Wildlife April 2017 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

The magazine of the Sussex Wildlife Trust

Issue 180

â&#x20AC;˘

Spring/Summer 2017

Wildlife 1

Membership

Meet the teamâ&#x20AC;Ś Jamie Warren

I moved into the charity sector ten years ago after many years of working in retail and it has proved one of the most rewarding decisions I have ever made. I joined the Trust over a year ago as Membership Services and Data-base Coordinator. In my spare time I play bass guitar in several bands including an Elvis Tribute Band.

Helen Graham

When I joined the staff as a membership recruiter three years ago I discovered just how passionate local people are about wildlife and the natural environment. I am now a Membership Support Officer, which is fantastic because I still get to talk to our members which I love doing.

Brian Clay

I work part-time processing membership applications and updating records as well as answering telephone and email enquiries from members. I am a keen bird watcher and a member of the British Trust for Ornithology and in my spare time regularly contribute to a number of bird surveys including garden, farmland and breeding birds.

ÂŠ Mike Read

Arlington Bluebell Walk Since 1972 the bluebell wood at Bates Green Farm has been open to the public during April and May, delighting many thousands of visitors with carpets of beautiful bluebells. The Arlington Bluebell Walk and Farm Trail has now developed into seven interesting walks across three neighbouring farms, all for the benefit of local charities. The walk is now open (Saturday 8th April) until 14th May from 10am until 5pm each day. Thanks to the generosity of the McCutchan family, who created the walks and look after the wood, Sussex Wildlife Trust will be on site in the Old Granary during the weekends of the Bluebell Walk. There will be information on bluebells and other wildlife species, a photography display and hands-on activities for children. Please do come over to our stand and say hello.

For more information visit www.bluebellwalk.co.uk

Gill Fletcher

I first started working for the Trust in 1989 and held the post of Office Manager until 1995. Five years ago I returned on a part time basis and am now delighted to be working in the Membership Department during Elli Mitchelsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s maternity leave. I have lived in Sussex all my life and walk in the countryside around Storrington where I live, every day. You can contact our membership department on 01273 497532 or email: membership@sussexwt.org.uk 2 Wildlife

Wildlife magazine is published twice a year, in April and October. In between issues you can keep up to date with news and events on our website www.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk where you can also sign up for our monthly enewsletter.

Our promise

When you join us as a member we promise to keep your personal data safe. We store your details securely, and only use them to manage your membership, including sending this magazine. Sussex Wildlife Trust does not sell, trade or rent your personal information to others. We sometimes use the services of third parties such as mailing houses to issue communications on our behalf, and require them to protect your personal information to the same degree that we do. If you provide your telephone number and email address we may contact you by these methods from time to time. We sometimes send information about other aspects of our work such as conservation news, events, fundraising appeals and volunteer opportunities. Should you prefer not to receive this information you can opt-out of mail, telephone or email contact by notifying us on membership@sussexwt.org.uk or telephoning 01273 497532.

Inside this issue… From the Chief Executive

Threats of development carpeTng the Sussex Downs back in the 1920s sTmulated some of our Councils to purchase land to protect it in ‘perpetuity’. In fact Sussex became something of a cause célèbre in the protecTon of the countryside, eventually leading to the planning controls we know today. Local Authority land now delivers many public beneﬁts. Places like Eastbourne, Brighton, Adur and Worthing downland have been purchased through Acts of Parliament, public subscripTon and other means. These iconic landscapes are now held in trust for us by our local authoriTes and their care is democraTcally accountable to the public.

The Government’s austerity policy has, however, resulted in large budget cuts and local Councils are now struggling to make ends meet. One way to raise money is to sell their land. But, you can only sell the family silver once. One-off capital injecTons will be sacrificing future annual revenue. And, it goes deeper than this. Public land is not just a figure on a balance sheet. It has a wealth of Natural Capital. This includes rare chalk grassland with its orchids and herbs, sensiTvely managed farmland reversing the trend of declining bird populaTons, coastal landscapes with their vulnerable shingle flora, woodlands and precious lowland heaths.

In addiTon there is access to fresh-air, breath-taking views, beauTful landscapes, our rich and centuries-old cultural heritage and the clean drinking water we all rely on.

A great flaw is that these public benefits are rarely valued in a monetary sense. Councilors are concerned about their balance sheets but these assets do not appear. Our valuing system is flawed, our economy is flawed and as a result our decision making is flawed.

REGULARS 4

Wildlife news Chris Packham records our nightingales for TV special, we report on how plastics are affecting bird life and we are delighted to announce that this magazine is now available online.

How to make the most of your membership. Request your copy of our new guide to Sussex wildlife, Discovering Wildlife.

WildCall

Charlotte Owen answers your questions about the natural world.

Reserves roundup

Investing in nature Supermarket carrier bag charge raises £3,000 to support our work with young people. Details of our Charity Ball in September and news of a new eco power garden at Woods Mill.

Sussex Life carries a regular monthly section featuring Sussex Wildlife Trust. Copies are available from your local newsagent or by annual subscription. Contact Sussex Life tel: 01858 438832

The aim of the Sussex Wildlife Trust is to conserve the Sussex landscape, wildlife and its habitats, and to use its knowledge and expertise to help the people of Sussex to enjoy, understand and take action to this end. For membership details please telephone 01273 497532

Dr Tony Whitbread

Membership

News and views from our land management team. Discover which of our nature reserves has been voted Britain’s favourite nature reserve.

FEATURES

Front cover: stag beetle © Philippe Clement/naturepl.com

Meet the dormouse hunters The Ripple Effect Fran Southgate, our Living Landscapes Officer talks about partnership projects which are improving our rivers and countryside for the wildlife living there.

Outdoor Play Sue Curnock explains how encouraging pre-school children to explore and play outside helps them develop a love of nature, aids concentration and also their self-esteem.

Our species-rich nature reserves Graeme Lyons, our senior ecologist, explores our top ten species-rich nature reserves. Your guide to find out where to go and what to see to enjoy our wildlife at its best.

Wildlife Calendar What to look for when out and about from April to September. A month by month guide of what to see and where to find it.

Wildlife is produced and published by: The Sussex Wildlife Trust, Woods Mill, Henﬁeld, West Sussex BN5 9SD. Tel: 01273 492630 Email: enquiries@sussexwt.org.uk Website: sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk Editor: Amanda Reeves

Design: Barry Sharman Design Tel: 07801 659094 Email: barry@barrysharman.com

Advertising: Amanda Reeves Woods Mill, Henfield, West Sussex, BN5 9SD Email: amandareeves@sussexwt.org.uk

The Sussex Wildlife Trust is a company limited by guarantee. Registered Company No: 698851 Registered Charity No: 207005 Chairman of Council: Carole Nicholson Chief Executive: Dr. Tony Whitbread

CBP000121190303155716

Wildlife 3

WildlifeNews CHARITY BALL

Sussex Wildlife Trust welcomed over 200 people to their first ever Charity Ball last September.

Thanks to the generosity of guests taking part in silent and live auctions, over £40,000 was raised on the night making this event an unqualified success.

Called the Wilderness Wonder, the Ball was held in a luxury marquee set in the grounds of the spectacular Folkington Manor Private Estate, nestled in the heart of the South Downs National Park between Lewes and Eastbourne.

Fran Southgate and Carole Nicholson

REPORT FROM THE CHAIRMAN

CAROLE NICHOLSON

I spent an afternoon at the House of Commons last October with Fran Southgate, Living Landscapes Officer where we were presented with the 2016 Park Protector Award for our Arun & Rother Connections Project (ARC).

The project is a partnership and was also represented by Rachel Carless from the RSPB and Margaret Paren, Chair of the South Downs National Park. ARC is a £2.2 million landscape scale project funded by Heritage Lottery Fund and delivered by a partnership of seven organisations working alongside local communities to promote a thriving river system where wildlife flourishes and where people value the unique, natural and cultural heritage. This is a classic project that describes our Vision for Sussex brilliantly and emphasizes what can be achieved by partners pulling together and making something really effective come together for the benefit of people and nature. Well done to Fran and all those who contributed to making this award possible.

Carole Nicholson, Fran Southgate and Rachel Carless 4 Wildlife

Guests who all attended to help raise funds to protect the beautiful landscapes and wild places of Sussex, were greeted by magical woodland characters portrayed by theatre students from the Brighton Academy and had the opportunity to get up close with a barn owl and a tawny owl during pre-dinner drinks.

Following the drinks reception guests enjoyed an outstanding three course meal designed to showcase sustainable locally sourced food, with fine wines, which was followed by cabaret entertainment, a raffle, and a live and silent auction.

Students from Brighton Academy entertaining guests at our 2016 Charity Ball © Graham Franks

A special star act appearance by Bjorn Again provided the highlight of the evening encouraging everyone to the dance floor as they performed the greatest hits of ABBA. For details and to book for this year’s event see back page or email: annethwaites@sussexwt.org.uk or call Anne on 01273 497522.

Chris Packham visited Woods Mill to record our nightingales for the SKY TV production The Animal Symphony, an exciting and entertaining documentary which explores the growing scientific interest in animal responses to music.

