Sussex Wildlife

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A SUSSEX GUIDE SUSSEX WILDLIFE SNAKE RIVER PRESS DAVID MORTIMER INTRODUCED BY DR TONY WHITBREAD CHIEF EXECUTIVE, SUSSEX WILDLIFE TRUST

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Luckily for us we live in a county blessed with a naturally variable landscape: we have chalk cliffs, rolling grasslands, small fields, open heathland, forests, wetlands, rivers, ghylls and the sea. This almost infinite variety gives rise to an embarrassing richness of wildlife – everything from bats at Ebernoe to bitterns at Rye, gnarled ancient yews at Kingley Vale to dyer’s greenweed at Bedelands, beewolves in Hastings to tiger beetles in Stedham. So, where to look first? Let Sussex Wildlife lead you to the best spots to discover rare plants, observe endangered species of insects and animals and enjoy unique and special habitats. Fully approved and endorsed by the Sussex Wildlife Trust this exquisite book is comprehensive, inspiring and a must for all wildlife enthusiasts, whether out in the field or sitting comfortably in an armchair, recollecting in tranquillity.

Transcript of Sussex Wildlife

Page 1: Sussex Wildlife

‘Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature.

It will never fail you.’

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

A S U S S E X G U I D E

SUSSEXWILDLIFE

S U S S E X W I L D L I F E

D AV I D M O RT I M E R

Happy chance brought David Mortimer toSussex nearly a quarter of a century ago, andsince then he has grown to love the rich diver-sity of its countryside and wildlife. He was afounder member of the SussexWildlifeTrust’sConservation Hit Squad nearly eight years agoand, in 2001, he worked in a team studying smallcarnivores in the rare tropical dry forest ofMexico. In his remaining time he writes bookson sport and history, many under a pen name.

D R T O N Y W H I T B R E A D

Although a native of Essex, DrTonyWhitbreadhas lived in Sussex since 1987, and is now theChief Executive of the SussexWildlife Trust,TheTrust was formed in 1961, and is now thelargest conservation organisation dedicated toconserving the natural heritage of Sussex.

S U S S E X W I L D L I F E

Luckily for us we live in a county blessed with anaturally variable landscape:we have chalk cliffs,rolling grasslands, small fields, open heathland,forests, wetlands, rivers, ghylls and the sea.Thisimmense variety gives rise to an embarrassingrichness of wildlife – everything from bats atEbernoe to bitterns at Rye, gnarled ancient yewsat Kingley Vale to dyer’s greenweed atBedelands, beewolves in Hastings to tiger beetlesin Stedham. So, where to look first? Let SussexWildlife lead you to the best spots to discoverrare plants, observe endangered species ofinsects and animals, and enjoy unique and specialhabitats. Fully approved and endorsed by theSussex Wildlife Trust, this exquisite book iscomprehensive, inspiring and a must for allwildlife enthusiasts, whether out in the field orreading in the comfort of your armchair at home.

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£8.99

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B O O K S A B O U T S U S S E X F O R T H E E N T H U S I A S T

www.snakeriverpress.co.uk

S N A K E R I V E R P R E S S

S N A K E R I V E R B O O K S

Snake River Press publishes books about the art,culture, personalities and landscape of Sussex. Snake Riverbooks are available by mail order or from bookshops.You can order safely online through our website:

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Discover the best and most tranquil spots in Sussex

to find rare plants, observe endangered species and enjoy

unique and special habitats. Fully approved and endorsed

by the Sussex Wildlife Trust, this exquisite book is an

inspiring guide to 20 of Sussex’s most interesting wildlife

sites, ideal for butterfly aficionados, bat fans, tree

lovers and wild flower enthusiasts.

D A V I D M O R T I M E R

I N T RODUCED BY

D R TO N Y W H I T B R E A DCH I E F E X E C U T I V E , S U S S E X W I L D L I F E T R U S T

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S N A K E R I V E R P R E S S

D A V I D M O R T I M E R

I N T RODUCED BY

D R T O N Y W H I T B R E A D

I l l u s t r a t e d b yH U G H R I B B A N S

SUSSEXWILDLIFE

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Book No 10Books about Sussex for the enthusiast

Published in 2008 byS N A K E R I V E R P R E S S

South Downs Way, Alfriston, Sussex BN26 5XWwww.snakeriverpress.co.uk

ISBN 978-1-906022-09-9

This book was conceived, designed and produced byS N A K E R I V E R P R E S S

Copyright © Snake River Press Limited 2008Text © David Mortimer

Illustration © Hugh Ribbans

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproducedin any form without written permission from the publisher.

