The Sinfield Nature Conservation Trust
White House Farm

Labyrinth Society Link

Labyrinth Project 2008 - To find out more please see our Labyrinth page or Centre Project page.

March/April 2008 issue
of Resurgence magazine
www.resurgence.org

Patron of The Sinfield Trust
We are honoured to have Satish Kumar as a patron of The Sinfield Trust. 
Satish Kumar has been editor of Resurgence magazine for over thirty years.  His autobiography, No Destination, has sold 50,000 copies and is published by Green books. 
In 2008, Satish Kumar presented a 50-minute documentary on the BBC as part of the Natural World series.  In the programme Satish introduced the Dartmoor scenes and sights that most inspire him and contemplated the lessons they hold for humanity.  A highly acclaimed documentary that mixed eastern philosophy with the western landscape of Dartmoor; the programme was watched by over 3.6 million people.
To see a brief biography, please click here.

Creating the Greenest
County Award Ceremony

Creating the Greenest County Awards

The Sinfield Trust has been highly commended for its contribution to biodiversity in Suffolk by the Creating the Greenest County initiative.  We received a certificate at an award ceremony in February 2008.  We are all delighted with the accolade and would like to thank all our supporters who help us achieve the ongoing conservation work at the farm.

Cattle At White House Farm: To view our cattle page, please click here.

Rare breed British White cattle graze the meadows and hedgerow margins.  In 2008 it is also planned to graze within some of the woodland glade areas.

©Kevin Lewis

Suffolk Community Barn Owl Project - The Sinfield Trust hasworked with Suffolk Wildlife Trust (SWT) to install barn owl nest boxes at White House Farm as part of SWT's Community Project.  The Sinfield Trust has raised funds to install two nest boxes on oak trees at the farm.  Charlotte Daniel, Rachael Dobbie and Ross Troup are accredited agents of a Schedule 1 Licence for nest recording so they will be monitoring the boxes at the farm. 
Barn owls have been declining since the 1930s and their current population in Suffolk is estimated at 100-125 pairs out of the national 4,000 pairs.  The barn owl population is showing signs of recovery and well-sited nest boxes will help address the shortage of natural nest sites for owls. 

BT Community Connections Award - In June 2007, The Sinfield Nature Conservation Trust was awarded a free computer with a year's free BT broadband access as part of a BT Community Connections award scheme.  The trust previously had to rely on using a computer 8 miles from the farm.  Now Charlotte can update this website at the farm and volunteers can make use of the computer facilities when on site.

BT East of England regional director, Peter McCarthy-Ward, visited White House Farm in September 2007 and volunteers (and British White cattle) took part in a photo shoot.  An article appeared in the East Anglian Daily Times environment supplement on 17th September 2007.

Winter Hedgerow Management
Nigel Creswell can be seen here trimming the roadside boundary hedges.  The task was completed on Wednesday 12th December - an ideal time for the work to be carried out when the hedgerow growth is dormant.  Our thanks to local landowner Andrew Fane for his help with the project.

Stroke Association Visit June 2007 - We were delighted to host a visit from the local Stroke Association carers', volunteers' and members' group.  Refreshments and Amanda's cakes were served at the summerhouse followed by games on the lawn and walks through the woodland and wildflower meadows.


Field Trips To read about the field trips which have taken place at White House Farm, please click here

Volunteers maintaining a path

Bat boxes made by volunteers

Volunteer Days 2007/08 - Rachael Dobbie will be organising volunteer days from September 2007 onwards.  Regular volunteer days usually take place on the first Sunday of every month.  To register interest or for further details please contact us and to see our latest work follow this link.

Volunteer day tasks have included constructing habitat boxes, clearing pathways, and maintaining open grassland areas.  We plan to host species identification days for volunteers to help monitor wildlife at the farm. 

The first volunteer day took place at the end of March 2007.  Eight bird and bat boxes were constructed with everyone participating and the boxes were secured to trees or posts on the land.  Thank you to all for your enthusiasm and work!

Organic Vegetable Garden and Orchard - The organic vegetable garden is now well established thanks to dedicated work by John.  The produce from the garden is used for workshop lunches and at events whenever possible.  This year, the small orchard has provided an abundance of fruits including cherries, plums, apples and pears.  In January 2007, Charlotte planted two medlars and a quince tree and they have fruited well for their first year at the farm.