With the group activities continuously expanding as we try to further enhance countryside and wildlife survival prospects, pausing to recount the achievements has to take second place to the tasks themselves. This means that there have been less reports produced than normal to keep supporters abreast with group work. For this we apologise. In an attempt to redress this, we include the following group activity update as the first step to catch up with our work achievements.

 

GROUP ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND TALK.

On May 30th we held our annual general meeting to discuss group business that had taken place over the last year. At this meeting we said a fond farewell to our treasurer, Terry Harper, who had been a valuable supporter since the group began in 2004 and latterly group treasurer for at least a decade. During this time he had steered the group finances to allow full visibility of funds and accommodating the multitude of costs and payments necessary to keep group progress moving forward efficiently. For this we had become very dependent on his expertise, so when he reluctantly decided that he would like to leave the role for health reasons, we were deeply saddened.

We therefore showed our gratitude for the huge time and effort he had contributed to the group by presenting him with a gift of glasses engraved with owls as a token of our appreciation. The picture below shows the gift being presented.

 

Our valued friend and supporter, Terry Harper being presented with a token of our appreciation for his years of service to The Woodland, Flora & Fauna Group.

 

Following our AGM we held a public talk for our supporters which was provided by the naturalist, author and wildlife guide, Michael Blencowe. It was well attended and received by the audience, as shown below.

 

Michael Blencowe gave a talk on The Wildlife of Sussex to the attendees of the event. 

 

TALBOT FIELD NATURE AREA.

Following our earlier clearance work this year undertaken at Talbot Field Small Nature Area in Hassocks, some areas of the meadow were cleared and wildflower plugs planted. The existing grass was so thick, that to give the plugs a chance of survival, the turf had to be removed. This was not easy, but gave the plants better chance to flourish. The downside of this was the amount of attention required to keep them alive during the very hot spells that occurred this summer, with constant visits to water them and repair damage caused by local wildlife and passing dogs.

 

Many water runs were required to keep the plants alive in the hot weather.

 

Damage caused by passing dogs scratching plugs out of the ground, scavenging rabbits and burrowing moles had to be repaired on each visit. Any covering of protective sticks applied tended to be used by dog walkers to throw for their dogs to retrieve, so are no longer used.

 

Despite this unwanted animal attention, a good number survived to add to the floral richness of the meadow.

 

BERRYLANDS POND.  

Earlier this year The Woodland, Flora & Fauna Group assumed responsibility for another site to further the prospects for nature in our local area, and began work at Berrylands Pond in Sayers Common. The area had been a longstanding source of complaint from local residents due to its overgrown state which to many had become an eyesore. The maintenance of this pond was the responsibility of Mid Sussex District Council, but due to funding pressures and staff shortages, it had become neglected. With complaints rising and the council unable to find a solution, Hurstpierpoint & Sayers Common Parish Council asked our group if we could take over the maintenance of the site and improve its value for nature.

We were aware that not all residents had the same vision for the transformation outcome, and whatever we did would please some but not others. This was a different scenario to all our other nature sites where the results sought were primarily for nature enhancement and improvement for the survival prospects of wildlife. After due consideration we agreed, and are pursuing a strategy to make it visually more appealing to local residents, whilst boosting the site’s nature credentials. We listened to the differing opinions of many of the residents and are steering a course of achieving our objectives for the pond area, and embracing as many of the comments as possible. Our volunteers, who include some of the Sayers Common residents, are working hard to achieve this.

 

This was the pond area as it was presented to us.

 

Volunteers worked hard to improve the site for nature.

 

All debris produced was piled into a stack for later removal by MSDC contractors as site disposal in a built-up area of housing was not an option.

 

Work there has continued to generally tidy the site and remove falling or leaning trees across the pond to allow more light to penetrate.

 

Work was undertaken to allow more light penetration into the pond, as shown here.

 

With most of the cut branches falling into the pond, ropes had to be tied around them before they were cut, so that they could be hauled to the banks for disposal.

 

This was how the pond appeared when the overhanging tree growth was removed.

 

All twigs and small branches were again heaped for later removal by council contractors, and all main branch sections were stacked in a wildlife wood pile in one corner of the site.

