Suffolk golf club sees 25% increase in bird species

Ufford Park Woodbridge Hotel, Golf and Spa in Suffolk has seen a nearly 25 per cent rise in bird species that live at the venue in just eight years, according to a Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) survey.

The club is now home to 39 species and new residents include four mistle thrushes and a number of hawfinches.

Mistle thrushes have been scarcer in south east England because of drier summers in recent years, and sightings of hawfinches – the UK’s largest finch – are increasingly rare because their breeding areas are in decline.

Malcom Key, of the RSPB, said: “One of the interesting things about Ufford Park is that it is evolving and maturing as a habitat. This continuing development results in changes to the bird species that like being there which is why the number of bird species has increased so significantly in the last eight years.”

Hotel boss Tarnia Robertson said as a result of conservation work, the venue was becoming a destination for birdwatchers and wildlife enthusiasts.

“Our 4,000 trees, gorse area and ponds are home to all kinds of wildlife and we work tirelessly to protect the species that have made their home here. Over recent years we have worked hard to expand our wildlife programme. Our greenkeepers do a wonderful job of maintaining the ecology of our grounds to not only preserve the habitats of the existing wildlife but also to make it attractive to new species.

“They have introduced a purely sustainable programme of management throughout the whole golf course from green to rough areas.”