Keep The Ridge Green
Members of: The Sussex Wildlife Trust, South Downs Network, Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE), Butterfly Conservation
Chairman: Ron Murray, 88 Bramble Rise, Brighton, BN1 5GF, Tel. 01273 503152
Secretary: Maureen Holt, 26 Green Ridge, Brighton BN1 5LL, Tel. 01273 552438
Windmill Drive Co-ordinator: Charlotte Hastings, 2 Windmill Drive
Hill Top Co-ordinator: Brian Oram, 6 Hill Top
www.keeptheridgegreen.com e-mail: info@keeptheridgegreen.com
__________________________________________________________________________________
AUTUMN 2012 news
Member of: The Sussex Wildlife Trust, South Downs Network, Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE), Butterfly Conservation and South Downs National Park
www.keeptheridgegreen.com
KTRG is your local volunteer group who’s aim is to actively preserve and enhance this area. KTRG is always looking for new members who want the Green and Coney Wood to remain a pleasant, sustained and natural environment that everybody can enjoy. If you live locally or use the Green, for whatever purpose, and feel you have some occasional time to spare to help preserve this wonderful open space then please contact us (details at the end).
The next Conservation Mornings are 13th and 14th October at 10:30am, meeting at the Windmill. If you have some time to assist (we will be working with the local City Parks Ranger) please come along. One of the items to be dealt with is this years extensive bindweed growth.
After many years of excellent and tireless service founder member Maureen Holt has sadly decided her time as KTRG Secretary has come to an end and a new secretary for the group is now being looked for. Maureen will remain with the group to act as co-ordinator and advisor. There is not a lot of work to do, but it is needed. So if you have the desire, and the few hours a month, we would love to hear from you. If you are interested please contact Ron Murray, the chairman, at the end of this newsletter. Also, Valerie Smith is retiring from the important post of Membership Secretary and Pete Simmonds has kindly agreed to take over this role. Valerie has served the group very ably for over 20 years and has always been very helpful and has done a great job in accounting for, and keeping record of, the annual subscriptions and donations.
The AGM meeting (July 2012) at the Mill House saw 21 people being welcomed by the chairman. Ron spoke of our good fortune during the past year prior to everybody enjoying an excellent outdoor meal in a superb setting on a beautiful evening. Apologies had been received from our treasurer Robert who could not attend but his report showed our finances to be healthy. The group has agreed to funds being spent on dewpond restocking and maintenance matters so negotiations have commenced with ‘Pete the pond’ to achieve this. Another apology was from Roger Carter who kindly led our Butterfly Walk again this year.
Salient points for the year 2011-12 included Ron’s success in securing 420 Jubilee trees via the Woodland Trust’s special offer. Placed along the ancient hedgerow and through the kissing gate towards the wood, they have kept KTRG members busy on workdays during rain or shine both putting in and looking after them. This site had fortunately managed to escape illegal encampments where other local green space had not been so lucky! Emma Keane (local Ranger) raised the matter of potential grazing at 19 acres (an area unfortunately targeted by travellers over the last year). All those present appeared in favour of this idea as under the HLS scheme it had been considered suitable for encouraging wildflowers and ground nesting birds.
Since last year KTRG had obtained two grants. Firstly the £27,000 community spaces lottery bid was awarded in May. Predominantly for Coney Wood projects and initially applied for in Dec.2010, this monumental task had been negotiated by the relentless enthusiasm of Hailey Sellins and Rebecca Luff and has finally paid off. Maureen successfully applied for a council ‘Environmental Sustainability Grant’ and after lengthy negotiations with Jonathan Best the £2,500 became available for a site leaflet and the now completed lecterns designed by Jane Hawkins.
Rosemary and Tony Dowd, besides acting as meeting hosts, are Coney Wood co-ordinators and assist Emma in relentlessly making sure footpath notices, to prevent mountain bikers speeding down the ‘pedestrian only’ path, are in place and are being heeded. Windmill Drive particularly has benefitted from attractive permanent fencing necessary for implementing the winter grazing project and consequently more potential group members from that area have expressed an interest. Charlotte Hastings is happy to continue delivering newsletters along that road and Brian Oram continues with our newsletter production and printing in addition to being the Hilltop co-ordinator.