 

With the water level in the pond receding due to the hot weather as the work progressed, the organisation of the next work phase became increasingly important. A large amount of silt, mostly consisting of rotting organic matter from fallen leaves was appearing, emphasising the need for dredging to be carried out to restore the pond to its original depth.

To achieve this, The Woodland,Flora & Fauna Group have obtained quotations from specialist companies, for the pond to be dredged and the silt removed. These quotations have been passed to Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common Parish Council for consideration and approval of costs, which will be borne by MSDC funding. A response is still awaited.

Since then, further work requested by residents in neighbouring properties has been undertaken, to lower the height of some of the trees around the pond to provide more visibility of it.

 

Volunteers again attended while waiting for the dredging response from MSDC, to reduce the height of surrounding trees.

 

The result allowed even more light to penetrate the pond area.

 

GROUP ATTENDANCE AT COUNCIL AGM.

Group members once again set up a publicity stall at the Hurstpierpoint & Sayers Common Parish Council AGM in the early summer to advertise our work and achievements.

 

Photo boards highlighted group’s achievements at the event.

 

POND LYE SITE OF NATURE CONSERVATION IMPORTANCE.

Our calendar is dictated by seasonal demands, so we were then required to direct our attention to the meadow area at Pond Lye which was becoming punctuated with emerging ragwort and thistle. These species are normally not a problem if controlled, but both generate anxiety and complaints when viewed by neighbours. We therefore returned to ensure they did not cause any problems in this respect, and to prepare the site for the meadow cut scheduled for late summer.

 

Ragwort and thistles were diligently removed by volunteers.

 

 

This was a huge task across the whole meadow area but was eventually achieved.

 

We then turned our attention to clearing the edges of the meadow in readiness for the later meadow cut.

 

Bramble spread into the meadow area is a constant battle we have to undertake each year.

 

It also obscures ground undulations which the person undertaking the cut has to be aware of for safety reasons.

 

Once this was achieved we advised our valuable volunteer with a tractor and he commenced cutting. 

 

The cut has to be carried out just before the day we receive help from local college students.

 

This ensures the cuttings can be gathered up easily.

 

The tractor operator did a fantastic job covering the whole of the large meadow in a couple of hours. This picture shows him finishing the work for which we are hugely grateful for. Without this help we would be slaving away for months doing it by hand.

 

We then arranged for the students to attend quickly afterwards to help us rake up all the cuttings.

 

They join us every year to lend a hand, and we are very grateful to them also for this help.

 

They have become quite familiar with the task and quickly rake the hay into rows. 

 

This is then collected up and heaped into piles to be dealt with later.

 

They worked hard for a whole day and achieved a tremendous amount. The disposal of the hay piles and the completion of those areas left unraked would be undertaken later by our group volunteers.

 

Following the college volunteer day, our own volunteers gathered to complete the task.

 

Quickly the piles of hay were disposed of….. 

 

….and the remaining area cleared of cuttings. This concluded the huge annual effort surrounding the task to keep the meadow in good condition.

 

ANNUAL SPECIAL PUBLIC TALK.

In August each year we hold a special public talk to help us raise much needed funding for our group work. For this we invite a distinguished speaker to share his/her knowledge with the audience. This helps all of us enormously to learn more about the nature or wildlife topic they specialise in. This year a large audience gathered to listen to Keith Kirby, the author & CIEEM medallist for the outstanding lifelong contribution to the advancement of  ecology, forestry, and woodland management.

 

This talk was held in Hurstpierpoint Village Centre.

 

This picture shows Keith Kirby as he prepared to begin his presentation.

 

His talk was entitled ‘Woodland Flowers’.

 

It appeared to be well-received by the audience, many of whom gathered afterwards to speak to him….

 

…..and purchase copies of his books.

 

This whole event held each year is a massive undertaking for our volunteers to organise and run, so we are extremely grateful for all their hard work to make it a success. This picture is of one of our group volunteers providing refreshments.

 

ALBOURNE MILLENNIUM GARDEN.

Later this summer we returned to the Albourne Millennium Garden to check on the usage of the bird boxes we had installed at the end of last year. We examined every box and found that all but one had been used. The occupants had been blue tits and great tits, who were no doubt very grateful for the nesting opportunities provided. Each box was cleaned out and sterilised in readiness for next year’s residents.