NIGHTINGALE SYMPHONY

The programme was a collaboration between naturalist Chris Packham and world-renowned composer, Nitin Sawhney. Chris used his phenomenal knowledge of the natural world to find out more about the possible connections between animal song and human music, including why his own dogs howl along to certain musical tracks! It also charted Nitin’s creation of a symphony, inspired by new understanding of these connections. The symphony was performed by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. One of the movements of the symphony was inspired by a visit to Sussex Wildlife Trust’s Woods Mill Reserve. Nitin and Chris, accompanied by wildlife expert Mike Russell were privileged to hear the show-stopping song of a nightingale. nightingale

Chris Packham

AMBER ON THE WILD SIDE

Amber Rudd, MP for Hastings and Rye, met with our chief executive Dr Tony Whitbread to talk about wildlife and environment issues post Brexit.

After the meeting, Dr Whitbread said, ‘I was delighted to have the opportunity to meet Ms Rudd in her constituency office in St Leonards-on-Sea, near Hastings and talk to her about some of the issues in her constituency with regard to wildlife and wild places. We talked about key environmental issues and opportunities including improving the contact between local people and nature especially in urban areas. We also discussed how to improve woodland management to benefit people as well as the wildlife.’

Issue 180

Amber Rudd MP with Dr Tony Whitbread © Graham Franks

We are very pleased to be working with the Leysdown Conservation Trust whose generous support has enabled the recruitment of three new trainees: Bruno, Caled and Kyle.

The trainees

Bruno Passo 38 –

I am working with the People and Wildlife team encouraging and engaging people to enjoy spending time outdoors developing a love of nature and wildlife. I have been working with Nature Bruno Passo Tots, Youth Rangers and Wildlife Rangers and involved with Wild Beach Taster Sessions in Worthing and in delivering outreach sessions, guided walks, school visits and seasonal events. I help children and young people with arts and crafts using natural materials. I do some storytelling, organise games and help with guided walks. In the future I hope to become a Wildlife Education Officer so I can continue engaging with people and interest them in our wildlife and the importance of preserving it.

In response to requests from members, Wildlife magazine is now available in a digital format, which you can choose to receive as well as, or instead of the printed edition. If you’d like to read Wildlife online in the future (and not receive a printed copy) please contact the membership team to let us know your preferences. We will send you an email alert twice a year when it is published, so please don’t forget to send us your preferred email address.

The magazine of the Sussex Wildlife Trust

CONSERVATION CAREER BOOST

The trainees are with us for an 18-month programme which will equip them with the wildlife conservation and people engagement skills required for a future career in the environmental sector. The programme is all thanks to the vision of Dr Vera Dalley Lederman who set up the Leysdown Conservation Trust which came into being upon her death in 2012. Dr Lederman’s vision was for continued improvement and protection of the Sussex countryside, along with education to encourage the protection of the natural heritage of Sussex for future generations to enjoy. We are pleased to be embarking on this project and are grateful for the support of the Trustees of the Leysdown Conservation Trust.

WILDLIFE ONLINE

Caled House 29 –

I work in the land management team which is based just outside Lewes. I travel to a different Sussex Wildlife Trust nature reserve each day, and could be moving livestock or helping to control Caled House invasive scrub. Other areas of training involve tree felling, fencing, mending paths or putting in new signage or interpretation. I am delighted that this training is centred on an environmentally friendly approach to practical tasks which is important to me as I want to continue a career in conservation. Another bonus is that the training programme gives a greater awareness of health and safety issues.

Kyle Jennings, 23 –

I work with the Land Management team and my day to day work includes a variety of different tasks involved in maintaining and managing nature reserves. I also work with livestock, Kyle Jennings under the supervision of the reserve managers and work with volunteers and school groups. I’ve learnt a lot about habitat management and the different challenges of conservation and my training has so far included using a chainsaw, brushcutter, essential First Aid and 4x4 off road driving. After training, I hope to find a job doing similar work as an assistant ranger and eventually ranger/reserve manager for a wildlife trust or other related organisation.

•

Spring/Summer 2017

Email: membership@sussexwt.org.uk or telephone: 01273 497532.

Nine out of ten birds in the North Sea have eaten some kind of plastic. It’s a shocking fact.

PLASTICS SHOCK

Plastic will be our great legacy on earth. Long after we are gone and our buildings have crumbled to dust there will be a layer of plastic left behind. Picture the cliffs at Seven Sisters, made of billions of tiny animals compressed into the chalk. Now imagine them made out of sweet wrappers, plastic water bottles and carrier bags. Humans use an obscene amount of plastic. During 2014 shops in England alone gave out 7.6 billion plastic bags and 15 million plastic bottles are used in the UK every day. Only half are recycled and the rest end up in landfills or littering our seas and landscapes. They pose a serious risk to wildlife which can choke on them or starve after mistaking plastic pieces for food. At present we simply don’t have the resources to retroactively clean up plastics and the problem needs to be addressed at source. The carrier bag charge is a good start and since its introduction in England in 2015, 80% fewer bags are being used. Even so we’re still using 1.5 billion bags a year, so we’ve got a long way to go. We need to focus on the three Rs. Reducing the amount of plastic we use in the first place, reusing what we do use and eventually recycling when it reaches the end of its life span. A refundable deposit on plastic bottles, already in place in many countries, would be a move in the right direction. cormorant © Dave Kilbey

Wildlife 1

ÂŠ Graeme Lyons

Dormouse hunters by Mark Monk-Terry Reserve Manager, West Dean Woods

Amongst all the rare and interesting species that can be found at West Dean Woods, there are several species that are rarely ever seen. Of these, one of the best known and loved is the dormouse. This fascinating, small mammal is mainly nocturnal and is of course famous for its long winter hibernation, often sleeping from October through to April. This has led to many local names including dory mouse or sleep mouse. 6 Wildlife

Dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius) are often associated with hazel and are sometimes referred to as hazel dormice, although they can be found in hedgerows and even conifer plantations. Dormice actually need a variety of foods throughout their year and when waking from hibernation, are likely to feed on flowers of species such as hawthorn, selecting the ripe stamens covered in pollen. As these disappear, they will feed on other flowers such as honeysuckle and bramble until midsummer when the lack of flowers, berries and nuts mean that they must eat insects such as caterpillars and aphids. By autumn, there are plenty of berries and nuts available and dormice will feast on blackberries, yew berries, ash seeds, beech mast and hazel nuts. The hazel nuts are very important as they will allow the dormice to build up sufficient fat reserves to see them through winter hibernation.

At West Dean Woods, the Sussex Wildlife Trust has been monitoring dormice populations in and around the coppice woodlands since 2006. We hope that the data from this on-going survey will give some indication of the health, distribution and needs of the dormice living there and enable us to provide the optimum habitats for these wonderful mammals. Much of the survey work is carried out by a team of dedicated volunteers without whom we would not be able to compile the necessary data vital to ensuring this species continues to thrive. Leading the volunteers is husband and wife team Maria and Rodney Wildman who also run the Trustâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Chichester members group.

To find out more about volunteering opportunities with Sussex Wildlife Trust contact Lucie Maldoom: tel: 01273 497535 email: luciemaldoom@sussexwt.org.uk sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/volunteering

Wild Flower Lawns & Meadows

ÂŠ Miles Davies

A report from volunteers Maria and Rodney Wildman

About ten years ago, Mark Monk-Terry suggested West Dean Woods might be a good site for dormice but volunteers would be needed to carry out the monitoring. We thought, why not give it a go? We underwent training to obtain our dormouse handling licences, and then applied for our own licences to Natural England (then English Nature).

So training done and licences obtained, the next step was boxes. We approached a couple of DIY outlets who very generously gave us a few sheets of suitable ply wood, enough for our project. Then, we had to build them. Rodney had a pattern and cut the wood to the required size. He and another volunteer, John Herring, spent a very cold February morning in our garage on the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;dormouse box assembly lineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

We then put the boxes in place and organised a rota to check them regularly. In March and April we found they had been used by birds which was encouraging as it meant they were suitable for wildlife. Once the chicks fledged we started to find dormice in the boxes. Some will readily take over old nests; others prefer a box of their own. During checks, the dormice are carefully taken from the boxes, given a quick health and sex check and weighed before returning to their boxes. Monthly monitoring carries on well into November.

Other than birds and dormice, we may also find shrews, bats, hornets and the far more aggressive tree bumblebees in our boxes but they all deserve their place in their natural environments, so we do not unnecessarily disturb them. Finding a dormouse in a box is still a delight and being able to hold one in your hand a privilege especially if still in torpor and audibly snoring. Yes they do snore, a very light wheezy noise. We both feel very lucky to be involved in such a project not only in West Dean Woods but also at the Trustâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nature reserves at Levin Down and Ebernoe Common.

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Membership More events for members

GIFTS TO KEEP SUSSEX SPECIAL

We are hugely grateful to those members who have remembered Sussex Wildlife Trust with a gift in their Will. Legacy gifts are an increasingly important source of income for the Trust and help us buy and protect important wildlife sites, save precious species and inspire young people to value the wonders of nature.

Hundreds of members enjoyed our exclusive member-only events last year, and we have an even bigger programme planned for this year! Wildlife expert Michael Blencowe is leading seasonal visits to Ebernoe Common, looking for woodland butterflies in the summer and enjoying the colours of the woodland in the autumn. This year Michael’s Woods Mill Wanders are taking place on the first Friday of each month up to and including October, 10am until 12 noon. Coffee and cake are provided, and the walks are a great way to learn more about our native wildlife.