The publishers and authors have done their best to ensurethe accuracy and currency of all information at the date of preparation.Readers who intend to rely on the information to undertake any activityshould check the current accuracy. The publishers and authors acceptno responsibility for any loss, injury or inconvenience sustained by the

reader as a result of information or advice contained in this book.

Art Director & Publisher Peter BridgewaterEditorial Director Viv Croot

Editor Robert YarhamPage makeup Richard Constable & Chris Morris

Illustrator Hugh RibbansConsultant Lorraine Harrison

This book is typeset in Perpetua & Gill Sans,two fonts designed by Eric Gill

Printed and bound in China

S N A K E R I V E R P R E S S

DEDICATION

To Sheila for her interest and patience;and to Mark, for his uncomplaining help and encouragement.

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C O N T E N T S

FOREWORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . 8

KINGLEY VALE . . . . . . . . . . . 12

IPING & STEDHAMCOMMONS . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

PAGHAM HARBOUR . . . . . . . 20

LEVIN DOWN . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

EBERNOE COMMON . . . . . . . 28

BURTON POND . . . . . . . . . . . 32

THE MENS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

PULBOROUGH BROOKS . . . . 40

NYMANS WOODS . . . . . . . . . 44

BEDELANDS FARM . . . . . . . . . 48

CHAILEY COMMON . . . . . . . . 52

OLD LODGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

PARK CORNER HEATH . . . . . 60

ERIDGE ROCKS . . . . . . . . . . . 64

BROADWATER WARREN . . . . 68

LULLINGTON HEATH . . . . . . 72

FILSHAM REEDBEDS . . . . . . . . 76

MARLINE WOODS& MEADOWS . . . . . . . . . . . 80

RYE HARBOUR& CASTLE WATER . . . . . . . 84

URBAN NATURE RESERVES . . 88

WILDLIFE ORGANISATIONS . . 93

OTHER SITESWORTH VISITING . . . . . . . 94

INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

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I P I N G & S T E D H A M C O M M O N S

T W O I N O N E

What could be better – two for the price of one! Despite theirdifferent names, Iping and Stedham commons sit side byside, served by a common car park, and are prime

examples of an endangered habitat, dry lowland heath. Once, such heath-land stretched across Sussex and Hampshire, and on into Dorset. Today,over 80 per cent of it has been lost to agriculture and forestry and onlyby careful and continuous management can the remaining heathlandcontinue to support the uncommon wildlife that depends upon it forsurvival. But before we mutter darkly to ourselves about man’s heed-less waste, it is as well to remember that most heath is itself the result ofwoodlands on mineral soils being cleared for grazing long ago.

For centuries, villagers and smallholders grazed their cattle on theheath forcing them – since bell heather, ling and gorse thrive on the drysandy conditions to the exclusion of most types of grass – to live off theshoots of would-be trees and shrubs. As common land grazing died outwith the development of modern living, invaders were quick to movein, the ever-eager birch tree in the vanguard. By the time Iping andStedham became nature reserves, much hard labour lay ahead to clearthe birch scrub and restore the open vistas characteristic of heathland.Much of the scrub has to be hand-pulled, for just below the surface ofthe soil a birch sapling has a rosette of buds only too willing to throw outmultiple stems if the main one is cut. Luckily, heather seeds remain

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dormant for up to half a century and the reward for those toiling toclear the ground is the speed with which they germinate once light isrestored. So summertime visitors to Iping and Stedham may once morebe greeted by gently undulating banks of crimson-purple.

