Dear Volunteers and Supporters,
In this edition of the newsletter, we recap our recent Annual General Meeting, explain how you can take part in our new Pollinator Highway Survey, review the fantastic achievements of our Wittering Area Community Conservation Project, and highlight Project Leader Jane Reeve's recent presentation on tackling climate change.
First, we are delighted to announce that we have been chosen as one of the Co-op's community funds for the next 12 months. You can support us every time you shop at the Co-op in Selsey High Street (the one with the Post Office) or at the Co-op in Bracklesham Lane, East Wittering. To support us you will need to be a Co-op member. It's easiest to sign up via the Co-op app on your mobile or go to https://membership.coop.co.uk/
Once you are signed in, go to the Community section and select Manhood Wildlife and Heritage GP, (Cause ID: 87235). Then simply shop a the Selsey or Bracklesham Co-op and they will donate to our project.
All the details are at: https://membership.coop.co.uk/causes/87235
Take Part in our New Pollinator Highway Survey
By MWHG Team | Selsey Pollinator Highway Project
The Selsey Pollinator Highway Project needs your help to map the presence of plants that attract pollinators in gardens and public green spaces on the Manhood Peninsula, south of Chichester. Using this information, we can identify which locations currently support pollinators, such as bees, butterflies and moths, and which areas have the potential to be improved.
An online survey form has been created to capture information about the presence of wildflowers on green verges, allotments, parks, public open spaces, ponds and other spaces. Contributors can submit multiple responses to this survey.
This is a new survey, so if you have any feedback about your experience completing this form email us at pollinatorhighway@mwhg.org.uk
We will start sharing the ongoing results of this survey as an interactive map in the coming months. Please note, exact locations of addresses collected in this survey will not be identifiable on the Pollinator Highway map.
Wittering Area Community Conservation Project Update
By Jane Reeve | Wittering Area Community Conservation Project
SiteDefender Team at Hilton Park Pond, September 2024
We have had a great start to our volunteer work season and have enjoyed some lovely warm weather. However, our first session this autumn was at Hilton Park pond in East Wittering with a fabulous group of 20 people from SiteDefender in East Sussex and it rained and rained and rained! They worked really hard, surpassing all our expectation, but asked if they could leave early, understandably, as we were all soaked through! Cleaning and drying all the equipment afterwards took days and luckily, I have a patient husband who moved all the furniture in the lounge so I could dry out camping chairs!! The corporate team have not been put off and want to come back out with us so I will try and book better weather!
Since then, we have been working in Birdham on the 3 sites: the village pond, Triangle pond and Kingfisher pond, our favourites, and had lots of willing hands help us out. We have had a couple of new faces join us, which is lovely, and they worked hard and were initiated into the ritual cake eating at break time! We have also some clearing of wildflower areas in west Wittering as the seed heads had dropped and the flowers finished. We will hope to reseed these next year.
The funding that has supported this work from the F Glenister Woodger Trust is coming to an end this year and we will be submitting a new application for funding, so fingers crossed. In the full update, pdf linked below, is a review of our work to show you what we have done over the last three years, including 151 volunteering sessions, local and wider community engagements, educating young people at schools and clubs, and supporting parish planning activities.
MWHG Annual General Meeting
We held our AGM this year on the 19th of October at 10:30 am. Once again it took place in the Town Hall in Selsey. The chair of MWHG, Lelsey Bromley, welcomed the officers, management team and more than 30 members to the meeting. We had the pleasure of unanimously electing and welcoming two new Trustees, Richard Pyke and Paul Bedford. We are still looking for more people to join the Trustees - please contact Lesley if you would like more information!
The Annual Report and Financial report were approved and, with the business of the day having been conducted, we broke for a cup of coffee.
We had hoped that Dr Sam Kelly would join us to share her extensive knowledge of Bats on the Manhood Peninsula, but a family illness prevented her from coming. After coffee, Lesley Bromley gave a talk providing an overview of all the activities the group is involved in. The range of our activities across both the heritage of our natural environment and the man made environment was good to hear about and it was nice for individual members to hear about the activities they are not involved in!