 

We returned to the Millennium Garden to examine the bird boxes.

 

All but one of the boxes had been used by the local bird population.

 

The old nests were removed from each box….

 

….and the boxes were sterilised with bird friendly disinfectant to kill any avian infection and harmful bacteria. 

 

 This was one of the old nests removed.

 

When the work was completed the cleaned boxes were left awaiting future bird occupancy.

 

The year has been a very busy one for our group and only a percentage of the activities undertaken have been included in this report. The others will be described in a subsequent ones which will follow in due course. Our supporters and volunteers are of great value to us and essential in supporting our ongoing activities. We therefore strive to keep everyone informed of all work that is carried out by our group.

 

The Woodland, Flora & Fauna Group is a volunteer organisation dedicated to protecting local countryside and wildlife, and we would like invite you to a Special Talk to be given by the renowned author and woodland ecologist, Keith Kirby. It is entitled ‘Woodland Flowers’.

 

It will take place on Wednesday, 20th August at 7.30 pm in the Main Hall at Hurstpierpoint Village Centre, Trinity Road, Hurstpierpoint, BN6 9UY.

 

Keith Kirby is a visiting researcher at the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford, who previously worked as a woodland ecologist with the government conservation agencies, Nature Conservancy Council, English Nature and Natural England. He was awarded the Royal Forestry Society Gold Medal for Distinguished Services to Forestry in 2011 and the CIEEM Medal for his outstanding lifelong contribution to the advancement of ecology, forestry and woodland management in 2014. He has written widely for journals, the press, and is author of many books.

 

Come and hear this inspiring talk about his exploration of how the woodland plants of Great Britain have come to be where they are, have coped with living in the shade of their bigger relatives, and responded to the continuous threats posed by storms, fires, floods, grazing herbivores and changing seasons. This talk is highly informative to all who value nature and is of special interest to those who appreciate and wish to learn more about British woodland and its flora.

 

This presentation has been arranged as one of our series of special nature talks held each year, which provide public learning opportunities that do not come very often, so please join us to hear from a leading authority in this field. It will immediately follow a brief introduction by The Woodland, Flora & Fauna Group, the organisers of the evening, who use these events with distinguished speakers, to generate any voluntary donations people can spare to support their nature conservation work around Mid Sussex. The natural world is struggling to survive and needs all the help it can get, so any help received is invaluable.

 

Entry is free and all are welcome. There is a car park opposite the building.

 

Michael Nailard.

 

Our year began as normal, with our attention focussed on maintaining our huge installation of barn owl and tawny owl boxes which are installed throughout Southern Mid Sussex. This year the weather was unusually wet for the first few months of 2025 and finding dry intervals in which we could carry out this work were few and far between. Often we had to resort to snatching at any moving dry interval that appeared, and try to recruit available volunteers to capitalise on it.

 

This made the exercise a prolonged one, and one which was subjected to increasing pressure to get it completed before the breeding season in late spring. When the owls begin breeding, we have to cease any maintenance work so that they are not disturbed.

 

The maintenance task is a hard one, and one that involves transporting considerable equipment and ladders on a hand-cart across wet and soggy fields for great distances. For this terrain just walking is not easy, and pulling this heavy weight requires a team of volunteers to achieve.

 

 Each site is visited…..

 

….and every box is cleaned out and maintained.

 

The amount of cleaning out required…..

 

….depends on who has occupied it. This one had been utilised by visiting hornets. If squirrels or jackdaws have nested in them, a major effort is required to clear the resulting debris which can completely fill the whole box.

 

Usually, any occupying barn owl flies out as we erect the ladder.

 The winter weather can be very cold with biting winds. It therefore relies on dedicated volunteers to undertake it.  

 

Each person fulfils an interlocking role to ensure the work is completed as quickly as possible.

 

The team visiting this site were not prepared for their findings in this box.

 

The whole farm had been subjected to flailing to remove lower branches on every tree to give clearance to large farm machinery. Note the ripped branches remaining around the box.

 

Although this clearance had missed the box, the regular pair of owls that had been roosting inside…..

 

….had been so traumatised that they had both died. The bodies were sent for analysis and confirmed this cause of death. This was such a tragic waste of a healthy, breeding pair of barn owls, but one that typifies the many hazards facing these beautiful creatures in their fight for survival, despite all our efforts.