Part of the grazing team © Miles Davies

NOT YET A MEMBER

If you have ever wondered what schoolchildren get up to when on a Forest School experience, we are running a Forest School for Adults in April. In May there will be a chance to meet our grazing team (human, canine, bovine and ovine) at our nature reserve at Southerham on the Lewes Downs. Details of members-only events can be found in the What’s On section of our website (click on the ‘Members only’ category on the right-hand side), and new events are featured in the bi-monthly Wild News email, especially for members. If you aren’t currently receiving this, please contact the Membership Team to be added to the list. If you would like a printed copy of our What’s On booklet, please contact the membership team, membership@sussexwt.org.uk or tel: 01273 497532.

Sussex Wildlife Trust is the only charity working throughout the whole of Sussex to stop the decline of wildlife and restore a living landscape.

We couldn’t do it without our members whose support helps us care for more than 30 nature reserves, ensuring that they remain havens for wildlife and people; allows us to improve conditions for rare and threatened wildlife such as the otter, the Adonis blue butterfly, and the black poplar tree; and enables us to educate and inspire thousands of local people and visitors about the wildlife of Sussex.

Recent legacies have included gifts from Brenda MacGowan of Seaford and bequests from long-standing members Rosemary Herbert of Horsham and John Burns of Henfield.

Tilgate Park will be the venue this May for our annual reception for members who have pledged to support Sussex Wildlife Trust with a gift in their Will. If you have already remembered us in your Will, and would like to let us know please contact Mark Barkaway at our Woods Mill address, e-mail markbarkaway@sussexwt.org.uk, or phone 01273 497520. If you are interested in learning more about how your legacy could help protect Sussex wildlife and wild places for future generations we would be delighted to send you our free booklet; please contact Mark to request a copy or visit www.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/legacy

If you are not already a member of Sussex Wildlife Trust, please join today. As a member you will receive this magazine twice a year, the Discovering Wildlife guide (see below), and discounts on hundreds of courses and events.

You can join online at www.sussexwt.org.uk, or by telephoning 01273 497532.

NEW GUIDE TO SUSSEX WILDLIFE We last published our nature reserves guide in 2007, and quite a lot has changed since then. Our new and updated guide will be available from the end of April.

Discovering ex Wildlife in Suss You r guid e to the best

8 Wildlife

natu re sites in Suss ex

Discovering Wildlife gives detailed information on our nature reserves and the wildlife you might see to help you enjoy your visit, provides ideas on what do throughout the seasons and has profiles of some iconic Sussex species. New members will receive Discovering Wildlife with their membership packs, and it is also available free of charge to existing members. To receive a copy please contact the membership team.

The magazine of

PASS IT ON

When you have finished reading this copy of Wildlife why not pass it on to a friend, or to your local doctor’s surgery for their waiting room? We want as many people in Sussex as possible to know about our work, and to support their local wildlife charity, and anything you can do to spread the word would be very much appreciated.

Issue 180

the Sussex Wildlife

•

Spring/Summer

Trust

2017

Wildlife 1

WILDLIFE WATCH GROUPS

Wildlife Watch groups offer 5-11 year olds the chance to learn bushcraft skills from den building to campfire cooking, and woodcraft including whittling, sawing and drilling to create bird feeders or insect homes from natural materials. At Rye Harbour, our flagship coastal reserve, there will also be opportunities for bird watching and treasure hunts on the beach. Sessions are open to all but discounted for family members of the Trust. Please remember that children must be accompanied by an adult and booking is essential. See picture feature on page 13. To find out more or book online please visit: sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlifewatch

READER OFFERS

We are delighted to be working with a number of local and national companies to offer discounts to our supporters.

Cotswold Outdoor offers 15% off the full retail value of the current season’s product ranges both in-store and online. The offer also applies to the company’s other brands: Snow and Rock, Cycle Surgery and Runners Need. Please quote the code AF-WILDLIFE-M5 online and quote the code and show your membership card when buying in store. The offer expires on 31 December 2017. The Sussex Prairie Garden near Henfield, West Sussex, opens from 1 June this year, and is offering Sussex Wildlife Trust members 2 for 1 entry on any normal open day. Simply show your membership card to take advantage of this offer. The naturalistic planting at Sussex Prairies is a fine example of gardening with wildlife in mind and attracts a host of creatures including bees, butterflies, hedgehogs and toads. With a teashop and plants for sale, it makes a lovely day out.

Green People

Pioneers of natural and organic products for the whole family, their pure and gentle products are packed with over 90% natural active ingredients and are free from drying alcohol, harmful additives and fillers. Green People products cater for people of all ages, and include anti-ageing, anti-blemish and scentfree ranges, as well as products that are suitable for individuals prone to eczema and skin allergies. Enter code SWT at the online checkout, offer ends 31 December 2017. Award-winning skin care experts Green People are offering 20% off purchases from their website: www.greenpeople.co.uk

CONTACTING THE MEMBERSHIP TEAM

If you have any queries about your membership, please contact the Membership Team by phone on 01273 497532 or email membership@sussexwt.org.uk

It helps us if you have your membership number handy; this can be found on your membership card.

white admiral butterfly © Derek Middleton Wildlife 9

by Fran Southgate

Living Landscapes Officer

As Living Landscapes officer, I work on everything from advising on how to make land better for wildlife, to interpreting and evaluating the natural services that our landscape provides for us such as natural flood relief. I’ve been working on the Arun & Rother Connections (ARC) partnership project for the last seven years, and the Sussex Flow Initiative Natural Flood Management for the past five years. We’ve been hosting the Sussex Black Poplar Partnership to save a rare, native wetland tree with Wakehurst Place (KEW) for over 20 years, and we also support and advise a whole range of landowners, organisations and local groups. It’s a fascinating and ever changing job, I love the people I work with and the work that I do. More recently, I’ve been trying to articulate what my job involves, so that we can show its external impact better. My principal role is to advise landowners, and in the 2105-16 period I advised over 74 landowners on nearly 14,000 acres of land across Sussex. Not all landowners will take my advice and implement it either fully or partially, but over time, you can see how the cumulative impact starts to build. Likewise we delivered and helped to fund a range of habitat restoration projects last year. We directly helped to restore over 10 hectares of meadow, 3.5 hectares of fen, over 7 hectares of woodland and hedgerow, at least 15 ponds and scrapes, over 2 km of rivers and streams, and we advised on hundreds of hectares more. Over 280 rare black poplar trees were distributed and planted last year, over 2,000 new species records were submitted to our Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre and around 50km of waterway were surveyed for water voles, otters and invasive nonnative species. As a Wildlife Trust it is hugely important for us to bring people along with us on our journey to protect wildlife, and to engage young people in particular in helping us do so. Last year I helped to run 15 events with a total of 326 people attending, and worked with and supported over 89 different community groups including the Sussex Dragonfly Society and the Hassocks Flood Forum. We also sent out press releases, blogs, tweets and web pages, to a combined potential audience of over 4.5 million people, and I dealt with between 5-10,000 individual enquiries over the year. We’ve had over 90,000 people visiting our 10 Wildlife

otters © Lisa Geoghegan

The Ripple Effect ...over time, you can see how the cumulative impact starts to build wetlands web pages since they were first published, and the figures go up each year. As with many projects, we rely on the incredible goodwill and tenacity of many of our volunteers. The ARC project had over 5.4 years’ worth of volunteer hours dedicated to it in the space of four years! Whilst my own volunteers contributed over 722 hours (or about 103 days’ worth) of their time to our conservation work last year. We also need money to be able to do all this work, and as a wildlife charity we rely heavily on local memberships, grants, legacies and donations to help us to fund it.

These are the things that my project has been directly involved with this year, and the combined ripple effect of all these projects has the potential to be huge. Cumulatively we’ve been out there training, educating, involving and supporting hundreds of thousands of people, both locally, nationally and even internationally. When you consider that this is the work of just one person at Sussex Wildlife Trust, and that we have many other staff managing other projects, you can start to see how our charity has the potential to deliver a vast amount of work to make our county better for wildlife. To download the full report for the Sussex wetlands project go to:— http://assets.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/ swlp-annual-report-2015-2016.pdf

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Countryside Management? black poplar tree © Robin Crane

water vole © Hugh Clark FRPS

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emperor dragonfly © Mike Read

signal crayfish, a non-native invasive © Simon Booth

PLUMPTON COLLEGE Wildlife 11

WildlifeandChildren

Outdoor play By Sue Curnock

With all the indoor electronic distractions, children need opportunities to get outside to explore and play in the woods more than ever. Spending time in wild places can help children develop a love of nature and boost their concentration and self-esteem. Nature Tots is a Forest School programme developed specifically for pre-school age children, providing a wonderful opportunity for little ones to experience and learn from nature. We engage children age 3-6 years old in hands-on outdoor activities themed around wildlife. They are encouraged to tackle woodland craft skills for themselves, and gain a sense of achievement from successfully completing tasks such as using a bow saw and bit and brace drill 12 Wildlife

to make their own name disk to take home. Other activities include planting their own seeds and watching them grow at home; messy play – digging up some gloopy mud to make a tree face, or building an animal shelter for a cuddly toy. We go outside rain or shine, so wet days might include a session of puddle jumping and getting close up to a snail. The Nature Tots come with their parents and we believe the adults gain as much as the children, in terms of having confidence to take their children to play outside. The sessions will help the youngsters stimulate independent learning and team working – all of which will help to boost communication skills, problem-solving, physical development and creativity. To find out more or to book online please visit sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/naturetots