BHCC’s ranger service was represented by Emma Keane and Garry Meyer (and it is hoped there will not be too much delay now over the redrafted new-format management plan). Councillors Ken & Ann Norman were present and thanked all supporters & members of KTRG for their collective efforts.
A vote of thanks was given to the hosts, Rosemary and Tony, for their kind offer of a venue for the AGM and throughout the year for other meetings.
Sheep are soon returning to Green Ridge for the autumn grazing and the council is looking for volunteers to check on their well being. Training will be given by the council and full details can be found on the council’s website.
W ildflower planting plans are progressing and £1000 of new plants and bulbs are being ordered via Stanmer Nurseries. These will be planted on the meadow banks and near to the hedgerows, with an aim of increasing the bio-diversity. These will give residents the added bonus of making the meadow more beautiful in the Spring and Summer months. When we take delivery of these we will need volunteers to help with the planting - if you are willing to assist please contact Hailey (Lottery Grant Coordinator) at: hailey_owen@hotmail.com
Lecterns have been placed at various places on the Green and it is hope they have proved informative to all, but it is sad to note that not everybody is so respectful of them and some vandalism has taken place needing repairs. If anybody sees such things please can they pass on their observations.
The Big Lottery 'Community Spaces' grant money, as mentioned earlier, will be used to improve the meadow areas and Coney Wood, with some of the work (repairing steps and installing new handrails) recently going out to tender. This contract has been awarded to County Tree Surgeons based on their quality, experience, presentation, sustainable materials and price as agreed by the KTRG committee and BHCC, and this work will commence towards the end of October 2012. This grant will now allow much needed maintenance work to be carried out in the wood, planned work includes; pollarding and tree felling to open up the wood in specific areas to create glades, the installation of benches/nature information boards and the creation of a low deadwood fence to protect sensitive areas in the wood plus the erection of wildlife habitat boxes.
A Memoriam Donation was received by KTRG to have a bench made with a memorial plaque on it and be sited on the Green. Investigations are being made to have a sympathetic wooden bench made and that will be placed somewhere that has a good vista.
During the September 2012 KTRG meeting the dew pond was discussed relating to it’s condition and dogs entering the pond. It is best if dogs are prevented from entering the water as it is stagnant and shallow, and as they cannot really swim in it they simply disturb the plant roots and the pond wildlife and will simply reduce it to a muddy swamp. Needless to say it is not good for a dog’s stomach either. Fencing was discussed as well as planting around the complete circumference with dense water plants to prevent any further entry by dogs.
Volunteer working around the Green now requires adherence to the BHCC Leadership courses and 'trusted' workers scheme and was another area discussed at the last meeting. This is necessary for any work that is performed without a council Ranger being present and is all to do with council insurance cover. Unfortunately because of recent information received via BHWF from Robert Walker (BHCC City Parks) it has given us little inspiration in that work to be covered by BHCC insurance is to be limited to basic and mundane tasks. We remain in hope that this one day will be made much simpler, but as we now have a litigious society that tries hard to claim from insurance schemes, it seems unlikely.
On the right of the path going from the Green to the Woods is a ‘cow field’ which has no public path through it. Plans are currently underway to open this to the public under the Rights Of Way Act. The farmer and BHCC are currently in negotiations.
Councillors Ken and Ann Norman helped push forward recent improvements to the safety aspect of Mill Road in that road markings are now in place to stop overtaking on the uphill lane. There were discussions for actual speed restrictions but they have been shelved for the present.
R on Murray as chairman of KTRG is very pleased to welcome two new committee members: Brian Oram as Newsletter Producer and Peter Simmonds as Membership Secretary.
Usage of the Green is generally noted to be on the increase and is a good mix of dog walkers, families, walkers, runners, cyclists and others. This is a very good sign that the Green is seen as pleasant, safe and clean area by the local population. Even the dog walkers seem to be making a really good effort to clean up after their dogs. So if you are not yet a member of KTRG and, like us, value having an open green space on your doorstep please think about sharing a little of your valuable time and/or money to help keep it this way by becoming a member. After all, would you like a development as proposed for Toads Hall Valley to occur? Well, the Green is now part of the South Downs National Park and that is primarily because of KTRG.