 

As only one person can be working up the ladder at any time at each location….

 

….all other members of the team anticipate their next requirement and are ready to hand this up to them.  

 

This allows the task to be completed more quickly, and reduces the amount of time anybody has to stand around waiting for their next role to be performed. In the bleak mid-winter this is obviously of benefit to all.

 

Every box is sited in different terrain, and all team members have to be aware of the requirements for safe working, and ensure all items of equipment to facilitate this are transported to every location.

 

Much work is required to ensure the boxes are maintained in the best condition. We are therefore regularly disheartened when squirrels occupy the boxes, and reduce them to the condition of this tawny owl box pictured above, with their constant gnawing. It also cost us a lot of money for replacements.

 

When the maintenance was finally finished we then had to install all boxes requiring renewal through deterioration or damage, and those requested by many landowners following our Special Public Talk given by David Ramsden of the Barn Owl Trust last year. Surveys were undertaken by our group for the requested new boxes, but only sites that were compatible with the requirements of owls in terms of surrounding terrain, their ongoing welfare and roosting preferences were selected. No boxes were erected where these parameters were not met, as maximising the survival prospects for these species are paramount in our consideration. All were thanked for their kind gestures of offers of support for owls regardless of the outcome.

The installation work started at a location in Mid Sussex where barn owl eggs had been found last year in a box location which was to be unknowingly compromised by unanticipated activity in the area. This activity had unfortunately resulted in the mother abandoning the nest, causing the eggs to perish. With the activity proving increasingly likely to be repeated, agreement was reached with the landowner for the affected two boxes to be re-located in a more suitable location nearby. This was undertaken by a team of group volunteers before this year’s breeding season, with a lot of valued support from the landowner. We are hopeful that the new location will be perfect for any future breeding to take place without any disturbance.

 

These were the four barn owl eggs that had been abandoned by the mother last year in one of the boxes we subsequently moved before this year’s breeding season.

 

The next site was a new location requested for us to survey for installation of one of our boxes by another nature conservation group in Mid Sussex.

 

Having selected the most suitable site in advance, a volunteer working party began clearance work around the tree to begin installation.

 

The box was then quickly erected by the experienced team of volunteers…..

 

….before finally departing to leave the new accommodation for local owls to discover.

 

We then moved on to another site we had selected for the replacement of established boxes that had become badly damaged in a nearby location. The original site had become a difficult one for the teams to access in safety, so the new ones were fitted in a location very close to it. This box was the first of the pair to be erected. 

 

This was the location selected for the second box which was effectively mounted by the members of the team. 

 

 When the work was concluded, the team members departed leaving the new boxes ready for barn owl roosting and breeding in the season ahead.

 

Afterwards time was taken to make friends with local neighbours.

 

A further request was received from a local landowner in Hurstpierpoint for a barn owl box to be erected in an agreed suitable location. The team began installing the box on the tree shown above.

 

The erection was undertaken in managed progressive stages….

 

….until final completion was achieved.

 

When finished, the team stood back to appreciate the finished installation….

 

….before loading all the equipment back onto their vehicles.

 

The next location requiring attention, was one where the existing landowners had barn owls roosting in boxes in their barn. 

 

With the barn designated for conversion in the near future, we were asked to install boxes on trees nearby to provide alternative accommodation for the regular owl inhabitants. This was the first tree selected.

 

The box mounting was speedily completed and we moved on to the second tree.

 

The second tree required the clearance of a lot of ivy and interfering branches to make it suitable to mount a box.

 

The team members determinedly undertook the work required….

 

….and soon the task was finished. We were very grateful to the landowners for their consideration for the welfare of these local barn owls.

 

Work then shifted to the installation of a number of tawny owl boxes that had been requested by other landowners in our Mid Sussex Conservation Area. This was the first to be erected by team members.

 

This was the second, which was quickly completed.

 

A further suitable site was selected and the installation of a third box began.

 

This was eventually finished….

 

….and with work completed for that day, the boxes were left to the local tawny owl population to become familiar with.

 

We returned on a later day to complete a fourth box shown here, that we hadn’t managed to include on the previous visit.