Human visitors are not the only beneficiaries. The little silver-studdedblue butterfly (Plebeius argus) adores bell heather and, between mid-Juneand early July, clouds of them can be seen fluttering above it – like ‘blueconfetti’, it has been said. If this tiny butterfly, less than an inch long, sitsstill long enough for you to observe it, its name becomes self-evident.The male is a brilliant blue, and the underside of its wings is fringedwith black and orange spots enclosed in silvery-white circles. By contrast,the female is a rather drab brown with less prominent ‘studs’. The silver-studded blue has a remarkable symbiotic relationship with a species ofblack ant living on the Commons. Its larvae are taken into the ants’ neststhroughout their winter development providing, in return, a sweetliquid from tiny glands. The caterpillar emerges around March to browsethe bell heather, but even then is free to return to the ants’ nest forprotection from parasitic wasps as it turns into the chrysalis from which,in June, the butterfly appears in all its glory.

Digger and sand wasps are among an army of insects at home in thedry, acidic soil of the heath. If you inspect the low sandy banks you mayfind a small hole leading into the burrow of one of these parasitic waspsand, given patience and luck, you might even see one dragging a para-lysed moth caterpillar inside for its grubs to feed on. But the sand waspin its turn may fall prey to a distant cousin, the ruby tail wasp, and finditself on the receiving end of similar treatment. The green tiger beetle(Cicindela campestris) has been called ‘one of the most glamorous Britishinsects’, and it is another that finds heathland an ideal habitat. You aremore than likely to see a green blur as one hums past, but if it comes torest you will be struck by the brilliance of its green wing cases, spottedwith yellow. A really close inspection reveals fearsome mandibles asamong insects this is a top predator, feeding voraciously on ants andsmall insects. Tiger beetles also create burrows for their larvae, butwith a difference. They make a hole into which a single larva fits very

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L E V I N D O W N

H E R D W I C K S & B U T T E R F L I E S

Be warned! Levin Down is steep and although the footpaths mainlyfollow the contours of the hill on which it sits you need to bringreserves of stamina with you. Among the rewards for your

endeavour are stunning views on all sides – but more of that later. Thebest starting point is from the crossroads in Charlton village. You havetwo choices: walk a few yards along the lane towards Singleton and takethe clearly marked footpath across the upward-sloping field to enter thesouth-east corner of the Down; or walk the farm track northwards fromthe lay-by for just over half a mile (1 km) to enter the reserve at thenorth-east end, with a steep slope of hazel trees on your right as you doso, some with dormice boxes on them. At whatever point you enteryou may see an occasional sheet of corrugated iron flat on the ground.This is not the result of fly-tipping, but a shelter for slow worms, andif you gently lift a corner you may find one or two dozing underneath.Slow worms are not snakes but legless lizards that are genial, uncom-plaining characters and completely harmless (to humans).

Levin is a corruption of ‘leave alone’ and in the past Levin Downwas known as Leave Alone Hill, which is a less-than-subtle hint as tohow it became such a valued site for wildlife. It is the largest chalk heathin West Sussex, the light covering of grass made it poor grazing landfor all but sheep, and at the same time well-nigh impossible to ploughfor crops thanks to its steepness and the chalk just below the surface.

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Other than for brief periods during World War II and in succeedingyears, when cattle were invited to scratch around on it for whateverthey could find to eat while the lower surrounding fields were ploughedto grow crops, Levin Down has been left as chalk grassland for centuries.That alone is uncommon these days, but there is something else thatmakes it a most unusual habitat. A few thousand years ago, during thelast Ice Age, acid soils were blown in by the winds to mingle with thealkaline of the chalk, enabling us to enjoy the rare neighbouring of plantsthat require completely different soils in which to flourish, such as theling heather and tormentil that grow side by side with thyme and marjo-ram.

There was a lengthy post-war period in which Levin Down wentlargely unnibbled by sheep, and scrub – never slow to take advantage ofsuch gifts – began to close in, especially so on the south-facing slopes.It has taken many years of work by volunteers and contractors, recentlyjoined for much of the year by Herdwicks – those hardy Lakeland sheepbeloved of Beatrix Potter – to tip the balance back in favour of the plantswhose true domain this is. This is not to say that all the scrub has beeneradicated. Belts of hawthorn, buckthorn, spindle, dogwood, wild roseand omnipresent brambles are being left to create windbreaks and shel-tered glades where butterflies flourish and certain birds, such aswhitethroats and yellowhammers, can nest and entertain us with theirsongs. In the meantime the Herdwicks wander through these compart-ments, biting off the young bramble or dogwood shoots and preventingthe glades closing in again. If you sit down for a while to enjoy thegorgeous views you may find yourself the centre of attention for a groupof Herdwicks, wearing their trademark expression of faintly amusedpuzzlement. Do please keep your dog under control – in a recent yeardogs killed two of these attractive sheep.