Weekend wildlife By Sue Curnock

Following the success of our monthly weekend Wildlife Watch groups at Woods Mill, Henfield and Abbots Wood, Hailsham, we are adding two new locations for families to enjoy outdoor fun and connect with the natural world at Stanmer Park, Brighton and Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. Wildlife Watch groups offer 5-11 year olds the chance to learn bushcraft skills from den building to campfire cooking, and woodcraft including whittling, sawing and drilling to create a bird feeder or insect homes from natural materials. At Rye Harbour, our flagship coastal reserve, there will also be opportunities for bird watching and treasure hunts on the beach. Some youngsters take a little longer to join in and learn new skills, and that’s where the sessions can really help with building self-esteem, physical co-ordination and interpersonal skills through childled achievable challenges – and parents are

often amazed at how resourceful and capable their children can become. By exploring the different habitats, learning ID and tracking skills, playing games, pond dipping, and mini beast hunting, the children will understand more about local wildlife and how to help it thrive. I hope by attending regularly over the months and getting ‘hands on’ with everything, parents and children will make a connection which grows into a shared life-long love of the natural environment. If you’ve tried one of our Nature Tots groups, Wildlife Watch offers children opportunities to move on to new challenges. Sessions are open to all but discounted for family members of the Trust. Please remember that children must be accompanied by an adult and booking is essential. To find out more or book online please visit: sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlifewatch

Welcome

Hello, my name is Sarah Ward and I have recently taken over as the Living Seas Officer for Sussex Wildlife Trust. I’ve lived in Sussex for most of my life and have volunteered with Sussex Wildlife Trust on a number of marine and educational outreach projects – marine conservation in Sussex is certainly a passion of mine!

Having grown up on the beautiful Sussex coast I was lucky enough to have been introduced to the sea and our marine environment at an early age. My interest grew over the years; when I undertook my first scuba dive I knew that I wanted to pursue a career where I could apply my passion.

There are various projects and areas in which I will be working as part of the role. This will include coordination of the Sussex Seasearch and Shoresearch projects, being involved in various aspects of Marine Protected Areas in Sussex, and ensuring the voice of the marine environment is heard across Sussex. I will also be working with a number of organisations, such as the Sussex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA) and Natural England, in order to ensure Sussex Wildlife Trust is involved in local marine developments. This year will be interesting and exciting for developments in the marine environment. In Sussex, we now have six Marine Conservation Zones which have been designated by the government; with a further four sites being put forward for consideration by government later this year. Furthermore, the Marine Management Organisation is developing the new Marine Plan for the South.

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WildCall by Charlo)e Owen WildCall Officer Charlotte Owen runs our dedicated wildlife advice and information service. If you would like to report an interesting wildlife sighting, find out more about the creatures that live in your garden, raise concerns over planning issues or have any wildlife related enquiry, then Charlotte is here to answer your questions or put you in touch with someone who can help.

Regular calls come from people who have discovered sick or injured wildlife. The Trust does not offer a rescue service or take in injured or sick creatures but Charlotte will be able to put you in touch with exactly the right person to help. If you would like more information on any of these topics contact Charlotte on 01273 494777 between 9am and 1pm or email wildcall@sussexwt.org.uk

An old pair of gardening shoes and a kitchen sponge have been taken from my back door step. I know there are foxes around, could they be the culprits? Yes, foxes are the most likely answer. By May, young cubs will be regularly emerging from their earth, eating solid food and learning through play. Like puppies, fox cubs are very playful and will play tug-of-war with objects, chew on them and ‘hunt’ them. Playing is a natural behaviour that helps the cubs to learn the skills that help them survive in the wild. They are not born with the innate ability to hunt but must learn this by experimenting with things in their environment. I’ve found a huge grey caterpillar in the garden. What is it?

This is the caterpillar of the elephant hawkmoth, a magnificent pink and green moth which can be seen flitting around gardens at dusk. The adults are an attractive yellow-green with bright pink stripes and markings on the wings and down the centre of the abdomen. They fly from May to July in gardens, parks, woodland edges and rough grassland. You’re likely to see them if you have honeysuckle, willowherb or bedstraw in your garden.

Whilst the adult moths are rather beautiful, the same is not always said for the larval stage of the elephant hawkmoth. These large caterpillars are a greyisholive colour with two enormous black eyespots towards the head, which swell up to scare off predators.

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How can I tell the difference between a dolphin and a porpoise, and which species might I see off the Sussex coast?

Oceanic dolphins and porpoises fall into two distinct scientific families and there are some fundamental differences between them. Unfortunately, lots of these differences are difficult to see out at sea: for example, porpoises have spadeshaped teeth similar to humans, whilst dolphins have conical teeth like dogs and cats. One much easier feature to identify is the shape of the dorsal fin, which is swept back in dolphins but smaller and triangular in porpoises. Dolphins also have obvious beaks or snouts, whilst porpoises have blunt, beakless faces. I’ve just watched scores of froglets leave my pond. They are so tiny I can’t believe they survive?

Tadpoles normally complete their metamorphosis around June, producing a miniature frog that is only 1cm long. These froglets are vulnerable to predators such as herons, crows, ducks, cats, rats, weasels and grass snakes, and also at risk of drying out in the sun. This is why it’s so important to have lots of long, lush vegetation around the pond to create cover and shade, and links to other sheltered areas.

Froglets have to survive for two years on land before they become sexually mature. Only a small number will survive to adulthood but this is why frogs lay so many eggs in the first place.

fox © Andrew Parkinson/naturepl.com

NatureReserves

Our species-rich

Nature Reserves

burnt tip orchid ÂŠ Colin Varndell/naturepl.com Wildlife 15

NatureReserves

Our top ten species-rich sites know exactly what it is and, to really add some value to it, when it was last recorded? So where to start? Perhaps with why I did it and what I think we’ll be able to use it for. We have recorded 9,792 species (expect this to be constantly changing). Of these 5,548 are insects and 6,204 are invertebrates. Interestingly, 63.4% of everything recorded on our reserves is an invertebrate Vertebrates come in at 406 species (4.2%) demonstrating immediately how important the invertebrates are! There are of course ‘unique’ species – those seen on only one of our 32 sites. Of the 9,792 species, a whopping 3,802 have only been seen at one site! Rye Harbour nature reserve has the lion’s share of ‘uniques’ with 1,274 being recorded there

by Graeme Lyons, Senior Ecologist Pan-species listing is an approach to natural history that treats all species equally, pushes you into difficult areas and adds a dash of friendly competition. From a burnt-tip orchid to a blue tit, from a silky gallows-spider to a barbastelle bat, they all count as one on your list. My own list has taken something of a back seat recently as I compiled a list for the nature reserves I help manage. A pan-species list for a site or sites, collated down the decades by a complementary consortium of naturalists has profound implications for wildlife conservation...but the dream of every reserve manager in the UK creating and maintaining a pan-species list for their sites has been slow to take off. So I decided to lead the way and produce a species list for all 32 Sussex Wildlife Trust sites. I felt like I needed to kick start things to show everyone the benefits. I’d had a stab at some of our reserves before but I hadn’t maintained a comprehensive species list, just the species totals. So what better way is there to celebrate all the amazing wildlife we look after than to

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This list has value in its own right as an inventory of what we have and when it was last recorded. Using the conservation statuses, you can do all sorts of analyses on site quality and it informs our management plans. For the future, our plans are to only update each site from the records that come in to the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre (SxBRC) every five years I have always believed pan-species listing is a good thing for nature conservation. There are some huge gaps in recording that I would never have noticed if I hadn’t gone through this process. For example, two of our large wetland sites have not a single fly record! It’s an approach that leaves no stone unturned and favours the little guys as much as it does the big obvious ones – that often get most of the attention. Our top ten species-rich nature reserves are well worth a visit and many are home to some extremely charismatic and exotic-looking species. You can find full details of all our reserves on our website, with location information, what to see and when to visit to enjoy the wildlife at its best.

sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/visit brc.ac.uk/psl

Rye Harbour

With a whopping 4,275 species, Rye Harbour has 44% of everything ever seen on a Sussex Wildlife Trust nature reserve. It has 1,274 species that have been seen there but not at any of our other 31 reserves. It’s our top site for birds (297), fish (25 including thornback ray), crustaceans (43), plants (497), beetles (955), dragonflies (27), moths (688), bugs (223), flies (656), spiders (201) and many more! The invertebrate list alone is huge with 3,164 species recorded from the site.

bittern © Barry Yates

thornback ray © Graeme Lyons

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NatureReserves

Ebernoe Common

A total of 3,711 species have been recorded here. This is our top site for fungi (961), butterflies (38 shared with Levin), and lichens (213). Ebernoe Common has 598 unique species and an impressive beetle list with 481 recorded including many rare deadwood species. The rare beeswax bracket is just one of many fungi found at Ebernoe – a fungi that kick-starts the wood decay process. While candlesnuff is the fungus that has been recorded on the most reserves (14).

beeswax bracket © Graeme Lyons

Iping & Stedham Commons This beautifully rich site is our best site for bees, ants and wasps (260), mosses (103) and liverworts (44). Nearly 1,500 species of invertebrate have been recorded here and 2,749 species overall. There are many rare species associated with bare ground and new habitat is made annually for species such as the heath tiger beetle which was reintroduced recently and Iping Common is the only site for this species in Sussex. Beetles are the most speciose group of all on our reserves with a phenomenal 1,837 different species! Seven-spot ladybird is the most frequently found with 25 of our 32 reserves having records.