 

On a further occasion, a volunteer team was assembled again, and two tawny owl boxes were installed for a landowner in a hillside location in our Southern Mid Sussex Owl Conservation Area. This was one of the boxes erected. A considerable amount of time had been spent beforehand on clearing surrounding foliage, to make the location suitable to meet the tawny owl’s requirements. This clearance exercise was also required before the second box could be mounted. 

 

Further boxes were requested for two landowners in Hassocks. This one was in a woodland where we already had an installation of successful bat boxes. It possessed all the requirements to attract tawny owls. 

 

The box for the second landowner was mounted in woodland on the tree shown. 

 

We now wait to see how successful they are in attracting the required residents.

 

We are still have more boxes to erect and these are being dealt with as soon as possible. We are grateful to all the landowners where the recent new installations have been completed, or have been agreed for future fitting, for donating the cost of the new boxes. This helps us considerably with the costs we already bear for painting them and providing the fixings required. Ongoing cleaning out, maintenance, and inspections are routinely undertaken each year by us to ensure their continued well-being, to provide the maximum benefit for owl re-production and species population survival. With all this nature conservation effort given by volunteers utilising their own time and relying on grants, donations and fund-raising events to undertake it, any financial assistance is greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

 

We have arranged a public talk on Friday, 30th May 2025 in the Club Suite of the Village Centre, Trinity Road, Hurstpierpoint, BN6 9UY. The speaker is Michael Blencowe the naturalist, author and wildlife guide. The title of his talk is ‘The Wildlife of Sussex’. It commences at 7.30pm.

The diverse habitats of our southern county support a range of amazing species. Michael Blencowe takes you on a guided tour from the rock pools, through the woodlands and up to the South Downs, meeting some amazing wildlife on the way. The talk will follow a brief introduction by The Woodland, Flora & Fauna Group and a quick summary of the work undertaken by the group over the last 12 months.

This talk is to preceded by the group’s AGM commencing at 6.45pm for anyone who wishes to attend earlier to hear about or discuss group activities. There will be an interval with refreshments served between the two events.

We hold talks by informed countryside and wildlife speakers several times a year and use these events to generate any donations people can spare to support our nature conservation work around southern Mid Sussex and adjacent villages. The natural world is struggling to survive and needs all the help it can get, so any help received is invaluable to further this cause in the countryside around us.

The weather has been a problem for all our activities this year. Insufficient notice of dry days in the fluctuating forecast has made all our arrangements a last-minute scramble to organise. Those that we have been bold enough to gamble on for them to remain as predicted dry days, have often had to be cancelled at the last minute prior to the event. Such was our demise with our bat box surveys again this year. Lots of locations to visit and a seasonal deadline to meet, but no obvious dry intervals to undertake them in. This dilemma required last minute working teams to be organised to capitalise on emerging dry intervals. Thanks to the willingness of our volunteers to respond to this situation, we managed to form sufficient teams to complete all of them before the permanent onset of cold, wet, weather. Despite the pessimism we felt beforehand about the weather impacting badly on a successful outcome in terms of bats found, we were pleasantly surprised.

 

Our seasonal bat surveys began late in our richest location at Talbot Field.

 

We always begin here to try to obtain sightings of the more uncommon species before the seasonal warmth recedes.

 

All boxes in this site contain evidence of bat occupancy having occurred at some stage during the summer months.

 

Once again this year, despite the miserable wet and cool weather, we were rewarded with a box containing three rare Bechstein’s bats.

 

Last year the early onset of cold conditions prevented their presence in our survey, so we were delighted with finding them again this year.

 

Whatever the weather, we are always pleased to find the delightful Common Pipistrelles who regularly appear each year. This box contained five.

 

Two appear in this box above a huge pile of bat droppings which indicate intensive seasonal bat use.

 

A team of willing volunteers are assembled before each site is visited. Without this valuable help the surveys would not be possible.

 

Almost all locations reveal box usage by bats of some species.

 

This box contained a cluster of Common Pipistrelles.

 

The strong gales experienced throughout the year leave a trail of woodland damage which often makes our progress difficult….

 

.…but with determination, the team members overcome all obstacles.

 

It does however, slow progress, which realistically makes only one site location feasible for any chosen day.