Thanks to the long work of scrub clearance, the wild flowersand the butterflies are once again the greatest of Levin’s attractions.Cowslips are prolific and, on the lower slopes where the soil is that littlebit richer, they grow tall, providing food for the rare Duke of Burgundybutterfly, whose caterpillars feed on it. Yet no sooner is that said than

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E B E R N O E C O M M O N

A N E N C H A N T E D F O R E S T

ACommon it may be called, but this must be most people’schildhood idyll of an enchanted forest. Even before you leave thesmall, unsurfaced car park by the tiny Victorian church, the

unusual is there to delight or intrigue you. In April the little church-yard is awash with cowslips and bluebells, and in June with commonspotted orchids. If your choice of path is to the right of the church, youwill see outside the west end a small but poignant commemoration oftwo brothers and a girl who were killed in 1942 by a bomb, casuallyunloaded on nearby Petworth school by a German bomber as it returnedfrom a raid on London. It stretches belief in so tranquil a spot, farremoved from noise and bustle, let alone war

If you continue to the right of the church, you quickly drop downto Furnace Pond, its name a reminder of Sussex’s industrial past, and takethe south-westerly route into the forest. And a helpful hint before youstart – the clearly marked paths round Ebernoe are few in number butrun predominantly north-south. Should you lose your bearings, alwayshead north to get back to the church and car park.

If, on the other hand, you take the bigger track to the left of thechurch you will pass Furnace Meadow, again to the left, a favouritehaunt of adders. Tread softly because, unless it is early morning beforetheir metabolisms have quickened in the warmth of the sun, they willhear you and flee long before you catch a glimpse of them.

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If you carry on along the main track and take the left-hand path shortlyafter passing the cattle grid, Ebernoe reveals one of its sleeping secrets– a 300-year-old brick kiln that remained sporadically in use until 1930,and was restored in the early years of the 21st century using the samematerials available to its original builders. Smallholders’ cottages withevocative names like Shottersland, Stokers Cottage and Golden Knob, wereonce scattered throughout the forest, their owners growing what theycould, and grazing their pigs on the beech mast. In the crevices of theold brick kiln, tiny pipistrelle bats make their homes – and bats are a clueto the greatest of Ebernoe’s many glories; for it is the most importantbat site in Britain, with 14 of the UK’s 16 species roosting here. Theholly that abounds in Ebernoe provides a stable, year-round, humidmicroclimate that some species of bat require, especially the rarebarbastelle (Barbastella barbastellus), of which only five colonies werefound in a national survey in 2001. If you are in Ebernoe as the lightfades on a summer’s evening, you may be lucky enough to seebarbastelles, as well as the even rarer Bechstein’s bats (Myotis bechsteinii)emerge. For the first hour or two they will forage under the canopy ofthe trees until it is dark enough to leave the safety of the woodland,avoid the sparrowhawks and venture farther afield.

Bats are highly protected in Britain and you meddle with theirhabitat at your peril. Only in very recent years has the Sussex WildlifeTrust been permitted to start restoring the open glades where the cattlegrazed – hence the name Ebernoe Common. In most parts of Britain,grazing on common land petered out soon after World War II and,where woodland surrounded the glades that the cattle browsed, treesslowly encroached and shaded out the grasses and wild flowers. AtEbernoe the proof lies in the ancient meadow anthills that you will stillfind in the undergrowth or beneath the brambles of what has becomeforest. Now the sunny glades are returning to something like their oldsplendour as the ever-encroaching scrub is pushed back, step by step, tothe feet of the woodland giants. Depending on the time of year you can,as a result, find wild daffodils, bluebells, cowslips, common spottedorchids, ragged robin, devil’s-bit scabious, betony and pepper saxifrage

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B U R T O N P O N D

W E T L A N D , W O O D L A N D & H E A T H L A N D

The beauties of Burton Pond are many but its greatest appeal is asa collection of habitats all in the same place. Side by side arewetland, woodland and heathland. There are two bogs (one

with a boardwalk across it) and, despite the name of the reserve, twolakes, Chingford Pond lying south-west of Burton. The latter was ahammer pond, created in the 16th century by damming streams flowingtowards the Rother in order to power giant hammers that crushed rocksfor the extraction of iron ore.