_______________________________________________________________________________
2012/2013 Membership Subscriptions have remained at £5.00 per multiple household or £2.50 single. Please pass payments to Peter Simmonds, 31 Green Ridge, using the tear off form below (donations gratefully received). Your continued support is very much appreciated and any donations would be gratefully received
email: info@keeptheridgegreen.com
Chairman: Ron Murray, 88 Bramble Rise, BN1 5GF, Tel. 01273 503152 Ex-Secretary: Maureen Holt, 26 Green Ridge, BN1 5LL, Tel. 01273 552438 Windmill Drive coordinator: Charlotte Hastings, 2 Windmill Drive Hill Top coordinator: Brian Oram, 6 Hill Top
UPDATED 1st Dec 2012
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spring 2012 Newsletter
Dates for your diary: Conservation day mornings are all Sundays, meet at Windmill 10.30, on following dates: April 29th June 10th September 2nd November 25th
Other events include: The Butterfly walk, Sunday, July 8th, meet at café @ 10.30
AGM/ Social event, Friday, July 27th
Woodland Trust successful application for trees. A big thank you to all who helped plant 420 mixed hedgerow whips necessitating extra workdays before the winter weather /Xmas.
BHCCs Environmental Sustainability Grant – is currently being spent to promote public understanding of the area by means of educational panels on oak lecterns around the site.
Jane Hawkins, our graphic designer commenced once money was paid in January. Emma and the ranger service are to install and display three boards (two ‘Welcome’ and ‘Butterflies’). ‘Hedges’, ‘Meadows’ and ‘Copses’ will follow soon and the long overdue site leaflet shortly.
KTRG Management Plan -A special meeting held in November updated and made necessary adjustments to the draft council plan and accommodated grazing into it. Annabeth has initially sorted out existing anomalies in this rather long version and is gathering species lists to be added as an appendix. The BHCC ecologist, Matthew Thomas is yet to input and has the final say. Projects for Coney Wood are to include the renovation of 150 access steps.
Community Spaces (CS) Lottery Grant application - Everything concerning the second stage was submitted by Hailey in February and in May we will discover if this was successful. It primarily targets long overdue issues with Coney Wood including making the steps safer and educational signage for a woodland nature trail.
Permanent rustic fencing for Windmill Drive paid for under the Government’s HLS grant to BHCC to accommodate winter grazing has been a welcome site addition and well received by local residents. Particularly acceptable is the much requested gate which now plugs the dangerous opening to Mill Road across towards Waterhall. Fencing joins up to the kissing gate closing the previously forged gap which allowed easy access to bikes.
Coney Wood – The re-instating of footpath signs by our ranger Emma Keane indicating bike riding is prohibited- the path is for pedestrian use only- has been made possible by possession of a hard copy of the Definitive Map Modification Order relating to Footpaths 86, 87 & 88 at Green Ridge, Coney Hill & Woods. These maps provided legal proof of the paths location through these woods and enabled her to proceed in securing full protection against the present use by speeding cyclists who cause a danger to walkers. ‘No cycle' notices also put up by Emma are mostly removed as bikers are still, illegally, cutting paths through the woods, but they are being challenged by walkers now that the breeding season for birds/badgers has commenced. .KTRG grant money was responsible for resurfacing the main path in the 1990s and the current CS Lottery Grant is intended to benefit the wood. In addition paths were originally intended to allow safe access for local pedestrian users when the wood was legally added to KTRG territory as replacement land to compensate for that lost from the Green to the realignment of Mill Road 20 years ago - at the time of the by pass construction.
No official information has yet been received concerning the BHCC and Local Councillors meeting held in February to consider the dreadful biker site in the corner of the cricket field!
Meadow - implementing the reduction in width of mown paths will provide particular benefit for wildflowers on the south facing Mill Road hedge side. In autumn sheep returned to the ridge and had mostly finished grazing each of the sections prior to Christmas.
Leadership/ first aid courses /group insurance – KTRG struggles over these complicated and difficult to deal with topics where the aims are to enable members to work unsupervised by rangers. Adequate time and thought are needed in order to progress.
