Dear Volunteers and Supporters,
This edition highlights our passion for pollinators, local heritage, and inspiring the next generation of nature lovers. As the Hedging Our Future Project nears its conclusion, we summarise its achievements, made possible by our incredible volunteers. Plus, read on for full details of our upcoming Family Wildlife Discovery Days, taking place throughout spring and summer.
Wittering Area Community Conservation Project
By Jane Reeve | Wittering Area Community Conservation Project
We have had a busy period between January and March and are now seeing the first signs of spring. Triangle pond in Birdham has native daffodils and primroses offering colour on grey days and at 2 sites in West Wittering we have seen the colourful Sarcoscypha austriaca fungi, also known as scarlet elf cup (thank you to Andrea for the lovely photo above).
We have been running our wildlife habitat management sessions with more tree planting, vegetation removal and wildflower strip installation. The tree planting has been challenging with a long slippery and muddy walk, as the hedge got longer, and a biting wind on a very open site. Not to be put off volunteers have still come out and we have planted nearly 600 metres of new hedge.
We will have more work over the next couple of months focussing on wildflower patch seeding so please stay on the lookout for our volunteer emails asking for help if you want to get involved. This is a great way of adding colour and feeding opportunities for pollinating insects to a site.
The West Wittering Parish Council have asked for input in managing one of their key parish owned sites, Snowhill, and we are gathering data and consulting with other organisations about this. We plan to produce a simple management plan that can be followed and which will encourage biodiversity on the site, despite the extreme recreational pressure this small piece of land is subject to. We will need help with species and habitat surveys in spring and summer so please look out for emails about this too.
Thank you to everyone who has joined us over the winter season and helped with the management tasks, we truly love our volunteers, a hardy lot, and always with a smile or a laugh whatever the weather.
Wildlife Warriors
By Emma Horton | Wildlife Warriors
"Children are happier, healthier and more creative when they are connected to the natural world."
Throughout many years of teaching and parenting, I have come to believe that immersing yourselves in nature is very beneficial, and for children there are so many positives for their development as well rounded individuals. It's not just my opinion, there's been lots of academic research to suggest that there are many benefits to being outdoors in nature.
The rise of 'Forest Schools' with an emphasis on outdoor learning for young children, is not a new concept. Also, the increased awareness about 'well being' for young and old alike, in order to prioritise our physical and emotional health, has led many to spend more time in the environment, with less 'screen time' and more 'green time'.
The Manhood Wildlife and Heritage Group have been successfully running 'Wildlife Warriors', an after school club for primary school children and community organisations, for a couple of years now. This year, we are extending our reach to more schools and groups across the Manhood Peninsula.
The sessions are designed to be fun and practical, as well as educational and include activities such as pond dipping, making bird seed cakes, designing bug houses, dissecting owl pellets and making seed bombs!
It's very rewarding to see the children's excitement when taking part in new activities, learning skills such as using binoculars for the first time or mixing a variety of seeds and dried meal worms with coconut oil to make bird cakes. The youngsters get so much enjoyment from learning, first hand, about even the smallest minibeasts in their school grounds. Millipedes and woodlice hold so much fascination for children when they look closely at these little creatures.
Planning is underway for this year's community events, including Family Wildlife Discovery Days based in some of our local churchyards across the Manhood Peninsula, which bring lots of exciting activities and opportunities to learn more about wildlife and habitats in our area. Please see details below for 4 upcoming Wildlife Discovery Days, which offer child-friendly activities including nature trails, bug hunts, moth trapping, pond dipping, and making bug hotels, bird feeders, and hedgehog houses.
Family Wildlife Discovery Days
Saturday 10th May 2025, 10am - 1pm at St James Churchyard, Birdham PO20 7HG
Saturday 7th June 2025, 10am - 1pm at St Mary's Churchyard, Sidlesham PO20 7RE
Saturday 14th June 2025, 10am - 1pm at St Nicholas Churchyard, West Itchenor PO20 7DA
Saturday 5th July 2025, 10am - 1pm at St Peter & St Paul Churchyard, West Wittering PO20 8AJ
Pollinator Highway
By David Wyatt | Pollinator Highway Project
The Pollinator Highway (PH) online survey form was launched on the MWHG website in November 2024. The survey form has been created to gather information about established locations of wildflower gardens on the Manhood Peninsular; we are also looking for opportunities in the local area, e.g., grass verges, open spaces etc. Please include any before and after photos that you have of your gardens - here are some pictures of our garden in Selsey showing what can happen with wildflowers!
