The Natural History of Thorpe Morieux

The greater part of the landscape of Thorpe Morieux at this time is intensively farmed, providing only limited opportunities for wildlife. However, areas of woodland, hedgerows, a lake, a reservoir, ponds, roadside verges, the churchyard and gardens all help to provide diversity in the landscape and a great quality if not quantity of flora and fauna.

The Churchyard in the Springtime               

Larger mammals

Roe and Muntjac deer are both common, the former being a nuisance with coppice and new planting. Fallow and Red deer may be seen occasionally but are probably not resident in the parish. Other large mammals present include fox, brown hare, rabbit, hedgehog, stoat, weasel, water vole, grey squirrel and badgers which appear to be increasing in number. Bats have been observed such as the Pipistrelles.

Amphibians and Reptiles

Frogs and toads although present are relatively scarce. Common newts are plentiful near most ponds and some colonies of great crested newts are present. Grass snakes, although scarce, are widespread through the village whilst slow-worms have only been observed at one site.

Fish

The lake and some of the larger ponds in the village contain rudd, carp and a few eels, whilst the River Brett supports minnow, stone loach and three-spined stickleback. The reservoir is stocked with trout for fishing.

Butterflies and moths

Butterflies observed here are gatekeeper, meadow brown, wall brown, ringlet, small heath, small tortoiseshell, peacock, red admiral, comma, painted lady, common blue, brimstone, large white, small white, orange tip, small skipper and speckled wood. Larger moths observed include the poplar hawk, privet hawk, hummingbird hawk, six spot burnet and large yellow under-wing.

Dragonflies

Dragonflies observed in the past few years include the emperor, brown aeshna, libellula depressa, four-spotted libellula, ruddy sympetrum, common blue damselfly and large red damselfly.

Right Wing Feather - Tawny Owl

Birds

While some species such as green woodpecker, sparrow hawk and colared dove have been on the increase recently, rather more have been in decline such as the skylark, grey partridge and song thrush. Species observed in the past few years include the grey heron, Canada goose, mute swan, mallard, teal, tufted duck, pochard, cormorant, moorhen, coot, kingfisher, kestrel, sparrow hawk, tawny owl, barn owl, little owl, red-legged partridge, pheasant, lapwing, golden plover, woodcock, common snipe, black-headed gull, herring gull, wood pigeon, stock dove, collared dove, turtle dove, cuckoo, swift, swallow, house martin, green woodpecker, greater-spotted woodpecker, lesser-spotted woodpecker, skylark, pied wagtail, spotted flycatcher, dunnock, whitethroat, willow warbler, chiff-chaff, sedge warbler, wren, garden warbler, nightingale, robin, field-fare, redwing, blackbird, song thrush, mistle thrush, long-tailed tit, marsh tit, coal tit, blue tit, great tit, goldcrest, treecreeper, yellowhammer, chaffinch, greenfinch, goldfinch, bullfinch, linnet, house sparrow, starling, jay, magpie, jackdaw, rook, carrion crow, greenshank, ringed plover and oyster catcher.

Flora

Areas of ancient woodland in the village contain many of the species associated with this habitat including herb paris, oxlip, twayblade and wild garlic. The river Brett and its associated wet areas also supports a good range of aquatic and bank-side plants. Roadside verges are also rich in some places, and a survey by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust in June 1999 recorded the following species on a 500 metre length of verge:  agrimony, hedge bedstraw, field bindweed, hedge bindweed, birds-foot trefoil, bramble, false brome, white bryony, burnet-saxifrage, creeping buttercup, meadow buttercup, wild carrot, lesser catstail, creeping cinquefoil, cleavers, red clover, sulphur clover, white clover, cocksfoot, cowslip, ox-eye daisy, dandelion, white dead nettle, wood dock, crested dog's tail, dogwood, common fleabane, meadow foxtail, goatsbeard, ground ivy, rough hawkbit, hogweed, field horsetail, black knapweed, scentless mayweed, annual meadow-grass, meadowsweet, black medick, dog's mercury, stinging nettle, false oatgrass, yellow oatgrass, bee orchid, pyramidial orchid, cow parsley, broad-leaved plantain, hoary plantain, ribwort plantain, spiny rest harrow, dog rose, field rose, perennial ryegrass, field scabious, selfheal, silverweed, perennial sowthistle, germander speedwell, perforate St. John's wort, creeping thistle, timothy, travellers joy, tufted vetch, meadow vetchling, sweet violet, great willowherb, hedge woundwort, yarrow, Yorkshire fog, ash, blackthorn, elm, hawthorn, hazelfield maple, oak, spindle and willow.

Contact email for this page is: naturalhistory@thorpe-morieux,org.uk