Dewpond- Pete the pond came to have a look at it before Christmas and provided a health check quote for £500 in order to rectify its biodiversity value. Later when the site fencing was being erected, KTRG obtained a quotation for £2,800 for the provision of a wide gated fence. But the protective fence idea is currently not supported by BHCC either here or at Waterhall as they do not understand its advantages, a view challenged by explaining that not only is disturbance bad for wildlife but many dog walkers are supportive as they are not happy about their pets’ easy access to water which can cause them problems. BHWF members were supportive and considered a fence was essential for wildlife ponds in high dog walking areas.
SDNP and Illegal Encampments – It is disappointing that valuable wildlife sites within the National Park together with local parks and green space around our city continue to be threatened. In two places favoured nesting ground for skylarks has been occupied and at 19 Acres tree branches in woodland where buzzards nest and perch have been cut for fuel presumably! Once again sections of downland are being repeatedly invaded to become ‘no go’ zones.
Meetings -Thanks go to Rosemary Dowd for kindly continuing to provide hospitality for the 15th March Meeting and for other social events held last year at the Mill House.
The Date of next KTRG Mill House meeting is scheduled for 19.30,Monday, September 10th
Maureen Holt, Secretary. Spring 2012
Members of: The Sussex Wildlife Trust, South Downs Network, Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE), Butterfly Conservation
Chairman: Ron Murray, 88 Bramble Rise, Brighton, BN1 5GF, Tel. 01273 503152
Secretary: Maureen Holt, 26 Green Ridge, Brighton BN1 5LL, Tel. 01273 552438
Windmill Drive Co-ordinator: Charlotte Hastings, 2 Windmill Drive
Hill Top Co-ordinator: Brian Oram, 6 Hill Top
www.keeptheridgegreen.com e-mail: info@keeptheridgegreen.com
__________________________________________________________________________________
AUTUMN 2012 news
Member of: The Sussex Wildlife Trust, South Downs Network, Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE), Butterfly Conservation and South Downs National Park
www.keeptheridgegreen.com
KTRG is your local volunteer group who’s aim is to actively preserve and enhance this area. KTRG is always looking for new members who want the Green and Coney Wood to remain a pleasant, sustained and natural environment that everybody can enjoy. If you live locally or use the Green, for whatever purpose, and feel you have some occasional time to spare to help preserve this wonderful open space then please contact us (details at the end).
The next Conservation Mornings are 13th and 14th October at 10:30am, meeting at the Windmill. If you have some time to assist (we will be working with the local City Parks Ranger) please come along. One of the items to be dealt with is this years extensive bindweed growth.
After many years of excellent and tireless service founder member Maureen Holt has sadly decided her time as KTRG Secretary has come to an end and a new secretary for the group is now being looked for. Maureen will remain with the group to act as co-ordinator and advisor. There is not a lot of work to do, but it is needed. So if you have the desire, and the few hours a month, we would love to hear from you. If you are interested please contact Ron Murray, the chairman, at the end of this newsletter. Also, Valerie Smith is retiring from the important post of Membership Secretary and Pete Simmonds has kindly agreed to take over this role. Valerie has served the group very ably for over 20 years and has always been very helpful and has done a great job in accounting for, and keeping record of, the annual subscriptions and donations.
The AGM meeting (July 2012) at the Mill House saw 21 people being welcomed by the chairman. Ron spoke of our good fortune during the past year prior to everybody enjoying an excellent outdoor meal in a superb setting on a beautiful evening. Apologies had been received from our treasurer Robert who could not attend but his report showed our finances to be healthy. The group has agreed to funds being spent on dewpond restocking and maintenance matters so negotiations have commenced with ‘Pete the pond’ to achieve this. Another apology was from Roger Carter who kindly led our Butterfly Walk again this year.
Salient points for the year 2011-12 included Ron’s success in securing 420 Jubilee trees via the Woodland Trust’s special offer. Placed along the ancient hedgerow and through the kissing gate towards the wood, they have kept KTRG members busy on workdays during rain or shine both putting in and looking after them. This site had fortunately managed to escape illegal encampments where other local green space had not been so lucky! Emma Keane (local Ranger) raised the matter of potential grazing at 19 acres (an area unfortunately targeted by travellers over the last year). All those present appeared in favour of this idea as under the HLS scheme it had been considered suitable for encouraging wildflowers and ground nesting birds.
