important National Trust archaeological site \u2013 home to a royal Anglo-Saxon burial and the subject of 2021 film The Dig<\/em> \u2013 has long been a habitat for nightingales. But with the species declining in the UK by as much as 90% in the past 50 years, Sutton Hoo is one of the last remaining habitats for the birds in East Anglia, with four singing males recorded in 2022.<\/p>\n

Now the National Trust is turning to the traditional woodland management technique of coppicing \u2013 which has been used since the Stone Age \u2013 to create the kind of dense scrub that nightingales can nest in.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoppicing has so many benefits for nature. Not only can coppicing help trees to live longer, but it also lets more light and warmth on to the woodland floor,\u201d says Jonathan Plews, National Trust ranger at Sutton Hoo.<\/p>\n

\u201cDifferent species benefit from different levels of light, so having areas at all stages of tree growth supports a wide variety of wildlife, including many rare species of birds.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Coppicing in lower woods.\/Credit: National Trust<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Coppicing \u2013 the practice of repeatedly cutting back tree growth to create multiple, small saplings instead of a thick single trunk \u2013 is known to have been carried out by humans since the Stone Age. It provides ideal habitat for a number of birds, including the red-listed nightingale, which nests at ground level or just above. One of the biggest factors in its decline is said to be habitat loss in the UK, through deforestation, increased deer populations and changes of land use.<\/p>\n

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