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heath tiger beetle © Graeme Lyons

Woods Mill

Woods Mill is our top site for amphibians (6) and oddly, earwigs (3) with a total of 2,202 species recorded in all. It also has a good beetle list (274) and moth list (637). Although the site has no designations, most of our staff is based here and the huge moth list is down to years of moth trapping and includes rarities such as Rannoch looper and dusky hook-tip as well as rare natives like the lappet. We have records of 1, 232 moths across the reserve network, with dark arches and silver Y most common and found at 23 of our other sites.

lappet © Graeme Lyons

The Mens Top for slime moulds (34) and mammals (38). A good fungi (580) and beetle (327) list too. A total of 2,026 species have been recorded here. The woodland is a very even age and management takes a non-intervention approach. The small meadows known as Badlands however are more managed and are correspondingly rich in plants and invertebrates, being our only site for the early spring-flying, aspen-feeding moth, the light orange underwing. It is the only reserve where I have ever seen a polecat and I actually saw a badger chasing one. Our mammal list stands at 45 species, with human the most frequently recorded species on all 32 of our sites (you can’t have a record without a human!).

polecat © Darin Smith

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NatureReserves

Malling Down

This is our most species-rich chalk grassland site with a total of 1,819 species, including 206 flies, 151 bugs and 547 beetles. The rare phantom hoverfly was recorded during a survey in 2014. We have exactly as many species of fly (1,330) on our reserves as we do fungi – which is a bizarre coincidence.

phantom hoverfly © Chris Bentley

Old Lodge This is our top site for harvestmen (11) and booklice (4). It also boasts 133 spiders, with 1,808 species recorded in total. Old Lodge is our answer to an upland site and has records of species such as the striking beetle Carabus arvensis. Not quite a species unique to Old Lodge is the green spider. However, it is perhaps our most striking spider and is a real Ashdown Forest speciality. A total of 375 spiders have been recorded across our reserves with Rye Harbour having the most at 201 closely followed by Iping and Stedham Commons with 199. The nursery-web spider occurs on 18 out of our 32 sites.

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green spider © Graeme Lyons

Flatropers Wood

This reserve boasts 1,714 species with an impressive fungi (229), fly (282), spider (92) and moth (305) list. With large populations of red wood ants, it’s not surprising that it’s our only site (if not the only Sussex site) for the scarce 7-spot ladybird which lives near them. Flatropers has the highest percentage of unique species after Rye Harbour which is incredible given the fact that it has no designations. It has been a favourite with lepidopterists for many years.

scarce 7-spot ladybird © Graeme Lyons

Burton Pond A good all-round list with 1,658 species recorded, 268 of which are fungi. Only 210 moths have been recorded here which must be an underestimate. It’s the only one of our sites to have records of the amazing longhorn beetle Agapanthia villosoviridescens.

Agapanthia villosoviridescens © Graeme Lyons

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NatureReserves

Filsham Reedbed

A total of 1,625 species have been recorded here. Wonderful bird (168) and moth (486) lists at this small but rich reedbed and wetland site. The reed dagger is a scarce species of moth that inhabits reedbeds. It is brightly coloured as a larva relying on looking unpalatable to avoid being eaten but becomes much more cryptic as an adult so it can hide among the reeds.

reed dagger © Graeme Lyons

I’d like to say a huge thank you to all the people that have helped particularly Bob Foreman and the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre, Chris Bentley (for compiling Rye Harbour’s species list), Frances Abraham and everyone of you that has ever submitted a record from one of our nature reserves. All of this wildlife wouldn’t occur without consistent and sustained habitat management by our dedicated staff and volunteers as well as the support of our members.

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NatureReserves

Britain’s favourite

by Barry Yates, Manager Rye Harbour Nature Reserve Rye Harbour Nature Reserve has been voted Britain’s favourite nature reserve in 2016. The third annual LandLove Magazine Awards celebrate the very best things about the British countryside and the people who make it so wonderful. There were almost 40,000 votes over 12 categories, from Britain’s favourite cathedral, garden and nature reserve to seaside town, food producer and animal charity. Now in its 48th year Rye Harbour nature reserve has worked in partnership with several organisations and landowners to create a special place that is visited by 300,000 people a year. We have easy access for all visitors to view our wildlife, including five birdwatching hides that are wheelchair accessible. Our visitors can experience shingle, saltmarsh, saline lagoons, grazing marsh and reedbed habitats with more than 90 species of nesting bird and an extraordinary list of rare plants and animals. Special mention and thanks must go to all our members, supporters and the Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, because little could have been achieved here without their time, support and funding. We like to keep in regular contact with our supporters through newsletters, e-newsletters and social media and

it’s probably this that helped us win the vote. We are currently looking to improve the visitor experience on site through the development of a new Discovery Centre and this national recognition will help our case for raising the necessary funds.

Reserves Roundup by James Power

Head of Land Management

In this regular column for Wildlife James keeps members up-to-date with reserve news including new acquisitions and species updates.

FLATROPERS WOOD

It is truly remarkable that a woodland as species-rich as Flatropers Wood is not designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, let alone as a Local Wildlife Site. It has long been known as an important site for moths, but a review of all of the biological records for the nature reserve has shown that it is an exceptional site and that it is actually one of our most speciesrich sites with over 1,700 different species recorded. Amongst

oak mining bee © Graeme Lyons

the highlights are the very rare Andrena ferox (or oak mining bee) and the scarce seven-spot ladybird – in proximity to wood ant nests. The quality of the nature reserve is testament to the efforts of volunteers and staff in the 35 years since it was acquired by the Trust.

VOLUNTEER ROLES

Recording wildlife, coppicing, cutting scrub, mowing grass, repairing fences, installing gates, and checking cattle: these are all very familiar volunteer tasks and it is very clear that we could only undertake a fraction of the work we do without this support. However, other roles to ensure we can carry out our conservation tasks efficiently include regular checks of our vehicles, repairing hand tools and taking regular photographs from fixed locations

across every one of our nature reserves. Volunteers are also an important part of the team who make sure our access gates, bridges, boardwalks and stiles are kept in good working order. To find out more about volunteering opportunities email: luciemaldoom@sussexwt.org.uk or tel: 01273 497535.

Birdwatching at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve © Barry Yates

extremely rare and in the UK, it is largely restricted to a handful of sites within the Arun Valley. Harder grazing seems to be the key to its return.

SOS SUPPORT

Once again, the Sussex Ornithological Society (SOS) has agreed to contribute to the costs of a key programme of work, in addition to the recent support that they have given to Iping Common and Filsham Reedbed. Now they are helping to fund programmes of ditch clearance and mowing at Waltham Brooks. Following the purchase of the grazing rights a year or two back, we have been working hard to restore this important nature reserve to good ecological condition and this further injection of financial support will give this process a further boost. An added fillip at the nature reserve has been the return of the species cut-grass after an absence of 20 years. This fairly ordinary looking plant is in fact

green juniper © Mark Monk-Terry

JUNIPER

Levin Down is a wonderful, isolated chalk hill on the edge of Singleton in West Sussex. It is also the only Sussex Wildlife Trust nature reserve with a population of juniper, a prickly shrub with berries that ripen to a blue black colour. Until very recently, there had been very little evidence of regeneration and there has been a concern that the population would start to disappear. However, there are now good signs that the population is starting to recover. As with the reappearance of cut-grass at Waltham Brooks, the key has been a sustained management effort over many years.

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Orange-tip – the future’s bright by Michael Blencowe

Whoever gave this exquisite insect such an unimaginative name should be shot! It’s more than just a pair of orange tips. Forget your bluebells and skylarks, the emergence of the orange-tip is nature’s confirmation that spring has officially sprung. Only the male has those road cone orange wing tips that visually scream Look at me! Look at me! as he cruises the countryside hedges and edges. You’d think his flamboyant display would land him on the menu of any passing bird. But he has an unsavoury secret. He tastes absolutely disgusting. His orange tips make birds recoil when they recall last eating something that colour. To predators he is a flying pot of lime pickle – if you’ve eaten it once you’ll never eat it again. The grey-tipped females are more secretive. Once mated they search the hedgerow for their food plants, cuckooflower and garlic mustard. They tap dance on the plants and identify them

with taste buds on their feet. Once their six soles are satisfied they lay a single tiny orange oblong egg. The egg shell emits a pheromone which deters other females from laying theirs because the cute caterpillar, which hatches out a week or so later, is a cannibal. The caterpillar gets to work eating so much of the flower’s seed pods that it starts to look like one! Disguised as its diet, it munches throughout May – the plant toxins it ingests will help to flavour the bitter butterfly. In July it constructs a curious chrysalis – a bizarre bit of angular architecture attached to a stem by a single string. Inside this post-modern pupa the caterpillar melts into a cellular soup and then the world’s greatest regeneration takes place. This biological broth builds a butterfly. April sunshine encourages the orange tip to emerge and that simple flash of orange signalling that an even greater regeneration has finally taken place. Winter has turned to spring.

orange tip butterfly © Darin Smith

Dorothy Coleman A tribute by Robin Crane

In 1970 I organised a meeting of Trust members at Rye with the object of establishing one of the Regional Groups for the Trust. The Trust had only recently acquired Woods Mill and I felt obliged to explain to the meeting why we were about to lose the Mill’s second warden only a short time after the first one had left. As I left the meeting Charlie and Dorothy Coleman were waiting for me and they offered themselves as candidates to take over the care of Woods Mill. This chance meeting led to a hugely successful partnership. Charlie and Dorothy lived in most of the house in Woods Mill, with a small office and meeting room left for the Trust’s general use. When we appointed Charlie we had no idea that Dorothy would also throw herself so whole-heartedly into the activities of the Trust and she was a supreme hostess, warmly welcoming those who visited our headquarters. She also worked on the maintenance of the reserve and was a very knowledgeable naturalist.