Since last year KTRG had obtained two grants. Firstly the £27,000 community spaces lottery bid was awarded in May. Predominantly for Coney Wood projects and initially applied for in Dec.2010, this monumental task had been negotiated by the relentless enthusiasm of Hailey Sellins and Rebecca Luff and has finally paid off. Maureen successfully applied for a council ‘Environmental Sustainability Grant’ and after lengthy negotiations with Jonathan Best the £2,500 became available for a site leaflet and the now completed lecterns designed by Jane Hawkins.
Rosemary and Tony Dowd, besides acting as meeting hosts, are Coney Wood co-ordinators and assist Emma in relentlessly making sure footpath notices, to prevent mountain bikers speeding down the ‘pedestrian only’ path, are in place and are being heeded. Windmill Drive particularly has benefitted from attractive permanent fencing necessary for implementing the winter grazing project and consequently more potential group members from that area have expressed an interest. Charlotte Hastings is happy to continue delivering newsletters along that road and Brian Oram continues with our newsletter production and printing in addition to being the Hilltop co-ordinator.
BHCC’s ranger service was represented by Emma Keane and Garry Meyer (and it is hoped there will not be too much delay now over the redrafted new-format management plan). Councillors Ken & Ann Norman were present and thanked all supporters & members of KTRG for their collective efforts.
A vote of thanks was given to the hosts, Rosemary and Tony, for their kind offer of a venue for the AGM and throughout the year for other meetings.
Sheep are soon returning to Green Ridge for the autumn grazing and the council is looking for volunteers to check on their well being. Training will be given by the council and full details can be found on the council’s website.
W ildflower planting plans are progressing and £1000 of new plants and bulbs are being ordered via Stanmer Nurseries. These will be planted on the meadow banks and near to the hedgerows, with an aim of increasing the bio-diversity. These will give residents the added bonus of making the meadow more beautiful in the Spring and Summer months. When we take delivery of these we will need volunteers to help with the planting - if you are willing to assist please contact Hailey (Lottery Grant Coordinator) at: hailey_owen@hotmail.com
Lecterns have been placed at various places on the Green and it is hope they have proved informative to all, but it is sad to note that not everybody is so respectful of them and some vandalism has taken place needing repairs. If anybody sees such things please can they pass on their observations.
The Big Lottery 'Community Spaces' grant money, as mentioned earlier, will be used to improve the meadow areas and Coney Wood, with some of the work (repairing steps and installing new handrails) recently going out to tender. This contract has been awarded to County Tree Surgeons based on their quality, experience, presentation, sustainable materials and price as agreed by the KTRG committee and BHCC, and this work will commence towards the end of October 2012. This grant will now allow much needed maintenance work to be carried out in the wood, planned work includes; pollarding and tree felling to open up the wood in specific areas to create glades, the installation of benches/nature information boards and the creation of a low deadwood fence to protect sensitive areas in the wood plus the erection of wildlife habitat boxes.
A Memoriam Donation was received by KTRG to have a bench made with a memorial plaque on it and be sited on the Green. Investigations are being made to have a sympathetic wooden bench made and that will be placed somewhere that has a good vista.
During the September 2012 KTRG meeting the dew pond was discussed relating to it’s condition and dogs entering the pond. It is best if dogs are prevented from entering the water as it is stagnant and shallow, and as they cannot really swim in it they simply disturb the plant roots and the pond wildlife and will simply reduce it to a muddy swamp. Needless to say it is not good for a dog’s stomach either. Fencing was discussed as well as planting around the complete circumference with dense water plants to prevent any further entry by dogs.
Volunteer working around the Green now requires adherence to the BHCC Leadership courses and 'trusted' workers scheme and was another area discussed at the last meeting. This is necessary for any work that is performed without a council Ranger being present and is all to do with council insurance cover. Unfortunately because of recent information received via BHWF from Robert Walker (BHCC City Parks) it has given us little inspiration in that work to be covered by BHCC insurance is to be limited to basic and mundane tasks. We remain in hope that this one day will be made much simpler, but as we now have a litigious society that tries hard to claim from insurance schemes, it seems unlikely.
On the right of the path going from the Green to the Woods is a ‘cow field’ which has no public path through it. Plans are currently underway to open this to the public under the Rights Of Way Act. The farmer and BHCC are currently in negotiations.
