Weald to Waves is an exciting Sussex-wide project working to create a nature recovery corridor. The project partnership involves a network of farmers, land managers, councils, researchers, wildlife charities, schools, gardeners and community groups. More information on the project as a whole can be seen at: https://www.wealdtowaves.co.uk/.

As their website makes clear, nature cannot survive in fragments and we are one of the most nature depleted countries in the world. This is especially true in our densely populated Sussex and this project aims to ‘join the dots’ in a way that will enable our local animal and plant life, and the farmers and communities that depend on them, to thrive.

Gardens are a crucial part of the picture and although Scaynes Hill is not part of the official ‘corridor’, we are very close to it, and we are now being invited to consider pledging at least 30% of our garden space to become a haven for wildlife. If you would like to do this then on the Weald to Waves website click ‘Get Involved’ and follow the link to ‘Join Us’ under ‘Gardens and Green Spaces’ to register an interest in relation to your own garden or piece of land.

Plenty of information and advice will be available from the project to support this and once the development of the interactive map on their website is completed, our own gardens and green spaces will appear as dots marking the stepping stones that will contribute to greater wildlife abundance.

The survey consists of only 4 multiple choice questions and a box for any additional comments so would only take a minute to complete. The deadline for submissions is 31st March. Click here to do the survey.

As a result of the new Walstead Park development, currently being built, there is already a lot of construction traffic using this road and when the 200 new houses are completed the amount of traffic will increase substantially. As well as the increased volume of traffic this additional traffic will be turning onto or off the road at junction to Walstead Park increasing the risk of accidents there. In addition the proposed cycle/walkway route between Scaynes Hill and Lindfield would cross the road near the bottom of Bedales Hill, where the sight lines are not ideal. A reduction of the speed limit on the road here from the current 40 mph to 30 mph as proposed in the SHLAT Feasibility Study would make this crossing much easier and safer.

A key adjunct to this project is a path about to be constructed through the Walstead Park development. The SHLAT path would join this path, which would then provide key connectivity to destinations in Lindfield and Haywards Heath. However, the approved plans for Walstead Park indicate that their path would only be suitable for pedestrians. SHLAT have been in discussion with the developers and established that they would be prepared to widen and/or realign their path to make it suitable for bi-directional cycling and walking, provided that it did not impact their planning consent. Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC), who are the local Planning Authority, have indicated that such a change could be treated as a non-material amendment, and so relatively easily achieved. SHLAT believe that the additional cost of this work could come from the S106 funds already allocated or from the S106 monies arising from the Walstead Park development itself and have also sent the report to MSDC asking them to facilitate the upgrading of the Walstead Park path.

If you support this project and would like to see it proceed then it would be of great help if you could write brief e-mails to WSCC and MSDC indicating your views and support, in order to demonstrate to them that there is a large demand for this facility. Details of who to write to and their e-mail addresses can be found on the SHLAT-Support webpage.

This all happened because of a conversation I had with Arthur McCulloch a few years ago. He was a butterfly expert who lived in Costell’s Edge. He told me that the only plant on which the Brimstone butterfly lays its eggs is a plant called Alder Buckthorn. This is a shrubby plant that favours damp areas. I didn’t do anything about this until about 3 years ago when I decided to plant some. It is not easy to get hold of, but I managed to purchase 10 “whips” over the internet. These are young plants that consist of a single stem which might be about 30-40cm in length, with bare roots on the end. I planted these at the edge of a field, and spent a long time erecting a fence to keep the sheep from devouring them.

The following year, they were still alive, but had shown no signs of growing in any significant way. This went on for another couple of years, when I decided to move them to a damp area in the same field. I fenced them off again, but this time I did not make the fence strong enough, and the sheep broke down the fence and trampled the Alder Buckthorn. That was last autumn. In the winter, I reinforced the fence, and got all the plants upright.

This spring, I was pleased to see that all the plants were thriving, and were starting to show signs of growing bigger. In early May this year I was amazed to find a single egg attached to the underside of 3 or 4 leaves. I sent a photo of one to a friend who is a butterfly expert, and he confirmed that these were indeed the eggs of the Brimstone butterfly.

Today (8th June), I was in the field next to the one with the Alder Buckthorn, when I saw a pair of Brimstone butterflies circling each other. This made me look up the life cycle of the butterfly on my phone, and it mentioned that the caterpillar lies on the spine of the leaf to make itself less conspicuous. I went down to the Alder Buckthorn, and, lo and behold, there was a caterpillar on one leaf, and not on the plant where I had seen the eggs.

This is just a start, but I am hoping that in the long run this might make a tiny difference to the overall population. The Brimstone is fairly common. The male is a bright greeny-yellow colour, and the female is much paler, almost white. They hibernate in the winter and so are one of the earlier butterflies to see in the spring in the UK.

More details and full text of pledge can be found at https://seclimatealliance.uk/abcd-pledge-2023/ )

The three candidates for Lindfield ward who have already signed the SECA pledge

A key identification feature is that yellow collar encircling the back of the head. For those of you that get the Parish Magazine, in the September edition there is an interesting article by Michael Blencowe of the Sussex Wildlife Trust about grass snakes.

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We decided to look at a series of locations along the Common starting at the more species rich north end. Margaret showed us how to peg out a 2m x 2m square on the ground with coloured twine to define each area (quadrat) that we would examine. We then started to spot and identify as many species as we could within the quadrat, starting at the edges and working towards the middle. Once a species was identified its abundance within the quadrat was assessed and scored to give it a number on the Domin scale between 1 and 10 (1 being 1-2 specimens and 10 being 90%-100% coverage of the area). Margaret helped us with identification of several different grasses and other wildflowers. We then had some discussion over the abundance score to be given. Approached in this structured way the task soon seemed a lot less daunting than it first appeared.

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Proceeding in this way we managed to examine 3 quadrats. In order to know exactly where they were located for future reference we kept them on a line between the bench at the north end of the Common and the church spire, measuring the distance of each one from the bench. It was interesting to see how the flora in each quadrat was rather different and how it varied from one location to another. In all we identified over 20 different species, including Devils-bit Scabious and Tormentil. Sadly the Heath Bedstraw that had been so abundant earlier in the year was not seen. A record of this sort will enable us to see the diversity of plants on the Common and how they fare in the future . The Common is owned by Lindfield Rural Parish Council who are undertaking to manage it as a natural wildflower meadow by cutting once (or possible twice) a year and removing the cuttings to maintain the nutrient poor status of the soil.

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