Contributors can submit multiple responses to this survey. If you have any feedback about your experience completing this form, email us at pollinatorhighway@mwhg.org.uk
We are sharing the ongoing results of this survey via a map published on the website. Please note, exact locations of addresses collected in this survey are not identifiable on the map.
The PH map currently has over 100 data entries for established pollinator locations on the Manhood Peninsular, together with new opportunities. The map will be updated with new locations on a periodic basis.
Heritage News
By Bill Martin | Selsey Tramway Project, Sidlesham Heritage Project
Work Party at Chalder Station on 9th February to reduce undergrowth and relay weed control matting (see photo above).
The Selsey Tramway Exhibition, including our film, continues at the Novium. Open on Tuesdays to Fridays, 10:00 - 16:30, and Saturdays, 10:00 - 17:00.
It is now 7 years since the LSA house was dismantled and put in storage at the Weald and Downland Museum. In December 2023 we were told it would be the next building to be placed. Since then a new Director has been appointed, who I met at the beginning of February. Another meeting, including a visit to Sidlesham, is scheduled for the end of April.
Norman Dixon came to Sidlesham in 1939 as a 9 year when his father, an unemployed miner from County Durham, joined the LSA. Norman, now 96 years young, has just written his memoirs which have been published and he was presented with the first copy at the Village lunch (see photo). If you would like a copy (£5), please contact Bill Martin directly and he will deliver to you.
Hedging Our Future Project
By Jane Reeve | Hedging Our Future Project
We are at the end of the project now and it has been a very interesting winter of planting trees and mulching them in. We have been in a new area for us as we hadn’t worked on Mundham since the FLOW project and mainly received a warm welcome from the local residents.
We have successfully created a double hedge across an 89-acre field where nothing existed before. We are continuing this across a second and third field until mid-March.
Our amazing team of volunteers was made up of about 6 repeat attenders (nearly put offenders!) who came out in all weathers and temperatures to walk an increasingly long distance across the fields to plant trees. We were joined by other MWHG volunteers who came when they could, as well as by corporate teams from a variety of organisations, parish councillors and local people.
We became an efficient team of tree planters, creating a smooth assembly line, with some people making holes, others planting the trees, or popping in the canes and wrapping the trees in guards. We would cover tens of metres at a time, despite the strong winds, which hopefully will be lessened when these hedges grow a bit.
The last few sessions have been taken up with mulching the base of the trees with woodchip from a local tree surgeon and this should help the young trees get through the summer.
Statistics as of February 2025
Number of trees planted | 3967 |
|---|---|
Length of metres planted | 858 |
Match funding gained through free tree offers and grants | £9,180 |
Number of volunteers | 3 - 13 |
Number of volunteer sessions | 16 (with 4 more planned to the end of March) |
Thank you to Southern Water for their financial support, Dr Jill Sutcliffe for helping with grant applications, and to Jane Scotland for her advice on budgets and getting the money to stretch!
Wildlife Survey Results (and Batting for Bats!)
By Nikki Timney | Find Wildlife From Home Survey
In January and February, our survey received 37 wildlife records, including 42 individuals spotted, bringing the total number of records submitted for this survey to 1,693! See a selection of these survey results further below.
Two interesting, and related, wildlife events to mark in your calendar this April are International Bat Appreciation Day (17th April) and International Dark Sky Week (21st April to 28th April). The latter encourages people to reduce light pollution through 5 principles of responsible outdoor lighting. Light pollution has a significant impact on bats in the UK as it fragments their habitats and navigation routes, which in turn affects their breeding and feeding patterns. Check out the Bat Conservation Trust's tips on how to make your garden more bat-friendly.
Survey Results for January and February
3 Dunnocks | 2 Buff-tailed Bumblebees | 2 Blue Tits |
17 Blackbirds | 1 Robin | 16 Woodpigeons |
Tell us about the wildlife you've seen in your garden, neighbourhood and surrounding local area and we will also submit your records to the National Biological Records Centre on your behalf.
To take part in our wildlife survey, click on the button below.
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