Councillors Ken and Ann Norman helped push forward recent improvements to the safety aspect of Mill Road in that road markings are now in place to stop overtaking on the uphill lane. There were discussions for actual speed restrictions but they have been shelved for the present.
R on Murray as chairman of KTRG is very pleased to welcome two new committee members: Brian Oram as Newsletter Producer and Peter Simmonds as Membership Secretary.
Usage of the Green is generally noted to be on the increase and is a good mix of dog walkers, families, walkers, runners, cyclists and others. This is a very good sign that the Green is seen as pleasant, safe and clean area by the local population. Even the dog walkers seem to be making a really good effort to clean up after their dogs. So if you are not yet a member of KTRG and, like us, value having an open green space on your doorstep please think about sharing a little of your valuable time and/or money to help keep it this way by becoming a member. After all, would you like a development as proposed for Toads Hall Valley to occur? Well, the Green is now part of the South Downs National Park and that is primarily because of KTRG.
_______________________________________________________________________________
2012/2013 Membership Subscriptions have remained at £5.00 per multiple household or £2.50 single. Please pass payments to Peter Simmonds, 31 Green Ridge, using the tear off form below (donations gratefully received). Your continued support is very much appreciated and any donations would be gratefully received
email: info@keeptheridgegreen.com
Chairman: Ron Murray, 88 Bramble Rise, BN1 5GF, Tel. 01273 503152 Ex-Secretary: Maureen Holt, 26 Green Ridge, BN1 5LL, Tel. 01273 552438 Windmill Drive coordinator: Charlotte Hastings, 2 Windmill Drive Hill Top coordinator: Brian Oram, 6 Hill Top
UPDATED 1st Dec 2012
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spring 2012 Newsletter
Dates for your diary: Conservation day mornings are all Sundays, meet at Windmill 10.30, on following dates: April 29th June 10th September 2nd November 25th
Other events include: The Butterfly walk, Sunday, July 8th, meet at café @ 10.30
AGM/ Social event, Friday, July 27th
Woodland Trust successful application for trees. A big thank you to all who helped plant 420 mixed hedgerow whips necessitating extra workdays before the winter weather /Xmas.
BHCCs Environmental Sustainability Grant – is currently being spent to promote public understanding of the area by means of educational panels on oak lecterns around the site.
Jane Hawkins, our graphic designer commenced once money was paid in January. Emma and the ranger service are to install and display three boards (two ‘Welcome’ and ‘Butterflies’). ‘Hedges’, ‘Meadows’ and ‘Copses’ will follow soon and the long overdue site leaflet shortly.
KTRG Management Plan -A special meeting held in November updated and made necessary adjustments to the draft council plan and accommodated grazing into it. Annabeth has initially sorted out existing anomalies in this rather long version and is gathering species lists to be added as an appendix. The BHCC ecologist, Matthew Thomas is yet to input and has the final say. Projects for Coney Wood are to include the renovation of 150 access steps.
Community Spaces (CS) Lottery Grant application - Everything concerning the second stage was submitted by Hailey in February and in May we will discover if this was successful. It primarily targets long overdue issues with Coney Wood including making the steps safer and educational signage for a woodland nature trail.
Permanent rustic fencing for Windmill Drive paid for under the Government’s HLS grant to BHCC to accommodate winter grazing has been a welcome site addition and well received by local residents. Particularly acceptable is the much requested gate which now plugs the dangerous opening to Mill Road across towards Waterhall. Fencing joins up to the kissing gate closing the previously forged gap which allowed easy access to bikes.
Coney Wood – The re-instating of footpath signs by our ranger Emma Keane indicating bike riding is prohibited- the path is for pedestrian use only- has been made possible by possession of a hard copy of the Definitive Map Modification Order relating to Footpaths 86, 87 & 88 at Green Ridge, Coney Hill & Woods. These maps provided legal proof of the paths location through these woods and enabled her to proceed in securing full protection against the present use by speeding cyclists who cause a danger to walkers. ‘No cycle' notices also put up by Emma are mostly removed as bikers are still, illegally, cutting paths through the woods, but they are being challenged by walkers now that the breeding season for birds/badgers has commenced. .KTRG grant money was responsible for resurfacing the main path in the 1990s and the current CS Lottery Grant is intended to benefit the wood. In addition paths were originally intended to allow safe access for local pedestrian users when the wood was legally added to KTRG territory as replacement land to compensate for that lost from the Green to the realignment of Mill Road 20 years ago - at the time of the by pass construction.