 

These were two further Bechstein’s bats found in another woodland. This was again a site they had used before but were absent from last year due to the cooler conditions.

 

This box rewarded our effort with three Common Pipistrelles found roosting inside.

 

We try to disturb them as little as possible to ensure they remain in the positions we find them rather than, as sometimes occurs, they begin crawling towards the doorways. When they do this, extra care has to be taken to gently move them back, so that there is no possibility of trapping them when the door is replaced.

 

Each tree box is logged and the occupants recorded.

 

Helpers select specialist roles for themselves….

 

….and repeat their task every time the ladder sections are moved to a new tree location.

 

This teamwork is essential to progress the huge annual task these checks create….

 

….to enable every bat found to be recorded.

 

The smaller Common Pipistrelles were the most prolific species found….

 

….but we also found the larger species of Noctule bat in our survey, as shown here.

 

Noctule bats are one of our largest native bat species with a wingspan up to 460mm. They are fairly common but always a distinctive species to find.

 

Some of the woodland locations were a ‘nightmare’ to negotiate, with thick bramble understoreys making travelling through them very difficult….

 

.…and negotiating ladder sections through them almost impossible on some occasions.

 

This extreme effort expended made every occupied box found a just reward….

 

….and each occupant a highly prized discovery….

 

….regardless of species.

 

This particular woodland, was so thickly populated with bramble understorey and fallen trees that some boxes were difficult to reach….

 

….taking several hours longer than normal to achieve successful completion.

 

The recordings of bats found indicated that all were healthy and flourishing well….

 

….giving us the reassurance that our effort was helping considerably with their conservation.

 

There were of course some things that depressed us, like this woodcrete bat box found showing evidence of attempted grey squirrel penetration, which made a replacement door necessary on our next visit to make it suitable for bats again.

 

Generally however, the overall activity was completed successfully….

 

….thanks to the hard work and dedication of our volunteers who, despite the reduction in available dry days….

 

….willingly gave up their time to create teams at short notice in order to complete the overall activity before the seasonal deadline. We are very grateful to each of them.

 

However difficult the weather made the progress of our bat surveys, at least we had some really encouraging finds within them. We rarely get the same satisfaction with the number of dormice found in our many dormouse boxes. This year however, at the end of the year we did find evidence of a dormouse nest within one of the boxes, but no additional evidence of dormouse habitation from food consumed or other indicators. It does give us encouragement to keep our conservation effort going and spurs us on through the many time consuming box surveys where we usually find a wide array of other wildlife species occupying them.

 

These were some deserted blue tits eggs found this year in a dormouse box. 

 

Volunteers again gathered on different days, to form teams to check all the boxes in the various locations in our conservation area.

 

Wood mice nests were found in plenty along with the tit’s nests. 

 

The team members again selected individual roles to improve the efficiency of the checks. 

 

This greatly increased our progress around the sites which required crossing several streams and negotiating some difficult terrain.

 

With many locations allowing only single vehicle access, which made car sharing necessary, the teams had to be small. For some of the larger locations this meant extended survey periods were required. These were some of the volunteers who recently worked through the morning and into mid-afternoon to complete one of the surveys. They are shown having a sit-down break to have lunch midway through the day.

 

This is a wood mouse captured in one of the boxes. Some boxes contained pairs of mice. 

 

All nesting material was left in the boxes where wood mice were discovered so that they could continue using it. The mice were either returned to the box or released after the inspection. In all other boxes any old nesting material was removed in readiness for possible later occupancy by dormice. 

 

This box was found to contain an old dormouse nest although there was no sign of recent occupancy. The find however, reveals to us that however scarce they have become, there is still a local presence to be nurtured.

 

A new addition found in our boxes in our later surveys this year was the Common Shrew. These delicate creatures were found in two locations, further indicating their value for all species of wildlife.

 

Adjacent to one of the last boxes examined this year, a woodpecker had been practicing its hole-drilling skills….

 

….and another box we had found to have been visited by the Grey Squirrel species that plagues all our wildlife projects, and was removed for hopeful repair.

 

Again we are very grateful for the valued help from our group volunteers who enable all our conservation work to be achieved. Volunteers are essential to assist with installing group wildlife conservation measures and equally so for maintaining their effectiveness with surveys and maintenance.