If you cross the lane alongside the car park, a well-signed path leadsyou on a 3-mile (5-km) round walk, starting to the right of the lake. Itquickly offers you a diversionary loop to the left, giving a vista acrossBurton Pond and a chance to glimpse some of the birds that love theseconditions, notably great crested grebe, kingfishers, water rail, reedwarblers and tufted duck. In summer, water-lilies decorate the surfaceand in all seasons the fringes are deeply clothed with reeds. On the land-ward side, willow and alder carr keep their feet firmly rooted in thewet soil, but need careful management. Their objective is to marchoutward into the pond but, if they succeed, they will steadily dry it out,and the reeds will disappear along with the birds that nest in them.Although the shyest of all water birds, the bittern, does not breed here,the male’s booming call has been heard on rare occasions, suggestingits willingness to test the water, as it were, for females before flying on.

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There is another inhabitant of the reeds, unmoving, unknown else-where in Sussex – and deadly. Cowbane is a member of the carrot familyand whilst this makes it sound commonplace it is extremely toxic. Thelesser spotted woodpecker, on the other hand, is neither deadly nor asrare but, unlike its cousin the greater spotted, it has an aversion topublicity that means you need to be lucky, keenly observant and in theright place to see it. This is the right place because it is an opportunistthat loves the insects found on the edges of woodlands and among thedamp, shady alders edging the pond. It is a small, shy bird, no biggerthan a sparrow, that likes to keep under cover of the leaves in the topsof the trees. Your best chance of a sighting may be springtime whenyou might glimpse the male making a mating display flight with itsdistinctive black and white bars across the wings and back (but withoutthe prominent white shoulder patches of its greater cousin).

When you rejoin the main track you find yourself with differenthabitats to either side. On the left, below path level, is a small area ofwet heath, pink with the flowers of cross-leaved heath in season, wherecranberry and sphagnum moss are to be found. On the right are acidic,sandy slopes supporting dry woodland with oak, birch, rowan, sweetchestnut – and badgers. You do not have to look far up the slopes tosee large setts that are home to colonies of these endearing (whateverwest country dairy farmers may say) but nocturnal animals.

As you walk you may notice that the path once had a man-madesurface, though it is now much broken. If you were to explore beneaththe growth invading from either side, you would discover that orig-inally it was much wider than it is today. The great house of BurtonPark is west of the reserve and, when it was in private ownership, thiswas one of the two carriageways that led to it. You will come to irongateposts on either side of the path and the remains of a rusting, decay-ing sign warning visitors to contact the house for the gate to be opened(it was once an electrically operated gate). Once through the gateposts,you will soon have the first of Burton’s two bogs, Snipe Bog, on yourleft, the margins containing clumps of tussock sedge, some of whichare over two metres high and three centuries old. Being delicate, the

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T H E M E N S

A F O R E S T W I L D E R N E S S

Two tips before you set out for The Mens. First, to misquoteDylan Thomas, do not go ill-shod into that dark mud. Except inthe driest of summers the paths are splendidly squelchy in many

places and wellies or stout walking-boots are de rigueur. Secondly, besure to arm yourself with a compass and before you leave the car parknote the direction you will need to get back. The Mens is an untamedforest running approximately north-north-east to south-south-west.Magnificent, awe-inspiring, beautiful – call it what you will – but it iswild and, whilst there are occasional directional arrows on the mainpath and finger posts at the main junctions, it is easy to lose a sense ofdirection if you stray off the main track.