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As the number of people involved in the Trust increased, Dorothy took it upon herself to assist in staff and volunteer wellbeing – not an official role but none-the-less it was of huge benefit. Dorothy was the one who helped in times of stress by listening to personal and professional problems and, in a quiet way, often ‘lowered the temperature’. Sometimes it was a little bunch of garden flowers left on a desk, an invitation to take a stroll round the reserve, or a cup of tea, or even a shared meal, in her kitchen. Charlie and Dorothy’s major contribution to the development and success of the Trust is best summed up in a few paragraphs I included in the history of the Sussex Wildlife Trust, which features in Tim Sands’ major opus “Wildlife in Trust – a hundred years of nature conservation”. “No history of the Trust can be written without paying special tributes to Charlie and Dorothy Coleman. They took up residence at Woods Mill in 1970 when Charlie was appointed warden after being a shep-

herd on Romney Marsh. We knew that Charlie was a good naturalist with expertise in countryside management, but we could never have imagined what a huge impact both Charlie and Dorothy would make upon the development of the Trust. “Charlie’s first talent was in dealing with children, making their visits to Woods Mill truly memorable. We soon realized that amongst his remarkable skills he was not only a gifted draughtsman and watercolourist but also a brilliant cartoonist. His cartoons quickly became regular features in the Trust’s newsletters. Some sent a powerful conservation message and others were simply highly amusing reflections on men and animals. “Apart from Charlie’s professionalism at work, both he and Dorothy brought those special gifts of warmth and kindness and were superb ambassadors for the Trust. Sadly Charlie had to retire early due to ill health in 1985.” He died in 2006. Dorothy died in January 2017 aged 93.

Join our Board of Trustees If you have a strong interest in nature conservation please consider volunteering as a Trustee to help support our Fundraising team.

Trustee role We are looking for someone with fundraising experience to join our Council of Trustees to help us combat the many challenges now facing membership charities throughout the UK. In addition we are also looking for an advisor to our Public Engagement Committee.

Advisor role We are looking for someone with experience of working as a health professional to act as an external advisor to our Public Engagement Committee as we develop our health and wellbeing in nature work with both children and adults. If you have experience that would inform either of these roles we’d love to hear from you. © Miles Davies

AGM success

For full details or an informal chat please contact Maria Jonsson on: mariajonsson@sussexwt.org.uk or telephone: 01273 497 526.

Simon Barnes, author and weekly columnist for the Sunday Times, was our speaker at the AGM last November and drew large crowds, making it our most successful to date. His talk, A Natural Mistake: Making up for 3,000 years of Human Error was followed by a book signing session.

We returned to The Shoreham Centre, which has recently re-opened after a full make over and found its new facilities exactly what we were looking for. We have secured this venue for the next two years. A delicious buffet lunch was provided by The Real Junk Food Project, a company committed to reducing food waste in the community. While parents were listening to the talk we again ran workshops for their children. This year, youngsters examined owl pellets and spent over an hour discovering exactly what these beautiful birds of prey had been eating before displaying their findings on card to take home. The rest of the session was spent doing Forest School activities and each child tried their hand at sawing their own name disk from a branch and then decorating it to create an original necklace/badge.

Save the Date

11 November 2017 You will find your invitation to attend our 2017 AGM in the next edition of Wildlife (Autumn/Winter). Our venue will be The Shoreham Centre in Pond Road, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex.

nightingale © Derek Middleton. Registered Charity No: 207005

Wildlife 25

WildlifeNews

Peter Hodge

Celebrating beetles

by Clare Blencowe, Manager of the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre The Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre (SxBRC), based at our Woods Mill office, threw a ‘beetle party’ in January to celebrate finishing the digitisation of the field notebooks of Sussex coleopterist Peter Hodge.

Peter is the Sussex County Recorder for Beetles: if someone finds a rare beetle in Sussex, he knows about it. For 43 years he has been recording his own observations in a series of identical notebooks. Ten years ago, the SxBRC began entering the records from Peter’s notebooks into our

database, so that the information could be made accessible to anyone with an interest in Sussex biodiversity. Now that work is complete – thanks in large part to the hard work of record centre volunteers, as well as two small grants which have enabled staff to devote significant amounts of time to digitising Peter’s notebooks. There are just over 3,000 species of beetle which are known to live in Sussex. Peter’s notebooks contain records for 2,270 different species which means Peter has personally observed over 75 per cent of Sussex’s beetle fauna. In total, his note-

books contain an incredible 43,000 records; in 2004 alone Peter made 2,268 beetle records in his notebook – that’s an average of six or seven beetles observed and identified every day. Life as a beetle recorder may not always be glamorous – Peter’s notebooks tell us that over the years he has recorded beetles under a dead mole, inside a dead swan, in dog dung and on the floor of a telephone exchange toilet – but his contribution to our collective knowledge of Sussex biodiversity is both amazing and inspiring. This dataset is the story of a modest, decent and remarkable man’s relationship with the wildlife of Sussex. Peter is now working with the SxBRC on a ground-breaking project which aims to make an ‘as-complete-as-possible’ Sussex beetle dataset available, at full resolution, under an ‘open data’ licence. With funding from Natural England, the SxBRC has been consulting widely to seek other recorders’ views on including their records within this high quality open dataset. If you’d like to know more about this project, or beetle recording in general, please contact info@sxbrc.org.uk

A moment of magic by Mike Russell

There is sea mist shrouding the hills along the west coast of Mull, in the distance the outline of the Treshnish Islands is just a faint silhouette.

On a small boat gliding on the calm sea, a stream of gannets, puffins and other seabirds suddenly appear and then disappear as quickly, but it is not long before the star of the show, the reason why we are all here, is spotted heading serenely towards us, a magnificent white-tailed sea eagle. This eagle is responding to a fish thrown into the water by the captain and in an instance it is alongside us and grabbing this tasty morsel from the surface, absolutely breath-taking. I was there leading a Wildlife Travel trip to Mull, one of the great wildlife

destinations in Europe, and I am going back again this year for my third visit. Wildlife Travel, an ethical travel company donates all its profits to conservation organisations and the Sussex Wildlife Trust receives a donation for travellers who live in Sussex. This year, I am leading holidays to Lesvos, Mull and Estonia. If you would like details of any of these or other holidays run by Wildlife Travel, please go their website www.wildlife-travel.org.uk Mike Russell will be leading three Wildlife Travel excursions this year: Lesvos 26 April - 3 May Isle of Mull 6-12 June Estonia 22-29 September

Slim Jim

by Jess Price, Conserva+on Oﬃcer The smallest carnivore found in Europe, the weasel has a slim, elongated brown body with a white chin and belly. Half the size of a stoat, it can squeeze into tiny cavities and, according to legend, its head can fit through the centre of a wedding ring! Its slender body-shape makes the weasel well adapted to hunting in the burrows and tunnels of their most common prey – voles and mice. They will often take over the burrow and use it as a den. They are good climbers and move across the ground in a series of short jumps, stopping frequently to stand upright and check their surroundings. Weasels will also take young rabbits, small birds and eggs when the opportunity arises, which has got them a bad reputation with farmers and gamekeepers, particularly those that rear partridge and pheasant. However, in reality, birds make up a very small proportion of the weasel’s diet. One disadvantage of their stretched out shape is a high surface-area to volume ratio and only a thin layer of body fat, meaning they lose heat rapidly and therefore have to spend the majority of their life hunting. These busy creatures need to eat at least one third of their body

weight every 24 hours and in years with low numbers of mice and voles many will starve. Indeed only 10% survive past two years old. Weasels can be found in woodland and farmland across the UK, including in hedgerows, long grass and dry-stone walls. They are solitary, but the females can be seen accompanying their young in spring and summer. Females usually give birth to one litter of three to six kittens which are independent at around three months old and are often able to breed themselves in that same year. So despite many being trapped by gamekeepers, road kill and predation by bats, foxes, owls and kestrels, weasels are still very common and are not under threat. Although they naturally suffer high mortality and local populations often experience extinctions, these lithe animals are resilient and extremely good at re-colonising and repopulating areas when conditions improve.

FAMILY FESTIVAL

Now in its sixth year, Elderflower Fields is one of the leading outdoor family festivals in the South East.

Sussex Wildlife Trust has been a partner of this inspiring event since 2015, running an environmental education programme in the stunning woodland setting at Pippingford Park in East Sussex. 26-29 May 2017 www.elderflowerfields.co.uk/tickets

Sunny Holiday Bungalow in East Sussex near Rye Sleeps 4 comfortably in 2 bedrooms (up to 3 extra at a pinch). Central heating, sunny sitting/dining, patio and grassy garden. Quiet location close to the sea and in beautiful countryside. Miles of lovely walks and great birdwatching at Pett Pools and Rye Harbour. Badgers, rabbits and foxes visit the garden.

