Holton Primary to holton pits

On a lovely sunny Autumn day 55 children from years 3, 4, 5 and 6 from Holton St Peter Primary School were invited to explore Holton Pits. They came in two groups. Years 5 and 6 came first and then swapped with years 3 and 4.

Holton Pits was purchased by and for the community in November 2023 after over a year of successful fundraising. Children in years 4 and 5 remembered they had a talk and presentation last year all about the history of Holton Pits and why it was important and needed to be saved.

The initiative was part of Halesworth Climate Action Conference who had asked the custodians of near by open spaces (Blyth Community Cluster Network) to invite their local school to explore their space, and in particular the importance of trees and biodiversity in mitigating climate change.

The visit started with a walk round the areas they would be exploring, chatting about the sites history (they were very excited to learn about the discovery of Southern Mammoth and Plesiosaur bones and also the amount of gravel and sand that were extracted); the SSI; water safety and why the lake isn’t safe to swim in; plants, insects, birds and animals; all the different types of fungi. They also did some map reading in different places to see if they knew where they were.

An exercise on how deep the lake is caused lots of guesses, giggles and gasps. Afterwards the children had a sheet to complete for a scavenger hunt, along with a map of the site and room to draw. The children had a great time running around finding everything and learning about biodiversity and the different things that live in Holton Pits and what we can do to help and how we can look after the environment.

The children then spent some time on one of the new large platforms with handrails, looking safely into the water of the lake to see if they could spot any fish or the various insects.The children had such a lovely time that they didn’t want to go back to school yet - we have promised some more activities and time with them very soon! As a thank you from Holton Pits CIC the children were each given a packet of seeds to take home and grow.

It was lovely to see them all enjoying themselves out in nature and an open space in the fresh air. A joy to see them so full of enthusiasm. The children were well behaved and respectful of the area.

Thank you to all the children, staff and helpers.

Hymenoptera Survey of the Pits

Our Community Ownership Funding included a baseline ecological study of the Pits, something various experts recommended to us. For example the Millennium Green did a survey 20 years ago, and are currently redoing this survey now, to observe the changes over 20 years. A survey is also useful as evidence for funding applications.

Because we already had a rich history of surveys of flora and birds, we have opted for a much more specific survey of Hymenoptera (a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants) because the sandy cliff and open sandy areas are the perfect habitats for many species of wasps and bees, including some rare ones already identified by Hawk Honey.

Adrian Knowles, the Suffolk recorder for Hymenoptera works independently for Wildlife trusts and businesses undertaking surveys, went around with Marion.

We have agreed for him to do 3 full days of surveying, and we will of course be sharing these findings.

Adrian's report findings can be found by clicking here: click to read

The story of Adrian's initial walk around the pits in May can be found here.