No official information has yet been received concerning the BHCC and Local Councillors meeting held in February to consider the dreadful biker site in the corner of the cricket field!
Meadow - implementing the reduction in width of mown paths will provide particular benefit for wildflowers on the south facing Mill Road hedge side. In autumn sheep returned to the ridge and had mostly finished grazing each of the sections prior to Christmas.
Leadership/ first aid courses /group insurance – KTRG struggles over these complicated and difficult to deal with topics where the aims are to enable members to work unsupervised by rangers. Adequate time and thought are needed in order to progress.
Dewpond- Pete the pond came to have a look at it before Christmas and provided a health check quote for £500 in order to rectify its biodiversity value. Later when the site fencing was being erected, KTRG obtained a quotation for £2,800 for the provision of a wide gated fence. But the protective fence idea is currently not supported by BHCC either here or at Waterhall as they do not understand its advantages, a view challenged by explaining that not only is disturbance bad for wildlife but many dog walkers are supportive as they are not happy about their pets’ easy access to water which can cause them problems. BHWF members were supportive and considered a fence was essential for wildlife ponds in high dog walking areas.
SDNP and Illegal Encampments – It is disappointing that valuable wildlife sites within the National Park together with local parks and green space around our city continue to be threatened. In two places favoured nesting ground for skylarks has been occupied and at 19 Acres tree branches in woodland where buzzards nest and perch have been cut for fuel presumably! Once again sections of downland are being repeatedly invaded to become ‘no go’ zones.
Meetings -Thanks go to Rosemary Dowd for kindly continuing to provide hospitality for the 15th March Meeting and for other social events held last year at the Mill House.
The Date of next KTRG Mill House meeting is scheduled for 19.30,Monday, September 10th
Maureen Holt, Secretary. Spring 2012
__________________________________________________________________________________________
SPRING 2011 Newsletter
Dates for your diary & Please mark on your calendars too!
Conservation Days-meet at Windmill@ 10.30 on the following dates:-
Can you spare just a couple of hours on these days :
Sun.15th May, Sun. 26th June, Sun.4th Sept.
The site provides volunteers with a variety of worthwhile tasks aimed to create valuable wildlife habitats in hedges, scrub and woodland. Working with council rangers on pre-arranged days enables insurance cover.
Social events – Butterfly walk- Sunday 3rd July meet 10.30 at the cafe,
AGM Friday 22nd July –an occasion to celebrate our 20th anniversary !
History- in 1991 KTRG was initiated by local residents concerned after construction of the bypass had caused the realignment of Mill Road. This Green not only lost a huge chunk of its land but also direct, easy connections with the rest of the Downs when fears of infill south of the motorway became a real issue. The first project for this newly created site, after becoming legally recognised by the council owners, was pressing for compensation land. By adding Coney Wood and grassland opposite Windmill Drive (then under development threat) further scope for a wildlife corridor enabled us to obtain money for putting a safe access path and finally 100 steps down through the steep gradient leading to Patcham Place.
To help conceal the impact of Mill Road, fencing and planting a new multi- species hedge along it was initiated, while the parallel ancient boundary hedge was in need of attention and this work eventually paid off when it also became the boundary to the new South Downs National Park. This status means the area should enjoy statutory rather than the discretionary maintenance rights previously in place when it was valued as an AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty)/SNCI (Site of Nature Conservation Importance) site. Several copses (at the cafe, in front of and behind the windmill) were planted and to celebrate the millennium the dewpond was restored. The Green was formerly part of the West Blatchington Estate and purchased by the council on condition it remained a green space in perpetuity.
The South Downs National Park Authority became fully operational from April and was launched with a reception at Lewes Town Hall, where Richard Benyon, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Fisheries and the Natural Environment was one of the speakers. Presently the NPA has delegated everyday running of sites like ours back to the owners, BHCC, encouraged by local community involvement. The linear, 100 mile long, National Park consists of very many different communities which it is hoped will eventually come to regard themselves as one successful unit whose main aim will be to protect this important area in the future.