Weekly let throughout the year from £220 to £250. Sorry No dogs. Please phone Judy Whitehead 01243 572215 for more details. Wildlife 27

Investing in Nature

In the bag

We are delighted to be one of a number of southern Wildlife Trusts joining forces with the Southern Co-operative to deliver the ‘My Wild Neighbourhood’ campaign which aims to help people get outdoors, raising awareness of why engaging with nature is good for health and wellbeing.

BUSINESS MEMBERSHIP

No matter what your business focus or the size of the team, there is a membership option to suit you and your budget.

FUNDRAISING EVENTS

Another great way to support the Trust is to organise a fundraising event such as a quiz night, sponsored challenge or dress-up day. Events can be a great way to engage your employees with their company and the work of the Trust. You could also consider matching any donations your employees make.

TEAM BUILDING DAYS

Sussex Wildlife Trust holds team building days on our beautiful nature reserves, some with indoor meeting room facilities. We provide highly trained officers to lead the group through practical conservation tasks while the team enjoys the ideal environment to learn and grow together.

There are many opportunities to get involved and benefit from supporting Sussex Wildlife Trust. To find out more please email: annethwaites@sussexwt.org.uk or telephone 01273 497522.

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CHARITY BALL

Hot Chocolate is the headline act at our Wilderness Wonder Charity Ball this year, promising another memorable evening raising money for nature conservation. Hailed as one of the biggest acts in disco pop music in the 70s and 80s make sure you reserve your place now to dance the night away to chart topping favourites You Sexy

the Southern Co-operative’s support of Youth Rangers enables young people to get closer to nature: ‘When looking back on my degree, Youth Rangers will be one of my fondest memories. I learnt about the importance of conservation and looking after the environment in a fun, relaxed and friendly environment meeting and working with a variety of individuals from different walks of life.’ Thing and Every 1’s a Winner. Last year, over 200 guests enjoyed first class entertainment and a superb three course meal with fine wines all locally sourced. It was a fantastic event, raising an astounding £40,000 for nature in Sussex. The Charity Ball, on 16 September, will be held in a luxury marquee in the grounds of the private estate Folkington Manor, near Eastbourne.

It’s the perfect opportunity to entertain clients or treat your staff to an evening out so book now to secure your table. See the back page of this magazine for booking details or email: annethwaites@sussexwt.org.uk

Anne Thwaites, Corporate & Community Fundraising Officer

The campaign is supported by proceeds from the Southern Co-operative’s carrier bag charge of which £3,000 has been donated to support our work with young people. We have improved our Nature Tots programme of muddy fun for under-fives taking place at six different places in Sussex. This additional funding has meant we have been able to start new Nature Tots groups in Horsham and Brighton to complement those already running in Henfield, Eastbourne, Rye and Crawley. Youth Rangers, which give 16-25 year olds the opportunity to learn new skills and enhance their career prospects, have also benefited from the funding. At Tilgate Park, Crawley, the rangers were able to build a hibernaculum for slow worms and grass snakes, providing a safe haven for them to spend the winter in. Matti Smith, a local undergraduate, explains how

Support our work Market Florist in Brighton’s popular Open Market is supporting our work by asking its customers to pop a donation into our collecting tin for every seedling tray given to them.

As part of our fundraising activities in the community, our collection tins are a great way to create additional income and local shops, entertainment venues, community groups and sports events raised in excess of £2,000 last year; money which will be spent on taking care of Sussex.

If you can find room for one of our tins we would be most grateful. To make arrangements for delivery and collection please email Anne Thwaites annethwaites@sussexwt.org.uk or ring her on 01273 497522.

POWER GARDEN

A new eco-garden has been taking shape at Woods Mill nature reserve, Henfield, inspiring visitors to create gardens for wildlife and learn about water recycling and renewable energy generation on a domestic scale. National electricity distributor, UK Power Networks, provided a £10,000 award to create an outdoor classroom and gardens and their employees have been helping Sussex Wildlife Trust construct the site from scratch. The gardens will be featured in the next edition of Wildlife magazine.

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WildlifeCalendar

What to look APRIL Keep your eyes to the skies this month in search of swallows. These charismatic summer visitors arrive to breed in the UK from April onwards, having made a mammoth 6,000 mile migration from South Africa. This amazing long-haul flight takes them about five weeks, travelling around 200 miles each day. Upon arrival, swallows are keen to find a mate and a nesting site before the best ones are taken. They usually nest in and around buildings, against a beam or ledge, where they attract attention with their continual twittering as they ferry food to their young.

Swallows are masters of aerial acrobatics and spend most of their time on the wing, often near water, swooping and diving through the sky as they hunt swarms of summer insects. As summer draws to a close they will be seen gathering in large flocks on telegraph wires, chattering about their impending return journey.

MAY Mayflies have been around for at least 300 million years, and like many ancient life forms they are bound to water to breed. This means they are always found close to freshwater, including fastflowing rivers, still lakes and newly formed ponds.

They are delicate animals with broad, clear wings that have a lace-like appearance, very short antennae and long, fine tail bristles. They start life as an egg on the bottom of a river or lake before mayfly © Jeremy Early hatching into nymphs. The nymphs spend up to two years underwater feeding on algae and other vegetation and then emerge from the surface of the water as an adult on a warm sunny day. They are unique insects in that they have an extra winged adult stage in their lifecycle. After emerging from the water as a drab looking ‘dun’, they fly to a sheltered location and wait for anything from a few seconds to a few days to moult again into a bright shiny ‘spinner’. The spinners then fly back to the water to mate, lay eggs and then die.

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JUNE June is a fantastic time of year to visit our West Sussex heathland reserves to catch an iridescent glimpse of the silver-studded blue butterfly. This rare species gets its name from the light blue scales found on the underside of most adults, which reflect sunlight and glisten spectacularly.

Silver-studded blues are limited to heathland that is managed using the traditional methods of regular rotational burning or grazing of small patches. This is because the females like to lay their eggs on the newly emerged vegetation that grows out of recently cleared areas.

As with many other species of blue butterflies, the males are bright blue whilst the females are brown. They live in tight, close-knit colonies and are sedentary in nature. They fly very close to the ground and will turn around rather than flying over obstacles. This means they are not good at dispersing to new sites and as traditional management of heathland has declined, so has the butterfly. However silver-studded blues can be found on Iping and Stedham Commons due to our careful management of these sites.

For more details about these species and where to see them in Sussex contact WildCall email: wildcall@sussexwt.org.uk or call Charlotte on 01273 494777

for in… JULY Summer is in full swing and the nights are warm. It is the perfect time to get out and about as darkness falls to enjoy one of our more mysterious insects, the glow worm. Despite their name, glow worms are not at all worm-like and are actually beetles. It is only the adult females that glow. They lack wings, so cannot easily move around to find a mate. Instead females climb up grass stems and ‘switch on their lights’. The glowing acts as a beacon to the males who have excellent sight and spend their time flying around looking for females.

AUGUST Voracious eaters, striking cinnabar moth caterpillars can often be spotted munching their way through common ragwort, their favourite food plant.

With bold patterns of bright yellow and black stripes and short black hairs covering their bodies, these caterpillars feed on the highly poisonous ragwort. Storing the plant’s alkaloid poison in their bodies, this protection is passed on through the chrysalis and finally to the colourful red and black adult cinnabar moth. Predators, including birds, pay attention to the striking colouration of both the caterpillar and moth, as it warns them that they are distasteful to eat.

Once they have mated, females turn out their lights, lay their eggs and die. After a few weeks the eggs hatch into larvae. Glow worms actually spend the majority of their lives as larvae, feeding on small snails and slugs. They grow for up to two years before metamorphosing into the adult form.

July is by far the best time of year to spot them. Bizarrely, adult glow worms do not have a mouth or gut so cannot eat. As soon as they emerge, the race is on to find a mate before they starve to death. This means you will never see an individual adult for more than a few weeks.

As they are extremely unpalatable to predators, cinnabar moth caterpillars openly sit on their food plant during the daytime and can be spotted in meadows, wasteland, road verges and downland devouring common ragwort. Feeding gregariously, a large infestation can easily strip a plant, often reducing it to mere stems. After a few weeks, the caterpillars pupate and overwinter in a flimsy cocoon on or under the ground before emerging as the colourful adult moths the following spring.

SEPTEMBER Look out for a colourful creature lurking in the undergrowth that may catch your eye – the big, bright female wasp spider. Female wasp spiders are distinctive, with bold yellow and black stripy legs and abdomen. They can grow up to 17mm but despite their size and colour they are not dangerous. In fact, their bright colours act to deter predators.

Females normally start glowing at around 10 o’clock at night and can continue after midnight. They are easiest to see on warm dry nights, so next time you go for an evening stroll keep an eye out for the yellow-green glimmer of this fantastic but elusive insect.