The unusual name comes from the Anglo-Saxon ge-maennes which,roughly translated, means ‘common pasture tenancy’, both the nameand the size of the forest suggesting that it was common land servingthe needs of several parishes. In the 16th and early 17th centuriesKirdford, 2 miles (3 km) to the north, was a major glass-making centreusing beech wood in the furnaces, and as this industry fell into declineit was briefly succeeded by iron smelting. These activities did notthreaten the commoners’ right to pasture and the glades remained open.Converting threat to reality was left to the Mitford family, timber-merchants who acquired Bedham Manor in 1753 and promptlyobtained legal rights to enclose large parts of the forest. Although a

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court case in 1882 rescinded these rights, the glades had almost closedand the forest’s character changed, with the result that there are now fewtrees older than 200 years, except near the northern tip of the reservewhere a stand of greater age includes the Idehurst Oak, a sessile oakwith a girth of 252 inches (6.4 m). Since 1882 management of the wood-land has been sporadic – which is why it is a wilderness, requiring acompass for guidance.

The small car park on lightly-used Crimbourne Lane stands roughlyin the middle of the reserve. A footpath on the opposite side of the laneleads towards Idehurst and the ancient sessile oaks, distinguished fromthe pendunculate oaks normally associated with the south-east of Englandby their straighter trunks and greater height. Except where it dropsbriefly to cross a stream the ground to the north of the car park is flat,and most people find the undulating topography of the southern half ofthe forest more to their taste. In this direction you traverse a steep valleyand climb to the heights of Bedham escarpment at the southerly tip,crossing en route the Badlands meadows, full of wild flowers in summer.

Through luck rather more than intent The Mens has been left, almostunmanaged, for over 120 years and this has allowed it to recover natu-rally from its 18th- and 19th-century depredations. As trees die andfall, or are blown down, they are left. Consequently, fallen branchesand trunks are everywhere, some moss-green and writhing like overfedboa constrictors. Because of these arboreal deaths small glades haveopened here and there, allowing ground-loving plants to take fulladvantage of the light before the new-born saplings mature to renewthe canopy above. As a result there is a great variety of woodland plantshere, from bluebells and wood anemone to wood spurge, broad-leavedheleborine and the delightfully named, though far from uncommon,enchanter’s nightshade. In days gone by, marsh violet was even to beseen. There are other advantages resulting from the cycle of growthand decay. The broken limbs of trees provide perfect accommodationfor different kinds of bat; woodland butterflies, such as the purpleemperor, white admiral and silver-washed fritillary, flutter in theglades; and fallen wood is perfect for fungal growth. This reserve is rich

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N Y M A N S W O O D S

T A L L T R E E S & S A N D S T O N E R O C K S

Cow Wood, Brickyard Wood, Tanyard Wood, Stonepit Wood,Marl Pit Shaw, Furnace Green… these names, evocative of theuses to which this classic High Weald woodland was once put,

today coalesce into the all-embracing name of Nymans Woods. Unlessyou are a member of the National Trust, with access to the ruinedhouse and famous gardens below which the woods lie, you can take adirect public path into them from the village sign at the southern end ofHandcross High Street. This leads you down to a crossroads. Keepstraight on and the adventure begins. The path plunges down like thetrack of a big dipper towards the depths of Cow Wood Ghyll and inplaces as it does so there are earthen banks on either side. These markthe passage of thousands of journeys on foot by earlier generations ofvillagers making their daily way to noisy, smelly work in the furnace, thetanyard, the stone or the marl pits.

Once you reach the bottom you have a choice: in April you can bearright on an upward path that will take you through the beeches andround past a prolific display of bluebells, turning the slopes a vivid bluebeneath the budding trees; or you can take the path along the floor of theghyll. The headwaters of the river Ouse are close by, and the routefollows the moss-covered banks of a small stream murmuring downtowards a lake that was a hammer pond in the days when the woodsrang with the noise of industry. Like Eridge Rocks (see p.64) these woods

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also were once choked with Rhododendron ponticum, quelling allcompetition from other plants with their lethal habits. It redoubles thesense of wonder that where there were impenetrable masses ofrhododendron and, before that, the din and bustle of work, there isnow such peace beneath the cool canopy of great beeches.