Following the talk there was plenty of time for discussions and questions over a sandwich lunch, before we cleared up and went home at 2:00pm.
Lesley Bromley,
Chair MWHG
Heritage News
By Bill Martin | Selsey Tramway Project
The exhibition on The Selsey Tramway, which includes our film, continues at The Novium (Tuesday - Friday 10am - 4:30pm · Saturday 10am - 5pm). Another walk is planned for Spring 2025.
'Surprising Selsey' has been added to BBC Sounds. The podcast was recorded by Joe Savill and Lesley Bromley and explains how 'unlikely misfits put the town on the map'. This is the second MWHG recording for BBC Sounds, along with 'The Hapless Sidlesham Snail' episode which tells the story of the railway that ran from Chichester to Selsey and back in one day - if you were lucky.
A Pullman Railway carriage, which was moved from Selsey (Park Lane), has now been refurbished and is open as a restaurant car at Petworth Station - www.old-station.co.uk
Hedging Our Future Project
By Jane Reeve | Hedging Our Future Project
We are gearing up for the tree planting season so that we can get a new 1-kilomtre stretch of hedge installed in South Mundham. This hedgerow will border both sides of a footpath across an open field which is prone to soil erosion which causes issues in the local waterways. We aim to plant 5,000 trees and will need lots of help!
We have trees in the tree nurseries that we can use and I also have 3,000 trees coming from the TCV (Trust for Conservation Volunteers) in two batches, one lot at the end of November, and the other at the start of January. We are also applying to the Tree Council’s “Branching Out” grant for more trees so there should be plenty of stock.
The site chosen for planting will be quite close to one of the Chichester District Council’s potential Strategic Wildlife Corridors and also near to Pagham Harbour Nature Reserve’s northern boundary so will be well placed as valuable linking habitat. The field to be planted is about 50 acres and having a double hedge that cuts across it will provide a route for small mammals, bats and hedgehogs. In time it will cut down the wind that blows across the area and provide protection for the crops planted and help to remain moisture in the soil.
We will need lots of willing hands to help plant the trees and the sessions will be on Tuesdays and some Saturday mornings. The work doesn’t involve lots of heavy digging but making a slit in the ground to pop the bare rooted tree into. Then it gets stamped in with a cane and rabbit guard around it. It is very fulfilling task as you can quickly see the difference that is made and it is positive and rewarding. We swap around tasks and people can do as little or as much as they like. A tree can be planted as part of the hedge to celebrate a life, a birth, or a death.
I will put out a weekly email to our Volunteer News subscribers to send details about parking, what to bring, what to wear etc, and you can also let me know if you are coming along. I look forward to seeing lots of people and promise to have plenty of cake!
Tackling Climate Change
By Nikki Timney | Find Wildlife From Home Survey
Throughout September and October, our survey received 49 wildlife records, bringing the total number of records submitted for this survey to 1,628! See a selection of these survey results further below.
Some of these submissions included belated summer butterfly records, with stunning photos to match (see below). It is good to see many different species spotted on the Peninsula, but there are growing concerns over nationally declining butterfly numbers, with Butterfly Conservation declaring a 'UK Butterfly Emergency' in September.
Climate change is a key driver of declines in wildlife populations. Our Wetlands and Wildlife Conservation Lead, Jane Reeve, recently spoke at Transition Chichester's 'Chichester Adapt to the Climate' event to explain how we are tackling climate change on the Manhood Peninsula. Watch the recording of this presentation on YouTube here.
Survey Results for September and October 2024
1 Common Darter Dragonfly | 2 Hedgehogs | 4 Painted Lady Butterflies |
1 Goldfinch | 2 Comma Butterfly | 1 Bat |
4 Red Admiral Butterflies | 1 Green-veined White | 2 Robins |
5 Large White Butterflies | 1 Garden Orb-Web Spider | 1 Meadow Brown Butterfly |
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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