It is only the females that are wasp coloured, the males are much smaller at only 4-5 mm and are pale brown. They usually build their web low to the ground in areas of long grass so they can trap their favourite prey – grasshoppers and crickets. The web always has a thick, white, zigzag shaped stripe running down the middle called a stabilimentum. Scientists are still unsure of its purpose. Some suggest that it makes the web more stable, whilst others think it may help to attract insects or possibly deter birds from wasp spider © Graeme Lyons flying through large webs. Wildlife 31

HelpingWildlife WHAT’S ON 2017 For details of all Sussex Wildlife Trust events and courses please visit:

sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk /whatson

If you are unable to access a computer and would like a copy of our courses and events leaflet please tel: 01273 497532.

GROUP EVENTS The Trust has local groups based in Eastbourne in East Sussex and Chichester and Selsey in West Sussex. They hold local events for members and non-members. All three groups offer varied programmes with wildlife themes including illustrated talks, seasonal walks to search for fungi, butterflies or wild flowers and visits to nature reserves. If you would like to find out more about your local group contact details are below.

Eastbourne

Janet Nott, Secretary Chestnuts, 14 Langton Close Battle TN33 OXH Tel: 01424 777291 or 07946 753135

Email: secretary-swteastbourne @hotmail.co.uk

sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/ eastbourne

Chichester

Maria Wildman, Secretary 12 Harbour View Road Pagham PO21 4RG Tel: 01243 262833

sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/ chichester

Selsey

Contact details as Chichester 32 Wildlife

Dragonfly delight In autumn 2015, we were delighted to receive a grant of £23,750 from The Veolia Environmental Trust through the Landfill Communities Fund. The grant benefited Burton and Chingford Ponds nature reserve near Petworth and enabled clearance of overgrown vegetation and installation of a new board walk at Black Hole Bog. We also created bare sandy patches on the Welch’s Common section of the nature reserve to benefit species such as jewel wasps and field crickets. Elsewhere on the reserve, we removed trees and rhododendron and scraped leaf litter to help restore heathland habitat. We are very grateful to all the volunteers who helped with the project, including the Crawley Youth Rangers who came out on a damp day to clear part of the nature trail. The new boardwalk is accessible for pushchairs and wheelchairs and has a safety rail. As the weather warms up, the boardwalk will provide the perfect vantage point for watching spring and summer wildlife, particularly dragonflies. Graffham Common nature reserve near Midhurst also benefited from Landfill Communities Funding via a grant of £9,739 from Viridor Credits. The grant has enabled important conservation work as part of the

transformative restoration of heathland at Graffham Common. Large areas of invasive rhododendron and bracken were sprayed, a new noticeboard has been installed and cattle have been bought to graze the site. An old estate map showed Graffham Common was grazed with livestock as long ago as 1629 and we were thrilled when they were able to return to the site last year. You can watch the arrival of the cattle at Graffham Common by visiting our website and following this link: sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/visit/graffham-common

POND DIPPING PLATFORM

Our thanks to local waste management company Viridor, South Downs National Park Authority, The Ivo Trust and Upper Beeding Parish Council who have all given generous donations towards a new pond dipping platform at Woods Mill nature reserve.

Thousands of school children visit Woods Mill for pond dipping sessions and wildlife walks each year and the small pond currently used needs time to recover. The new platform will allow dipping in the main Woods Mill pond and will be wheelchair accessible, more inclusive for children with different needs. Pictures showing children using the new platform will be in the next issue.

SUSSEX LUND

We were pleased to receive a grant of £5,197 from Sussex Lund, a charitable fund of Peter Baldwin and Lisbet Rausing, to carry out habitat management at Eridge Rocks Nature Reserve. The funding was awarded via the Sussex Community Foundation and has allowed us to use specialist climbing contractors on the majestic sandstone rocks to cut back overhanging branches which were shading out mosses and lichens. With help from volunteers we have coppiced sweet chestnut in the woodland and cut back bramble and bracken from the rides to benefit the woodland ground flora.

Survival stopover We are carrying out important conservation work at Filsham Reedbed nature reserve to help rare and threatened species flourish, thanks to a grant from Biffa Award of over £27,000. Work started last autumn at this Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) between Bexhill and Hastings. Birds such as reed warbler, sedge warbler, Cetti’s warbler, cuckoo and bearded tit all breed in the reedbed making this reserve key to their survival. It is also an important stop for birds on migration and hobbies can often be seen feeding over the reserve in the spring when they first arrive

in the country. Other birds found on the reserve include song thrush, house sparrow and marsh tit. This reserve also supports harvest mice (their nests sometimes being found at the edge of the reedbed where it is drier and grassier with a patchwork of scrub), a diversity of rare plants such as blunt-flowered rush, common meadow-rue and water violet as well as a host of invertebrates. Breeding birds require robust reeds to build their nests, combined with a plentiful food source to feed their young. Willow scrub constantly threatens the amount of space for wetland species to feed and breed and the award will ensure vital conservation tasks such as willow scrub cutting and ditch clearance can take place. In turn, this work will increase invertebrates on the reserve providing a plentiful food source for nesting birds and their young. Part of the award will be spent with people in mind and work to replace rotting

A lasting legacy Sussex Wildlife Trust has been protecting our most cherished countryside and wildlife for over 50 years. Legacy gifts help us ensure our vital work continues for future generations from creating nature reserves to saving endangered species. To receive your free legacy pack, please contact our Legacy Manager, Mark Barkaway, on 01273 497 520 or email markbarkaway@sussexwt.org.uk

sections of the existing boardwalk that runs through the reed bed will be a top priority. An information board will also be replaced so visitors can gain the maximum enjoyment from their visit. Gillian French, Biffa Award Head of Grants said, ‘This project is a great example of how the Landfill Communities Fund can help protect threatened species.’

This project was also supported by the Sussex Ornithological Society who kindly donated £2,785 to the Sussex Wildlife Trust to help unlock the grant.

Become a woodland owner in Sussex

Find out more at:

Wildlife 33

...I have found they can be amazingly gentle and cooperative in their behaviour, almost to the point of realising what we are trying to do for them

Herring gulls Roger Musselle, a member of Sussex Wildlife Trust for over 40 years, runs Roger’s Wildlife Rescue in Woodingdean. He provides safe sanctuary for an array of injured or abandoned wild animals nurturing and returning creatures to good health before returning them to the wild. Many people dislike herring gulls and see them as aggressive but Roger asks that you spare a thought for these much maligned birds. He said, ‘We handle herring gulls every day between May and October at Roger’s Wildlife Rescue with an assortment of injuries including being kicked, stoned, shot and run over, swallowing discarded fishing hooks and tackle and horrific 34 Wildlife

injuries inflicted by netting on buildings. Aggression from these birds is usually only when defending their young from predators (often how they see humans) especially if one or more young are on the ground in your garden. ‘When handling herring gull patients I have found they can be amazingly gentle and cooperative in their behaviour, almost to the point of realising what we are trying to do for them. ‘They will take their medication without fuss, rarely peck and adapt to being ‘in hospital’ until we can release them back to the beach. Herring gulls are living creatures so please let’s try and respect all our planet’s wildlife and not treat the gull as public enemy number one.’

BookReview NATURE WATCH by Simon King ‘Nature Watch’ by TV presenter and award-winning cameraman Simon King is a comprehensive guide on the art of tracking and watching wildlife in Britain and Europe.

This lavishly illustrated book is packed with useful advice and fascinating tips developed during his 40 years of first-hand experience in the field of wildlife and nature observation. Discover how to use your eyes and ears to recognise the signs that tell you deer, foxes, badgers and more live in your own neighbourhood, or when a kingfisher is about to appear around the river bend. The stunning photographs of elusive animals in their natural habitats taken by the author himself make this beautiful reference book a pleasure to read, whether or not you are planning to venture outside.

FREE BOOK DRAW

To win a copy of Nature Watch

To enter simply send your name, address and telephone number to Amanda Reeves, Editor, Wildlife, Sussex Wildlife Trust, Woods Mill, Henfield, West Sussex BN5 9SD by 10 May 2017. Alternatively you can email, please include your postal address and title of the book, to amandareeves@sussexwt.org.uk The draw will take place on 17 May 2017 and the winner announced in the next edition of Wildlife. If you do not wish your name and the town you live in to be published please indicate on your entry.

Published by Quadrille Publishing and priced at £20, Nature Watch is available from all good bookstores or www.shop-simonkingwildlife.com

Letters to the editor

Congratulations to Katy Sleight of Steyning who won a copy of Thirty Years in Wilderness Wood in our Autumn/Winter 2016 draw.

email: amandareeves@sussexwt.org.uk Amanda Reeves, Sussex Wildlife Trust, Woods Mill, Henfield BN5 9SD

From: Patricia Kelly, Portslade

While out walking, I was amazed to see a butterfly land on a bush and then, when disturbed by a dog running through the bushes, instantly camourflage itself as a dead leaf. I had no idea we had butterflies in Sussex able to do this. Are you able to show a photograph so everyone can see just how clever this is.

Editor You saw a comma butterfly and as these pictures show its ability to mimic a dead leaf is amazing.

presents

SAVE THE DATE Saturday 1 6 th September 2017 Held in the grounds of Folkington Manor, near Eastbourne Enjoy a drinks reception, a three-course locally sourced meal with fine wines, and star act entertainment from world famous 70s sensation band

H ot Chocolate To find out more or to reserve your place please email: annethwaites@sussexwt.org.uk or tel: 01273 497522 www.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildernesswonder

36 Wildlife

Wildlife 36 Registered Charity No: 207005