Green Ridge has planted six specimen trees around the site in recognition of both these momentous events.
Conservation days - thanks go to all volunteers who gave their time during March for a much needed renewal of the ancient boundary hedge line (see maps). During three work mornings they planted, staked and put protective tubes around 200 new whips (necessary for location purposes once nettles grow high!). Garden waste has, over time, rotted down to produce ideal conditions for nettles/ brambles and rampant convolvulus. Last Autumn for a second year, Westdene school assisted the group by planting English bluebells in Coney Wood to improve undergrowth in this secondary wood. The Spanish type must not be planted in countryside as it produces hybrids; only native plants/grasses/trees should be put on downland sites. At a recent meeting Ron agreed to get signs placed at the dewpond to deter dogs from disturbing potential wildlife and also hopes to secure extra dog bins as the site becomes more popular.
Bikers in Coney Wood are causing problems to wildlife – photographs have been passed to the Countryside Section who are looking into the problem. Notices are needed to explain to bikers why keeping to paths is necessary and that jumps/moving logs is not allowed. Community Police are powerless to act without these warning notices. Police run, Local Action Team meetings currently take place at Withdean Stadium and may give an opportunity to raise certain policing issues, councillors are also present. Would anyone care to volunteer to attend and raise issues of importance to the group?
Boundary hedge - Authorised rights of ‘back exits’ through this are currently in need of legal confirmation to ascertain what is permitted on council owned (not 'common') land directly behind properties – paths, etc.? While residents are welcome to join KTRG workdays, ‘doing their own thing’ is not permitted. Unfortunately a precedent was set 40-50 years ago when the hedgerow became enclosed within eight gardens leaving just grass behind the fences. But for obvious reasons new residents must be dissuaded from clearing vegetation behind their property. Distinctions need to be made between ‘planting up where nothing existed' to the recent trend of removing hedgerow vegetation and mowing/strimming there! Where very old trees exist in gardens this groups has for many years attempted to place Tree Preservation Orders on them - so far without success. Green Party leader and our MP Caroline Lucas visited the Green recently on an initial visit and was impressed by our work and the site generally.
HLS & sheep grazing/fences - The council’s bid to obtain funds for the countryside service's management of open spaces by means of a Government Higher Level Stewardship Grant has been successful. Sheep returned last October to the ‘Green,’ with the whole site being grazed in sections - apart from the field behind the Mill which will be allowed to return to scrub. Maintenance plans for the wildlife area at the top of Coney wood will also be in place. English Nature submitted the grant application - to be implemented by BHCC- after members of local groups were given an opportunity to input - on this site we stated it would be preferable for sheep to have finished grazing by the end of March when butterfly eggs hatch. KTRG has become a member of Butterfly Conservation and been sent a request asking us to record species seen during the year and the location. Hopefully the council will reduce the size of mown paths as agreed last year -especially next to Mill Road - in order to prioritise wildflowers and anthills of benefit to wildlife.
Attractive gates and new fencing is already in place at the cafe and more is promised for along Mill Road and Windmill Drive. Priority should be given to danger zones such as a gate at Mill Road exit, but these measures will not protect wildlife from the dangerous speeds on Mill Road.
Management Plan - Matthew Thomas will be looking into plans for the KTRG site during this summer according to our ranger Emma, but he is keen to obtain more records from all BHCC owned countryside in order to provide the correct management for it.
Grants - unfortunately our application for a Community Spaces Grant placed early January (minimum 10K) was unsuccessful despite Hailey's hard work, but we have hopes that having another attempt at the Environment Sustainability Grant for a more down to earth £2,500 might pay for site leaflets and nature notices for a start.
2010/2011 Membership Subscriptions - £5.00 per multiple household or £2.50 single is still being collected - thanks to all who continue to give much appreciated support. Please pass any further payments to Valerie Smith at 22, Green Ridge if you have not already done so yet..
Thanks go to Tony & Rosemary Dowd for kindly hosting the March meeting. The next one is scheduled for Tuesday 13th September 2011@ 19.30 at the Mill House.
After 20 years I would be grateful if others could now take a more prominent role, especially with regard to organisation of workdays.
Maureen Holt, Secretary - Spring 2011
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