Whichever route you take you will arrive at a point where the pathsmeet again and two things will strike you: sandstone rocks reminiscent,on a smaller scale, of those at Eridge Rocks; and a very tall tree, thetallest in Sussex to be exact, which was 160 feet (48.5 m) high whenlast measured in April 2007. It is a Wellingtonia, one of a series ofCalifornian redwoods (Sequoiadendron giganteum) and grand firs, plantedas an avenue in 1910, by which time the woods were long since in useas an amenity for Nymans, the big house above. These great trees lovethe moist, cool conditions close to the stream, but the redwoods maycome to pose an interesting problem some time in the second half ofthe 21st century for two reasons. First, they coppice easily, so if onefalls it will readily sprout fresh shoots from the bottom, thus replacingone with many. Secondly, although redwoods can set seed when theyare little more than grouchy arboreal teenagers, they are very long-livedtrees and approach maximum fertility between the ages of 150 and 200.As the existing trees are approaching their hundredth birthdays itmeans major changes might be taking place here in the second half ofthe 21st century. If you bring your children on a walk here, you couldsuggest they come back as old men or women to check if there are ringsof baby redwoods where now there are only giants!

The rocks are a clue to why Cow Wood Ghyll is called by the WestSussex name of ghyll (and in Yorkshire and East Sussex, gill), ratherthan valley. Strictly speaking a ghyll has rocks on either side with a faultbetween them from which the clay filling has been washed out byerosion. One rock here stands out, literally and figuratively, from theothers – Pulpit Rock. The name is said to come from its use by a cler-gyman named Pook as a pulpit from which to preach to the workers inthe woods. The wood rising behind it, where the concentration ofbluebells is greatest, is called Pookchurch Wood in his honour.

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‘Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature.

It will never fail you.’

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

A S U S S E X G U I D E

SUSSEXWILDLIFE

S U S S E X W I L D L I F E

D AV I D M O RT I M E R

Happy chance brought David Mortimer toSussex nearly a quarter of a century ago, andsince then he has grown to love the rich diver-sity of its countryside and wildlife. He was afounder member of the SussexWildlifeTrust’sConservation Hit Squad nearly eight years agoand, in 2001, he worked in a team studying smallcarnivores in the rare tropical dry forest ofMexico. In his remaining time he writes bookson sport and history, many under a pen name.

D R T O N Y W H I T B R E A D

Although a native of Essex, DrTonyWhitbreadhas lived in Sussex since 1987, and is now theChief Executive of the SussexWildlife Trust,TheTrust was formed in 1961, and is now thelargest conservation organisation dedicated toconserving the natural heritage of Sussex.

S U S S E X W I L D L I F E

Luckily for us we live in a county blessed with anaturally variable landscape:we have chalk cliffs,rolling grasslands, small fields, open heathland,forests, wetlands, rivers, ghylls and the sea.Thisimmense variety gives rise to an embarrassingrichness of wildlife – everything from bats atEbernoe to bitterns at Rye, gnarled ancient yewsat Kingley Vale to dyer’s greenweed atBedelands, beewolves in Hastings to tiger beetlesin Stedham. So, where to look first? Let SussexWildlife lead you to the best spots to discoverrare plants, observe endangered species ofinsects and animals, and enjoy unique and specialhabitats. Fully approved and endorsed by theSussex Wildlife Trust, this exquisite book iscomprehensive, inspiring and a must for allwildlife enthusiasts, whether out in the field orreading in the comfort of your armchair at home.

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S N A K E R I V E R P R E S S

B O O K S A B O U T S U S S E X F O R T H E E N T H U S I A S T

www.snakeriverpress.co.uk

S N A K E R I V E R P R E S S

S N A K E R I V E R B O O K S

Snake River Press publishes books about the art,culture, personalities and landscape of Sussex. Snake Riverbooks are available by mail order or from bookshops.You can order safely online through our website:

www.snakeriverpress.co.uk. If you prefer buying offlineyou can contact us by telephone: 01273 403988 or

by email: [email protected]

Discover the best and most tranquil spots in Sussex

to find rare plants, observe endangered species and enjoy

unique and special habitats. Fully approved and endorsed

by the Sussex Wildlife Trust, this exquisite book is an

inspiring guide to 20 of Sussex’s most interesting wildlife

sites, ideal for butterfly aficionados, bat fans, tree

lovers and wild flower enthusiasts.

D A V I D M O R T I M E R

I N T RODUCED BY

D R TO N Y W H I T B R E A DCH I E F E X E C U T I V E , S U S S E X W I L D L I F E T R U S T